Activate Miami 2026: The Room Where Private Lending Grows Up

If Elevate was about learning the trade, Activate was about what happens once you have learned it. The summit took over the Fontainebleau on September 29 and 30 with a different kind of attendee: lenders who already fund, fund managers who already raise, and operators who came to Miami for one reason - to find out what the next level actually requires. The answer, repeated across two days in very different dialects, was unglamorous: structure, documentation, and a track record someone else can verify.

The opening keynote put that theme in human terms. Anthony Geraci, CEO of Geraci LLP, moderated a conversation with Valerie J. Saunders, Chief of Staff of NAMB, and Michael DeSantis of American Mortgage Resource and Boston Business Lending, two veterans of the conventional mortgage world who crossed over and never looked back.