John Wade Inducted into the Secondary Market Hall of Fame

December 17, 2024

Delaney Sexton
Contributing Editor

John Wade Inducted into the Secondary Market Hall of Fame

The Secondary Market Summit chairs Bob Judge of Government Loan Solutions, Marty Teckler of Blank Rome, and Bob Coleman of the Coleman Report were unanimous in this year’s choice for the Hall of Fame award: John Wade.

John recently retired from the SBA and was instrumental in bringing the secondary market into the 21st century.

Last year, SBA lenders received over $1 billion in fees from the private sector from the sale of SBA 7(a) loans to the secondary market. These fees allow banks to provide capital to Main Street entrepreneurs who create 67% of new jobs in the United States.

John has been an advocate for small business financing for over 32 years. His journey began with the SBA in 1992 as a staff member within the Small Business Investment Company program. He moved to the guaranteed loan programs in 1998 and gravitated to the Secondary Market program under Jim Hammersley. His unique position as the Agency regulator for nonbank lenders exposed him to the variety of capital sources used to help fund small business lenders.

He sharpened his experience in the Secondary Market during the Great Recession, teaming with Jim to establish the FMLP program, the Term Asset Lending Facility and advancing the adoption of WAC pools in 2009.

As Division Chief in 2017, he pushed through changes to the 7(a) pooling program to preserve its viability as a zero-subsidy program. In 2018, he established the 25-year debenture in the SBA Certified Development Company program.

In 2020, John was instrumental in the sale and transfer of PPP loans and was the SBA lead in discussions with the Federal Reserve, culminating in the PPP Loan Fund.