Paul Lopez

Paul is a partner in 11-11 Ventures LLC. He runs the GAIN (Greater Atlanta Investor Network) program and is a member of the investment committee of the venture fund. In addition, Dr. Lopez is the President-Elect of TiE Atlanta. TiE is the largest non-profit global organization focused on entrepreneurs with over 13,000 members at every stage of business in 61 chapters across 21 countries, of which Atlanta is ranked as a “Top 5” chapter in the worldwide network.

As an entrepreneur, he was a Co-Founder and Managing Principal of Element Funding, a residential mortgage lender with branches across Georgia, Florida and North Carolina that has served over 23,000 families with over $5 billion in mortgage financing from 2007 till his exit in spring 2017.

In his prior corporate career, Paul worked for eight years as Executive Vice President of Business Development & Sales at HomeBanc Mortgage Corporation, a regional mortgage bank. Prior to working in the financial services industry, he was employed in high tech for 20 years at IBM, Xerox and Moore/R.R. Donnelly in field and headquarters positions, and has been a faculty member at the business schools of Kennesaw State University and California State University, teaching in their Executive MBA and BBA programs respectively.  He has also lectured in Europe and Asia in the area of leadership.

He holds a doctorate in business administration from Louisiana Tech University, an MBA from the Queen’s University of Belfast, Northern Ireland, and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Calcutta, India.

Paul is highly involved in the community, currently serving on the board of Action Ministries, which administers to the poor across north Georgia through housing, food, clothing and education programs.  In addition, Dr. Lopez co-chairs the TiE-Atlanta chapter’s Entrepreneurship Competition for universities throughout Georgia.  He is also the co-founder of TiE Atlanta Angels which invests in early stage companies.

Paul and his wife, Margie, reside in the East Cobb suburb of Atlanta, GA, and is blessed to be living the American Dream as a first-generation immigrant, having arrived in the US in 1974 to attend graduate business school.  He has two grown children and five grandkids, all living in metro Atlanta.  His hobbies are attending live theatre and international travel.