For More Information Contact
Stuart Brady at 404-663-8080 sjb@theBUSINESSHOUSEinc.com or
Diane Loupe at 404-374-3990 dloupe@mindspring.com

If you’ve ever wanted to go into business for yourself, come find out how the Small Business Association can help you buy a business.

Terri L. Denison, District Director for the Georgia Office of the Small Business Administration, will describe how SBA programs can be used to purchase businesses during her speech Tuesday, April 28,  to the Georgia Association of Business Brokers.

Denison will describe highlights of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act, known generally as the Recovery Act, and how SBA loans and other program tools can offer new economic incentives to small businesses and SBA lenders. The Act provides tax incentives for small businesses, including tax credits for hiring disadvantaged people and unemployed veterans, according to Denison.

The Act temporarily eliminates loan fees for SBA borrowers and lenders and increases
the maximum guarantee on the loan (to the lender) from current 85 percent to 90 percent. 
This federal legislation expands the SBA microloan program and provides an expanded 504 Loan Refinancing project. There is also a provision to provide funds for the liquidity of the SBA's 7(a) Loan Secondary Market. 

The Georgia Association of Business Brokers (GABB) is the state’s only professional organization and Multiple Listing Service dedicated to helping in the purchase and sale of businesses and franchises, and the merger and acquisition market. Denison’s GABB speech will begin promptly at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 28th , at the SouthTerraces Conference Center, 115 Perimeter Center Place, Atlanta, Georgia 30346. The meeting is open to the public at no charge; networking time is available before and after the meeting.

An experienced GABB business broker can help a business buyer find and evaluate options, find the right one for the buyer. Brokers can expedite transactions, help negotiate a fair price and terms of the sale, obtain financing, and work with the seller's broker and advisors.  On the other side of the transaction, GABB members can help business owners evaluate and price their business, as well as professionally market and advertise to prospective buyers, negotiate and close a deal. All certified GABB brokers operate under strict procedures to protect proprietary information and ensure utmost confidentiality. The GABB web site lists hundreds of businesses for sale throughout Georgia, as well as around the country.

Terri Denison - Bio

Terri Denison became the District Director for the Georgia Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in May 2002.

Ms. Denison started her SBA career in 1987 as a Presidential Management Intern at the Agency’s Washington, D. C. District Office. In 1989, she moved to the SBA’s Headquarters Office. Here, Ms. Denison worked with the Agency’s Minority Enterprise Development and One Stop Capital Shop programs and as a Field Operations Analyst in the Office of Field Operations. In 1994, she served as an SBA representative on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Empowerment Zone/Enterprise Community Interagency Task Force.

In 1996, Ms. Denison became the Deputy District Director of the SBA’s Indiana District Office. In the fall of 2000, she was one of seven individuals nationwide selected to participate in the SBA’s District Director’s Candidate Development Program. Assignments included serving as the Acting Deputy District Director in the Los Angeles District Office and the Acting District Director in Wisconsin.

A native of Corpus Christi, Texas, Ms. Denison holds a B.A. Degree in American Government from Cornell University and an M.A. Degree in Urban Studies from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.  She is a member of the Georgia Economic Developers Association and the Georgia Department of Economic Development's Entrepreneurs and Small Business Coordinating Network.

Ms. Denison was included in the 2006 and 2007 editions of Who’s Who in Black Atlanta.  She had been honored the past three years by the Atlanta Business League as one of Atlanta’s 100 Most Influential Black Women and by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as the top 100 people in banking and finance by the Atlanta Business Chronicle.