THE
FOUNDERS

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André Walters

CO-FOUNDER

André Walters, also the founder and CEO of Fenix Options Club, LLC, a social finance community, started his career as an associate attorney with Naka, Huttar & Oldhouser, LLP (NHO), a successful commercial real estate firm in Baltimore, Maryland. In 2007, he left NHO to join the National Basketball Association’s Charlotte Hornets legal department as its Director of Legal Affairs. He rose to become the leader of the organization’s legal department as its Vice President of Legal Affairs, where he was responsible for managing the department and overseeing all legal matters for the organization before ultimately leaving the team in 2013 to pursue entrepreneurial endeavors full time.

Walters graduated from the University of Delaware with a degree in English and received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Baltimore School of Law, and his master’s in business administration from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill.

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Derrick Brown

Co-FOUNDER

Derrick Brown, founder of The Free Spade Group, graduated with a dual degree in Marketing and Entrepreneurial Studies from Xavier University, after which he was then selected with the 40th draft pick by the Charlotte Hornets in the National Basketball Association Draft, setting off an 11-year career spanning tenures in both the NBA and the Euroleague.

His next move was to serve as the Vice President of ELPA (Euroleague Players’ Association), which allowed for a seamless transition to his current leadership role as co-founder of Free Fenix, LLC. Derrick’s focus, since his days as a professional athlete, has been trained on continuing to build and grow his potential as a businessman and a marketplace visionary, including successful investments in publicly traded and privately held (pre-IPO) venture backed companies (Facebook, Uber, Beyond Meat and several others). Much like with his playing days, Derrick is true to Charlotte, but continues to see the business world through a global lens.