Knoxville Staff

Jim joined First Southern Mortgage Corp of Tennessee in July 1996 as a mortgage producer. Since joining First Southern, Jim has personally placed more than $1 billion in permanent loans with life insurance companies, Wall Street conduits, pension funds, banks and government agencies. With over 30 years in commercial real estate, brings extensive valuation skills for loan underwriting, asset valuation and portfolio review. Jim is a partner and President of First Southern.




Nashville Staff

With each of these companies Mr. Brink has concentrated his efforts in providing mortgage financing and equity placements for commercial properties in Tennessee and surrounding states. These placements include construction and permanent loans, as well as joint-venture equity arrangements, private equity infusions and tax-credit financing. The sources of the debt and equity funds are primarily life insurance companies, but also include conduit lenders, credit companies, commercial banks and private investors. Mr. Brink has arranged debt and equity placements of more than $1.0 billion and served as buyer’s broker in more than $250 million investment sales transactions.
In June 2010 Mr. Brink was honored by the Nashville Business Journal as one of the Most Valuable Players in Nashville’s Commercial Real Estate Market during the past decade. Mr. Brink has served on the Board of Directors for the Tennessee Mortgage Banker’s Association where he chaired and worked on the legislative, finance and ethics committees. He has also received honors for his involvement in the Mortgage Bankers of America. He has been named as one of the top players in Nashville’s commercial real estate market by various local publications. Stephen is also a licensed attorney in Tennessee and a member of the American Bar Association.

Thomas currently serves as Senior Analyst and Closing Manager of the Nashville office. Since joining the First Southern team, Thomas has closed over $1.0 billion worth of commercial real estate capital.

Prior to joining First Southern, Graham served as the research point of contact for JLL. In this role he was responsible for assisting internal stakeholders and external clients in using proprietary market research data to make informed real estate decisions across the state of Tennessee. Prior to joining JLL, Graham completed multiple internships with one of Nashville’s largest landlords, Boyle Investment Company, assisting both their development and brokerage teams. Tasks included market research for tenant attraction and retention, financial modeling for debt refinancing and due diligence on potential mixed-use development opportunities.
Graham has earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Samford University, majoring in Finance. He currently holds a Tennessee affiliate broker’s license, and is an active member in the Nashville chapters of NAIOP and ULI.
Memphis Staff

Jackson Staff

Prior to joining First Southern Ruffin worked at Grandbridge Real Estate Capital where he specialized in the underwriting, analysis, and funding of all commercial real estate asset classes, across a variety of debt and equity capital sources, including Agency, FHA, Conduit, and Insurance Companies. Ruffin has also served as Vice President at Community Bank where he specialized in commercial and residential loan production. Ruffin’s experience as an analyst and lender provides First Southern and its clients with an in depth knowledge of commercial real estate and capital markets.
Ruffin earned his Bachelor of Business Administration in finance and investments from the University of Mississippi and a Graduate Degree in Banking from the Mississippi School of Banking. He is a member of the Urban Land Institute, NAIOP, and CCIM.