Danté M. Shackelford is the Founder and Managing Principal of EMx Lending. He has spent more than 20 years in real estate and finance and has structured and funded over 1,200 transactions totaling nearly $400 million.

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He started as a loan officer in 2002 and was soon running his own mortgage branch. When the 2008 crisis shut that industry down, he began buying and renovating deeply discounted homes himself, so he knows the investor’s side of the table firsthand. From there he advised business owners and high-net-worth families as a wealth management advisor at Merrill Lynch, represented small business buyers and sellers as an M&A advisor, and, as Managing Partner of A-Level Group, stepped into operating roles at startups, including CFO of a Detroit cosmetics brand. As a board and finance committee member of Inner City Christian Federation, a Grand Rapids affordable housing developer, he wrote the organization’s investment policy statement and led the process for selecting its investment manager.

That background shapes how EMx works. Danté looks at an investor’s portfolio the way he would any business: cash flow, leverage and a plan to grow. Every client relationship starts with a written investment policy and a clear strategy, then the financing to carry it out. EMx Lending provides financing and advisory to real estate investors nationwide, with a mission to help them build businesses that are sustainable, profitable and scalable.

Outside of work, Danté serves as Vice President of KRFA youth football and cheer in Kentwood, Michigan, and is a proud dad.

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