Ryan Lockhart joins 44 Business Capital as first vice president, SBA lending as part of Western PA Expansion
Ryan Lockhart joins 44 Business Capital as first vice president, SBA lending. For the past decade, he was vice president at Pursuit Lending, which works with the US Small Business Administration to offer a variety of loan programs, particularly the 504 loan.
As one of the nation’s biggest SBA lenders, 44 Business Capital is looking to build business in western Pennsylvania by hiring an experienced lender in the region.
A direct small business lending division of Berkshire Bank, 44 Business Capital operates nationwide with offices in several locations including Philadelphia. Ranked the nation’s 20th-largest lender by dollar volume as of June 30, nine months into the 2024 fiscal year, at $183.4 million. Berkshire Bank is part of Boston-based Berkshire Hills Bancorp, which had $12.2 billion in assets as of June 30, 2024.
“For now, our plans are to expand the success we’ve had in eastern and central Pennsylvania westward to Pittsburgh and eastern Ohio,” said Joe Dreyer, senior vice president, business banking, 44 Business Capital.
Hiring Lockhart “is important to this success,” Dreyer added, pointing to Lockhart’s track record assisting entrepreneurs in western Pennsylvania.
“Ryan will be the start of an onward western expansion throughout the Midwest and Great Lakes region,” Dreyer said.
Lockhart said he will focus on providing SBA 7(a), 504 and USDA loans in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio.
The SBA’s 27-county Western Pennsylvania region saw dollars and loan approvals accelerate during the 2024 fiscal year which ended on Sept. 30, as 787 loans were approved at a combined $274,551,600, marking increases of 21.3% and 36.6%, respectively, compared with 2023.
