Management Team

Gary N. Merson is the President to ALC, bringing more than 25 years of experience in government and the private sector with expertise in U.S. immigration law, policy, and compliance. Most recently, he served as Chief of Staff at the Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

In that role, Gary led EB-5 stakeholder engagement and policy initiatives and chaired an interagency working group with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Department of State to improve coordination of visa queues and Visa Bulletin cutoff dates. Gary also served as Chief Counsel (Minority) for the House Judiciary Committee’s immigration subcommittee, where he contributed to bicameral, bipartisan EB-5 reform efforts that helped shape the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act (RIA). His career additionally includes senior roles at the White House National Security Council and the DHS Office of Strategy, Policy, and Plans.

John Shen is the founder and CEO of American Lending Center (ALC), where he has pioneered the integration of senior loan origination with EB-5 financing. With degrees from Duke University and Peking University, he has led ALC in financing more than $1.4 billion in projects, creating over 140,000 U.S. jobs, and earning national recognition as SBA 504 Lender of the Year.

John founded ALC in June 2009. By the end of 2025, ALC had fully financed senior loan products for 135 qualified EB-5 projects in 31 states, lending over $2.3 billion. ALC’s lending practice has successfully created more than 140,000 new jobs nationwide since 2009. In October 2017, John received the Coleman Report’s “SBA 504 Lender of the Year Award” for his outstanding leadership and contributions to business lending across the nation. As an Economic Development Commissioner for the City of Long Beach, John also co-founded the first ever Long Beach Accelerator™ to support tech startups and to help promote foreign direct investments and international trade for the City.

Stella Zhang is the Chief Operating Officer of American Lending Center Holdings Group and a cofounder of Sunstone Management, a private capital firm investing in private credit and early-stage technology startups. She graduated with an MBA from the University of California, Irvine, in 2005, and has been instrumental in driving ALC’s nationwide growth and success, with both companies recognized on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies in the U.S.

Her accomplishments include the Coleman Emerging Leader Award in Lending (2017) and UCI’s Distinguished Alumna Award (2023). Since 2020, she has been the title sponsor of UCI’s New Venture Competition, supporting aspiring student entrepreneurs.

With extensive experience in operational management and a passion for giving back, Stella leads with strategic vision while remaining deeply engaged with her alma mater and community.

Queena Zhao is the CFO of ALC, guiding the company’s growth into one of the nation’s leading nonbank small business lenders. With a master’s degree from Boston University, she also cofounded Sunstone Management, where she advances economic development through innovative partnerships, while remaining deeply active in education and cultural initiatives.

Queena grew up in China and Singapore and earned a master’s degree in computer information system from Boston University in 2004. As one of the founders and the CFO of ALC, she has led the small startup into one of the most successful non-bank small business lending institutions in the United States over the past fifteen years. The company has been instrumental in fostering development, job creation, and economic growth in rural areas, particularly in the energy, agriculture, healthcare, and manufacturing industries.

Queena is also one of the founding partners of Sunstone Management Inc., a diversified investment firm that supports early-stage technology entrepreneurs. She plays a key role in driving economic growth through innovative public-private partnerships and brings a unique perspective with experience across government, education, and the private sector. Queena is actively involved in supporting non-profit education initiatives and advocating for community engagement in cultural preservation, innovation, and harmony. She also volunteers with her daughter’s dance team.

As Chief Compliance Officer at American Lending Center, Andrew Diroll-Black oversees regulatory integrity and compliance across ALC’s EB-5 operations. With more than a decade of leadership experience in immigration policy, compliance oversight, and regulatory integrity, he brings extensive expertise to the organization.

From 2013 to 2023, Andrew held pivotal leadership roles at the Immigrant Investor Program Office (IPO) within USCIS. As Branch Chief and Acting Division Chief of IPO Division 1 (Compliance), he directed a multidisciplinary staff of adjudications officers, economists, auditors, and compliance professionals charged with ensuring program-wide adherence to statutory and regulatory standards. In this role, he was deeply engaged in the development and implementation of the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, leading initiatives to establish new integrity measures, design audit protocols, and create compliance frameworks that continue to guide the program today.

