Ben Gold ’04, MBA ’12 has achieved entrepreneurial success as co-founder and president of Orange-based Quick Bridge Funding, which was recently recognized by the Orange County Business Journal as the fastest-growing private mid-sized company in the region. Gold is also actively involved in his alma mater, through support of the Executive Council, Mihaylo Leadership Academy and internship and scholarship programs.

Mihaylo marketing and business administration alumnus Ben Gold ’04, MBA ’12 has utilized his business education and entrepreneurial spirit to succeed and thrive in the Orange County business community.

From 2003 to 2011, Gold gained experience as an innovative leader as vice president of operations for Orange-based Alliance Funding Group, a company that provides business loans and equipment leases to corporate customers nationwide. Gold was responsible for oversight of all non-sales activities in this role, including development of credit and funding policies, team management, development benchmarks to ensure efficiency and creating and maintaining relationships with the company’s funding sources and underwriters.

Launching an Orange County Alternative Lending Giant

In June 2011, Gold co-founded Orange-based Quick Bridge Funding with Jason Osiecki, David Gilbert and Brij Patel ’95. The company provides short-term working capital for small and medium-sized businesses. Under Gold’s leadership, Quick Bridge Funding has grown from a small business with two employees to a company with a workforce of more than 70 in only three years. It is now recognized as one of the leading alternative lending providers for small and medium-sized businesses in the United States, having lent more than $200 million to more than 5,000 different businesses since inception.

With projections of increasing loan demand, which were driven by name recognition, reputation and an expanding economy, Quick Bridge Funding plans to hire more employees in coming quarters, reaching a workforce of 100 employees by mid-2015.

The Orange County Business Journal recently honored Gold’s business by naming Quick Bridge Funding as No. 1 on the journal’s Fastest Growing Private Mid-size Company List in September 2014, noting the company’s two-year revenue growth of 2,236 percent from 2012 to 2014.

Much of Gold’s success is due to the growth of the alternative lending industry as small businesses have grown wary of bank lending since the Great Recession of the late 2000s.

“The alternative lending industry is five times what it was in 2008, and it is exponentially growing as small-business owners transition their allegiance and trust from bank-lending to private-funding sources such as our own,” Gold told the Orange County Business Journal.

The Cal State Fullerton Commitment

He also believes his management skills are derived at least partly from his education. “The experience of working with people from diverse backgrounds as a Mihaylo student has helped me in professional leadership roles, which require interaction with many different kinds of people,” he recalls.

Gold has continued his commitment to his alma mater. “I feel that the education that I received prepared me well for my career and gave me a good foundation for my success,” he says. “I am privileged to be in a position in which I can give back. I’m proud to be a Titan!”

His commitment to Mihaylo has included providing annual internship opportunities for business students, which has resulted in permanent employment for several Mihaylo students, and extensive participation in the Executive Council.

“The university has outstanding faculty and a lot of the faculty have real-world experience that they are able to use in their courses, bridging the gap between academia and the professional world,” he says.

Gold has participated in the Professor for a Day Program, which allows noted alumni to engage with students as guest professors, and the Executive Council Mentoring Program. Gold is a regular speaker for Mihaylo MBA events, including the Mihaylo Leadership Academy.

Gold is co-founder of the Executive Council 35/Thirty-Five membership, which encourages young business professionals, aged 35 and younger, to join Mihaylo’s Executive Council. These young professionals can learn from the experience of senior members and develop themselves as mentors for the next generation of business leaders. This program has successfully recruited 22 new members to date.

Other examples of Gold’s commitment to Mihaylo includes his support of the Mihaylo College Executive Council Scholarship Program, which awards aspiring business leaders, and the Mihaylo Tutoring Center, which provides students with comprehensive advice and assistance in business disciplines. Since September 2013, Gold has served as treasurer of the Executive Council Board of Directors.

“Ben is the epitome of the Mihaylo College mantra, ‘Ready to Work. Ready to Lead,’” says Mihaylo Dean Anil Puri. “His well-deserved accolades and recognition in the Orange County business community and beyond highlight the achievements of many of our alumni. Through his commitment to the college, he continues to inspire the next generation of business and community leaders.”