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September 9, 2026.
If the social side of FortraCon Newport Beach showed the strength of the private lending community, the conference agenda showed where many of its conversations are heading.
Across two days, FortraCon brought together lenders, capital markets professionals, technology executives, attorneys, credit leaders, and service providers to discuss some of the issues currently shaping the industry.
AI. Securitization. Growth. Risk. Capital markets. Technology. Legal challenges.
Rather than looking at the conference panel by panel, here are the major conversations FortraCon put on the table.
AI Is Moving From Conversation to Application
Artificial intelligence had a significant presence at FortraCon.
The Tuesday breakout session, “AI-Driven Growth: Strategies Shaping the Future of Private Lending,” brought together Dr. Akhil Sahai, Chief Product and AI Officer at The Mortgage Office; Glenn Hull, CEO of SFR Analytics, now part of TMO; John Santilli, Chief Production Officer at Unitas Funding; Michael Khait, Co-Founder and CTO of TrustPointAI; Harry Kumar, CEO of InstaFi; and Cameron Kelliher, CEO of Elementix.
AI returned to the agenda Wednesday with “Harnessing AI and Real Applications,” featuring Ben Fertig, President of Constructive Capital, and Nema Daghbandan, CEO & Founding Attorney of Lightning Docs.
The titles themselves point to an important evolution in the industry’s AI conversation: not simply what AI might eventually do, but how it can be applied to real private lending businesses.
How Do You Scale a Private Lending Business?
Growth brought another group of industry leaders to the stage.
“Scaling Smart: Overcoming Growing Pains in Private Lending” featured Briana Malkoon (Hildt), Founder & CEO of Cardinal Capital Group; Jeffrey Tesch, CEO of RCN Capital; Scott Townes, Partner at Easy Street Capital; Andrew Boccia, CEO of Central Lending; and Matthew Medrano, Co-Founder & CRO of Dynamo Capital.
The panel’s premise addressed a challenge that comes with success: originating more loans and growing a company also means building the people, processes and infrastructure capable of supporting that growth.
From Originator to the Capital Markets
One of Wednesday’s largest panels focused on another sign of an industry’s evolution: securitization.
“From First Deal to Repeat Issuer: What It Really Takes to Build a Securitization Program” brought together perspectives from Performance Trust Capital Partners, Fidelis Investors, Kroll Bond Rating Agency, Arixa Capital, Asset Based Lending and Adige Advisory.
Arjun Kakar, Brian Russell, Daniel Hall, Seth Davis, Daniel Gotay and Aleksandra Simanovsky represented different sides of the capital markets ecosystem.
The subject went beyond completing a securitization. The title focused on what it takes to move from a first transaction to becoming a repeat issuer — a very different level of capital markets strategy.
Figure Takes the Stage
Capital markets remained part of the afternoon conversation with a Fireside Chat featuring Esteban del Solar, Senior Director of Strategy and Capital Markets at Figure Technologies, and Nema Daghbandan of Lightning Docs.
Growth Also Means Managing What Happens After Closing
FortraCon also turned attention to an area that receives less visibility than origination but becomes increasingly important as lenders grow.
“Preventing Problems Before They Happen: Post-Close Lessons for Private Lenders” brought together Brent Taggart of Setpoint Technologies, John Ryan of TrustPoint.ai, Megan Castleton of Constructive Capital, Donovan Bowes of Genesis Capital, and Melissa Martorella of Fortra Law.
Credit, construction, technology, operations and legal perspectives all had a place at the table — reflecting how many different parts of a lending organization can become involved once a loan has closed.
Choosing the Technology Behind the Business
Technology wasn’t discussed only through the lens of AI.
Tuesday’s “Vendor Selection: Back by Popular Demand” breakout session featured Shaye Wali, CEO of Baseline; Ryan Byrd, Head of Account Management at The Mortgage Office; and Nema Daghbandan of Lightning Docs.
As the technology stack behind private lending continues to expand, choosing the companies and systems that become part of a lender’s infrastructure is itself an important business decision.
And, Of Course, The Lawyers Had the Last Word
FortraCon closed its educational program with an open invitation to ask the questions private lenders deal with every day.
“Ask Me Anything: Your Private Lending Legal Questions Answered” featured Fortra Law partners Melissa Martorella, Steven Ernest and Kevin Kim.
No predetermined topic was necessary. The industry’s legal questions were the agenda.
A Snapshot of Where Private Lending Is Today
Put the sessions together and an interesting picture emerges.
Private lending companies are thinking about how to scale. They’re exploring increasingly sophisticated capital markets strategies. They’re evaluating technology and AI. They’re paying attention to what happens after closing. And they’re navigating the legal questions that come with all of it.
FortraCon Newport Beach 2026 brought those conversations — and many of the professionals leading them — into the same room.
And that may be the best way to understand what happened on stage: not as a collection of individual panels, but as a snapshot of an industry continuing to evolve.