Christopher Mason is ALC’s Chief Communications Officer, bringing more than a decade of leadership experience across the public and private sectors. He has deep expertise in stakeholder engagement, cross-border investment, and strategic communications, making him a key addition to ALC’s executive team.

From 2010 to 2020, Christopher held senior roles within the federal government, including serving as the Chief Economist for the Immigrant Investor Program Office (EB-5) at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). In this role, he led teams responsible for reviewing billions of dollars in foreign investment supporting U.S. economic development projects, while also driving EB-5 program integrity initiatives and key regulatory and policy reforms.

In the private sector, Christopher has advised Fortune 100 companies, global financial institutions, and multinational corporations on compliance, risk management, and international communications strategies. He has also served as a Risk Officer for one of the largest U.S. banks headquartered in New York, bringing a strong risk-informed perspective to executive decision-making.

Scott Thompson leads ALC’s international market development and strategic partnerships with government agencies and trade associations. An Azusa Pacific University alumnus with over 18 years of marketing and business development experience, he has helped secure SBA and USDA loans while building large-scale campaigns reaching millions of U.S. households.

Scott serves as the organization’s lead in developing new international markets. He also develops and maintains relationships with government agencies, trade associations and other global strategic partners. Mr. Thompson is an alumnus of Azusa Pacific University, and has over 18 years of experience developing marketing campaigns and business development projects throughout the United States. During his career, Mr. Thompson has managed marketing campaigns that have successfully targeted millions of American households and businesses utilizing all advertising mediums including digital, print, telecom, broadcast, outdoor, and direct mail. As a business developer, he has assisted dozens of organizations in achieving their financial goals through customer and capital acquisition. Much of his capital acquisition experience came while serving as an officer of a large publicly traded bank where he helped secure U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) 504 and 7(a) loans, and USDA Business and Industry loans for start-ups, equipment, and commercial real estate.

Scott Wagner is ALC’s Chief Economist and an expert in EB-5 economic analysis. With degrees in economics from Westmont College and San Diego State University, he has advised USCIS, founded Wagner Consulting Group, and led research on foreign direct investment and EB-5 project impacts nationwide.

Scott is an economist specializing in the EB-5 program. From 2011 to 2013, Scott worked on-site with the USCIS Investor Program division, where he was a team leader for a group of economic and business consultants that modernized and facilitated USCIS’s adjudication of EB-5 investment projects. In 2014, Scott founded Wagner Consulting Group (www.wcgeb5.com), an EB-5 economic advisory firm. Scott’s past work experience includes research positions at San Francisco State University and San Diego State University, and he was a senior business consultant at LECG Corporation. Scott received his bachelor’s degree in economics and business from Westmont College in 2004 and his master’s degree in economics from San Diego State University in 2010. Scott’s master’s thesis investigated trends in Chinese foreign direct investment in the early 2000s.

Justin Blackhall is ALC’s Finance Counsel, bringing extensive expertise in complex financing transactions and SBA loan compliance. A graduate of Syracuse University and the Cardozo School of Law, he has clerked for multiple federal judges and built a specialized practice representing lenders in U.S. and international markets.

Justin earned his J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and his B.A. from Syracuse University. He has clerked for the Honorable Shira A. Scheindl in in the District Court for the Southern District of New York, the Honorable Thomas B. Bennet in the Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Alabama and the Honorable Thomas K. Moore in the District Court of the Virgin Islands. As a shareholder and the founding member of Blackhall, P.C., Justin’s practice focuses on the representation of U.S. and international bank and non-bank lenders in complex financing transactions, planning and compliance in addition to the creation and deployment of secondary market and securitized loan products (with a specialization in representing lenders in SBA loan related transactions).

A respected former California state legislator with nearly 40 years of public service, Bruce Thompson brings deep expertise in government and small business advocacy. Appointed by President George W. Bush, he served as SBA Regional Administrator from 2001 to 2009. Since joining American Lending Center in 2011, Bruce has helped transform the company into one of the nation’s leading SBA 504 first loan lenders, driving real impact for small business owners nationwide.