Lindsay Offutt

Managing Director, Wells Fargo Capital Finance

Lindsay Offutt is a managing director in Wells Fargo Capital Finance’s Loan Sales and Syndications group.  She is responsible for the syndication of asset-based transactions, supplier finance programs, and channel finance facilities.  Prior to joining Wells Fargo Capital Finance in 2019, Lindsay spent 15 years with Wells Fargo Securities.  In the Investment Grade Loan Syndications group, she was responsible for the origination, structuring, and distribution of senior revolving credit, term loan, and bridge facilities for industrial companies.  Lindsay began her career as an analyst in the Defense, Aerospace, and Technology Services Investment Banking group.  She joined a Wells Fargo predecessor in 2004.  

Lindsay currently sits on the SFNet Foundation’s Board of Directors.

Lindsay earned a bachelor of arts degree magna cum laude in French from Davidson College.  She is based in Charlotte, NC, where she lives with her husband and young daughter.

What advice would you offer to women just starting out in the industry?

Work hard and surround yourself with people you enjoy and respect.  You will spend a lot of time at work and life is too short to work for or with disagreeable people.  

What do you know now that you wish you knew in the beginning of your career?  

I was late to realize the importance of networking.  In retrospect, I should have started networking many, many years ago.

How do you balance work/personal time?  

I struggle with this, given my workload and the technology we now have that lets us be plugged in to work at all times.  I am a work-in-progress though and am focusing on being present, regardless of what I am doing.  I have realized over the years that I am not a good multi-tasker and do get better results when I focus on one thing at a time.

How can commercial finance organizations attract and retain more women?  

Women want to work at firms and in roles where they know women can be successful.  So, it is really key to engage, mentor, and retain the existing women in our firms as these veterans will attract younger women.

What effect, if any, has working remotely had on your career and/or your industry? What have been the challenges and how have you worked to overcome them?  

I think we have all done a remarkable job working remotely.  I know many organizations have been amazed at how smooth of a transition it was and how effective work from home is.  Among the many challenges of this new environment is that there is no longer even a semblance of separation of work and home life.  While we are all saving time getting ready in the morning, commuting, and seeking out lunch/coffee throughout the day, work seems to have expanded to take up a larger part of each day, not least because it is so easy to log back in at all times.  Another challenge a lot of people are dealing with is increased home responsibilities as schools and daycares open and close more frequently than we would like.  None of us planned to be assistant teachers while also being bankers, so multi-tasking is at an all-time high.  

What do you think work will look like in the post-pandemic world? 

I am hopeful that we will get back to our “new normal” at some point this year.  I do think work will look a lot different as fewer people actually go into the office each day and some may permanently work from home.  We have all learned to use platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, etc. during the pandemic and I think those trends will continue.  My prediction is that business travel will not rebound to previous levels for a long time, if ever, as management teams now know that a lot can be accomplished virtually for a fraction of the cost.