SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – More than 160 credit union executives recently turned out for the Participation and Business Services Symposium here to learn the intricacies of member business lending programs. The Symposium, in its fifth year and hosted by Business Partners, LLC (BPLLC), brought comprehensive financial information from top industry experts. Speakers included Bill Hampel, CUNA senior vice president, research & policy analysis department and chief economist, who spoke about business trends. A panel of credit union pioneers in the participation and business lending field also shared their expertise. Symposium attendees also heard from two SBA District Directors, Alberto Alvarado, with the Los Angeles district, and Robert Blaney, with the Phoenix district, who shared the credit union industry's value in SBA lending. "This was the most successful symposium yet," said Grace Mayo, BPLLC chairperson and president/CEO of $481 million Telesis Community Credit Union. "The caliber of the presenters, as well as the attendees, brought more value to the exchange of information." This year's program featured sessions covering a variety of new topics including commercial real estate investment, business services, business development and lender liability and Phase I Environmental Site Assessments. Also new to this year's Symposium was a workshop on a commercial underwriting case study. John Jamison, chief credit officer of BPLLC, with more than 30 years experience in this area, noted that education was the key purpose for the symposium. While Shirley Solberg, chairman of Great Lakes Credit Union described the experience as "the best conference I've ever attended." BPLLC was established as a CUSO in 1995 by Telesis Community Credit Union. It is now owned by 14 credit unions nationwide and serves more than 140 credit unions. Since its inception, BPLLC, a full turnkey CUSO, has underwritten more than $6 billion business loan requests and currently has a servicing portfolio of more than $1.2 billion. [email protected]