Richard H. Lopez, Esq., Managing Partner

In addition to practicing law, Richard Lopez is the managing principal of Drake Finance Group, an approved Direct Guaranteed Lender of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. Richard served as the Director of Enterprise Florida (Florida Department of Commerce) and Special Projects Advisor to the Venezuelan-American Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Caracas, Venezuela. In this position, he was responsible for developing trade and investment opportunities between Florida and Venezuela. Richard was also a legal consultant during his stint in Latin America and worked for law firms in Brussels, Belgium, Lisbon, Portugal and London, England. He holds a Juris Doctor from Touro College, Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center, with semester programs at the University of Miami School of Law and the University of Detroit School of Law (London Program). In addition, Richard earned a Master of International Management from Thunderbird, The Garvin School of International Management, la Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara and a Master of Arts in International Studies from the University of Miami. He completed his Bachelor of Arts in International Relations at Florida International University and speaks Spanish, French and Portuguese. Richard is a member of the Florida and District of Colombia Bars. He is also a licensed and registered export credit and political risk insurance broker with the Export-Import Bank of the United States.

Drake Finance Group’s Key Executive Team and Affiliates

Robert K. Sloan, Senior Trade Finance Director

With over 33 years in the international trade finance field, Bob Sloan has extensive senior management expertise in global marketing and new business development. He is considered a letters of credit expert and has vast experience in negotiating financial agreements. His last position was with Australian New Zealand Bank as First Vice President in New York City. He has also held senior management positions with Barclays Bank, Dow and Ingersoll Rand. Bob has a strong background in international and domestic banking; credit; portfolio management; trend/economic analyses; trade and project finance and contracts; manager adept at hiring, training and developing staff, and overseeing effective work-teams; successful track record of developing and enhancing client relationships with positive bottom-line impact over the years. Bob is also a licensed and registered export credit and political risk insurance broker.

Paul Schlachter, Senior Credit Officer

Paul J. Schlachter, holds a Ph. D. in accounting and is a certified management accountant (C.M.A). He joined Drake in August 2007 as Chief Credit Officer, with responsibility for evaluating credit and financial position of applicants for export-related loans. Paul completed his doctoral studies in accounting in 1986 at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He was an assistant professor of accounting at Florida International University, from 1986 to 1994, and is an adjunct professor of accounting there since 2002. Paul has been a visiting professor, at Colegio Universitario Monterrey, San José, Costa Rica from May to August 1989. He was also a Fulbright teaching fellow at Universidad de Costa Rica from July to December 1993. In his prior position, Paul was the credit manager, at Florida Export Finance Corporation, from 1995 to July 2007. Paul is a Member of the Institute of Management Accountants. He resided in Puerto Rico from 1972 to 1982 where he gained fluency in Spanish.