Management Team
James Becker
Founder & CEO
2013
Several years ago, James created Fusion based on the principal —to treat others the way we want to be treated. His passion is helping agents and small business owners learn to be successful long-term by working from a place of service for their clients. James is the proud father of two beautiful children.
Kyle Baack
Chief Experience Officer
2021
Before joining the Fusion team, Kyle
was the Chief Innovation Officer & President of a national real estate marketing services company. Prior to his time there, Kyle worked for a non-profit helping it scale to over 300 employees. Kyle’s strengths include building teams, problem solving & building systems to support growth. Kyle lives with his wife & four kids in Kansas.
Jared Becker
Chief Operating Officer
2019
Jared is an entrepreneur at heart and has started multiple businesses. He loves sharing his knowledge with others to help them grow. Jared leads a team of Partner Development Executives who are focused on helping Fusion partners achieve their business growth goals. He spends his free time in the Mountains with his golden retriever, Teddy.
Andrea Metza
Sr. Vice President
2017
Andrea earned her Bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley and after graduating, managed a Group Home for the Developmentally Disabled. She moved on to accept a position in telecommunication sales, which was the commencement of a career in professional sales.
Karl Gates
Vice President
2018
Karl has lived in the Los Angeles area for 20 years. He has spent the past 30 years as a leader in management and business development for both the real estate and financial services industries. At Fusion, Karl leads a team of Partner Development Executives who help partners achieve maximum business growth. Karl is married with two professional adult children.
Jamila Nathaniel
Vice President
2020
Jamila Nathaniel brings 25 years of leadership to Fusion. As a leader in the retail industry she gained invaluable experience as she led teams and implemented systems and strategies for facilities at 65M+ in sales. She started her own business in the financial industry and as she was supporting, guiding, assisting, and bringing solutions, she evolved into a coach for small business owners and executives.
Diane Cunningham
Vice President
2020
Before successfully launching Fusion Growth Partners on the east coast during COVID in 2020, Diane has over 20 years in marketing and business development experience. While residing in Florida, Diane has raised 2 grown daughters also living in Florida. Her passion is to help others grow their businesses and teams while always striving to be her personal best in every area of life.
Marjorie Briceno
VP Operations
2019
Daughter of immigrant parents, Marjorie started her career in the hospitality industry and is energized by taking on new challenges each day. Marjorie brings management, team-building and problem-solving skills that help elevate her operations team to be the best. Marjorie loves spending time with her family in Florida and cooking foods from around the world.
Gavin Bree
Vice President
2013
As one of the core members of the Fusion team, Gavin has been pivotal to the success & growth of Fusion. After 5 years w/ Fusion, Gavin left to launch & consult in the technology & software development space. He is now back w/ Fusion bringing a new perspective after co-founding 3 prop-tech companies, scaling them to multi-million dollar businesses, & consulted w/ startups & small businesses. He loves helping business owners build their businesses.
Jared Black
Vice President
2020
Jared is originally from Maine and has now lived in CO for 10 years. Before Fusion, Jared was Cofounder at a startup focused on helping people find great experiences outdoors. He currently resides in Denver and gets up to the mountains as often as he can. Jared is beyond passionate about helping people build their business and achieve their goals.
Patrick Tierney
Vice President
2017
Patrick has spent the last two decades in Business-to-Business development. He has an extensive background in developing sales teams and scaling companies. Before Fusion, Patrick raised VC capital to cofound a subscription-based software company to market and ran a seven person think tank out of Northern California. He now lives in the Treasure Coast of Florida.
Dawn Dunavant-Banks
Associate Vice President
2022
Having been licensed for over 20 years, Dawn has sold over 2000 homes. While selling, Dawn was ranked in the Kansas City Business Journal's top 25 agents and Wall Street Journal's top 100 in the country for multiple years. She's trained hundreds of agents and has managed a large office of 100+ agents. Dawn is currently also the President of the Women’s Council of Realtors Kansas City Network. Fun Fact: She obtained her black belt at age 13 & competed in the Goodwill Games in the US and Russia on the US TaekwonDo team. She’s a Mama to 8 kids and known as Papa Dawn to 6 grandkids… she simply tends to collect loved ones and welcomes you to join her tribe.
Bryan Kagel
Associate Vice President
2021
Bryan joined Fusion Growth Partners as a Partnership Development Executive in 2021 after 30+ years in the Commercial Real Estate brokerage and Specialty Commercial Insurance industries. After graduating from Cleveland State University with a degree in Finance, Bryan began his career with CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) as a commercial real estate broker. During his career Bryan has served as a First Vice President with CBRE, a Principal and Owner with the Staubach Company, an EVP with Jones Lang Lasalle, VP of Business Development with Coface North America and Reg'l Dir. - Midwest with Merdian Finance Group. Bryan is a skilled and qualified professional with background in diverse aspects of sale management, sales team building / coaching, lead generation, marketing and strategic planning.