174 Millennium - A Marquis Who’s Who Magazine ENTREPRENEURS John Z. Shen was forced to look for a new career direction following the financial crisis of 2008 that destroyed his former real estate business in Florida. The failure helped him gain a new outlook on life and adopt a different business philosophy – never chase plausible financial dreams, always focus on building long-term sustainable success. Leveraging his desire to support small businesses and entrepreneurs, in 2009, Mr. Shen started American Lending Center (ALC) as a nonbank small business lending institution taking advantage of the capital raising opportunities offered by the federal immigrant investor program. As of December 31, 2020, ALC has achieved vast success and has been widely recognized as a unique and alternative financing model for small businesses. In 2017, he received the “SBA 504 Lender of the Year Award” from Coleman Report for his great contributions to small business lending. Over the years, Mr. Shen has become appreciative of his chosen business philosophy, and he feels more responsible for helping others attain success. In that vein, he attributes his success to perseverance, hard work, a burning desire to help others flourish and refusing the temptation of short-term financial interests. As a serial entrepreneur, Mr. Shen founded a different business, Sunstone Management (Sunstone), a diversified investment firm in 2015 and made this business even more successful in five years. Both ALC and Sunstone have won multiple regional and national awards over last few years. In 2020, both companies made Inc. Magazine’s Inc. 5,000 list of “Fastest Growing Private Companies in American.” Sunstone cracked the Inc. 500 list. Drawing upon a bachelor’s degree from Peking University from 1992 and a master’s degree fromDuke University from1996, Mr. Shen lends his expertise as an advocate for economic development and local innovative ecosystem. He serves on the economic development committee of the City of Long Beach and co-established Long Beach Accelerator, the first tech accelerator of its kind in the city. Recently, he created another startup in Partake Collective, under the disruptive commercial kitchen concept to transform the operation of restaurant business as a COVID-19 economic recovery initiative. JOHN Z. SHEN CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER American Lending Center Long Beach, CA
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