About Us

Laura has over twenty-five years of experience in Commercial Real Estate Lending and Capital Markets. Her expertise spans various commercial lending categories, encompassing non-profits, for-profit businesses, and investment loans, including construction, bridge, renovation, tax credits, and stabilized commercial real estate lending.  Laura was a Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Manager/Lender/CRA Officer for 20 years in direct lending for Banks including Compass Bank/BBVA Compass, SunTrust, Bank of America and TD Bank until 2019.  In December 2019, Laura transitioned from a lender to the Director of Capital Markets at Franklin Street and later assumed the role of Regional Managing Director of the Jacksonville full-service brokerage team in July 2021. In January 2023, she was recruited to open the Jacksonville office as the Market Leader for Matthews Real Estate Investment Services, where she expanded the team and continued to drive debt and equity origination. In October 2023, Laura decided to focus solely on debt and equity origination, leading her to establish her business, Ahead Consulting Solutions, LLC, doing business as Ahead CRE.

As the Founder/CEO Laura will leverage her lending and brokerage background, coupled with strong client relationships, to address the financing needs of clients in the commercial real estate sector. Laura holds a bachelor’s degree in finance and management from Florida State University and earned her M.B.A. from the University of North Florida. Actively engaged in the industry, Laura is a member of various organizations such as ULI, CREW, ICSC, and NAIOP. She has received recognition for her contributions, including awards such as ULI "Member of the Year" in 2016, CREW National "Member to Member Award" in 2019, and Jacksonville Business Journal's "Women of Influence for 2021," among others. Laura is also active in the community, having completed Leadership Jacksonville's 2018 Class and serving on the Leadership Jacksonville Development Team since 2019, as well as involvement in Friends for PACE after nine years on the PACE Center for Girls Jacksonville Board.  She recently joined the City of Jacksonville (COJ) Resiliency Committee.

Chad has over thirty years of experience in operation, information technology and cybersecurity management working in financial services, healthcare, retail, manufacturing and department of defense including both small to medium organizations as well as large multi-nationals. Chad specialized in strategic planning, business process development, improvement, and project management. As COO/CTO at Ahead CRE Chad is responsible for back office operations, information technology, creating offering memorandums (OM's), and managing the customer relationship management (CRM) debt and equity system. Prior to coming to Ahead CRE,  he spent over 15 years in various leadership roles as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and as a virtual CISO assisting small and medium organizations with their cybersecurity programs. One of his most notable achievements includes overseeing a successful thirteen-month, $10+ million compliance initiative for a regional financial services organization leading a team of over 100 consultants across eight teams. Chad is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps where he was part of a select team overseeing the global Marine Corp internet. He has a Bachelors degree in Information Technology and it currently pursuing his MBA.

Allison has worked in various capacities in commercial real estate over the last twenty years, primarily in accounting, finance, capital markets, asset, and property management. As CFO, Allison leads the accounting, finance, and underwriting for Ahead CRE. Prior to working at Ahead CRE, Allison was the CFO of Generation Income Properties (NASDAQ: GIPR) and during her tenure at GIPR doubled the size of the portfolio under one transaction requiring recapitalization of most existing debt and equity arrangements. Allison joined GIPR from Regency Centers (NASDAQ: REG), where she spent fifteen years positioning herself as a strong organizational leader with expertise in accounting and corporate finance in the public REIT space. Prior to Regency Centers, Allison was with KPMG in its audit group where her clients included both real estate and retail companies. Allison is active in industry associations and a member of Urban Land Institute where she has served on several committees. Allison is originally from Memphis, Tennessee and relocated to Jacksonville, Florida in 2004 to start her career after obtaining her undergraduate and graduate degrees in Accounting at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.