Banker's Breakfast

Melissa Burroughs’ career in banking has covered several decades and seen many changes to the industry.  Her last position before retiring from Commercial Banking was as a Senior Vice President and Team Leader for Fulton Bank NA.  Prior to this Burroughs was Executive Vice President /Chief Lending Officer for Old Point National Bank, which she joined in 2005 as commercial account manager.  She oversaw all Old Point’s lending activity, as well as its entire loan portfolio of some $600 million.  Thanks to her leadership, Old Point was the first bank in Virginia to offer loans through the Small Business Administration’s America’s Recovery Capital Loan Program (ARC).

       Her board positions and membership in a wide variety of community organizations put her in constant touch with the concerns and needs of entrepreneurs and small businesses.  These groups include the Hampton Roads Association for Commercial Real Estate; Hampton Roads Financial Planners Association; Downtown Hampton Exchange Club (charter member); Virginia Wesleyan College President’s Advisory Council; Old Dominion University Alumni Association; the Roosevelt Gardens Civic League; the Girl Scout Council of Colonial Coast, where she served two terms as board chairman during national consolidation of councils; and VOLUNTEER Hampton Roads where she again served two terms as board chair during a CEO transition. Melissa is the board Treasurer for Risk Management Assoc (RMA) Carolinas/Virginias and she served two terms as board chair for the Hampton Roads Chapter during Covid transition.  She is a graduate of LEAD Hampton Roads ’07 and CIVIC Leadership Institute ’09.  In 2010 Burroughs won the Virginia Financial Services Champion of the Year from the SBA; in 2012 she won the Women in Business Achievement Award 

       Burroughs began her banking career in 1986 at Crestar Bank as a branch manager then as commercial account manager/assistant vice president. She continued to serve small businesses and their financial needs in subsequent positions as financial services officer at Centura Bank; relationship manager at First Union National Bank/Wachovia; and business banking market manager for SouthTrust Bank. Which all lead to her move to Old Point. 

It was all this combined that brought her to the culmination of her lending and small business consulting passion, to become the Hampton Roads Market Executive for Business Finance Group, a Certified Development Corporation through the Small Business Administration and the top performing CDC in the Mid-Atlantic Region.

       She received an MBA with an emphasis in finance and human resources from Old Dominion University and a Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, in liberal arts management from Virginia Wesleyan College.  She is a Certified Financial Planner and held license series 7, 63, and 65 for life and health insurance.

Curt Solomon is a Senior Vice President and Business Development Officer for Business Finance Group, Inc

Curt has been involved in SBA 504 lending for 30 years. Prior

to Business  Finance Group, he served as Vice President and Regional Manager for Empire State Certified Development Corporation in New York (now known as Pursuit).

Curt is active with the Risk Management Association (RMA) serving as Past President for the Carolina-Virginia Regional Chapter of RMA in addition to past president of the Richmond and Hampton Roads local RMA chapters.

Curt is a graduate of Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York and received his Masters in Business Administration from Union Graduate College in Schenectady, New York.

He was named one of the 2008’s Class of “40 under 40” issued by the Business Journal in Albany, New York. This publication recognizes forty leaders under the age of 40 who demonstrate business acumen, leadership skills and community involvement.

Married with two children, Curt enjoys training for triathlons with his wife and in 2019 completed his first Ironman in Mont Tremblant, Quebec