Bianca Barredo

Managing Director, Asset Based Lending, MidCap Financial Services, LLC

40 Under 40 Category: Business Development

Biography:

Bianca Barredo is Managing Director of MidCap Financial’s Asset Based Lending Group, which offers flexible, highly-customized, structured financings for special situations and acquisitions. Bianca’s focus is establishing and growing the ABL Enterprise Value Stretch platform which couples EV term loans with asset-based lines of credit to middle market companies in U.S. and Canada. Target investments are $10 to $150 million senior secured facilities for cyclical or seasonal companies with heavy working capital demands that require additional capital of one to two turns of EBITDA over the asset base. Particularly for independent sponsors and family offices, we offer equity co-investments alongside our debt investments.

Bianca has spent her career originating, underwriting and monitoring cash flow and asset-backed credit investments in founder-owned, sponsor-backed and public companies in all stages of growth. Prior to joining MidCap, she was Senior Vice President at GE Capital, Corporate Finance Group, where she was responsible for sourcing and originating cash flow and ABL transactions. Additionally, she spent eight years at Comerica Bank, beginning in their Credit Training Program, and most recently as Vice President, Team Leader where she was responsible for underwriting and portfolio management.

She received a BSBA in Corporate Finance from USC Marshall School of Business and an MBA in Entrepreneurial Studies from UCLA Anderson School of Management where I received the Gloria Appel Prize for Excellence in Entrepreneurial Studies.

What is the best professional advice you have been given and how have you implemented it?

One of the best business developers I know advised of the importance of building a personal brand that is separate and distinct from my employer’s brand. He stressed how brand and reputation pervades the market and defines a career. For me, that means focusing on depth, not breadth in my network, with particular emphasis on long-term, collegial relationships based on trust and transparency. It sounds cliché, but it is something that I find valuable, particularly in a transactional business. Some of my best relationships seek my advice to: brainstorm deal structures, provide feedback on other capital providers, or market-check existing deal points. My goal is to add value beyond providing my institution’s debt capital. I have spent my entire career in the same market and view the core of my network as people whom I help to be more successful in their careers, something which, thankfully, has been reciprocated in kind.

How would you define what a good leader is, and what can you do to reflect those characteristics as you progress in your career?

Some of my favorite business leaders have a strong sense of community; concentrating on that intersection of business and civic works, one reinforcing the other. It’s the business owner who hires disabled people to work at their company or opens a new factory in their home country. The real estate lawyer who sits on boards of organizations combating homelessness and invests in commercial property in gentrifying neighborhoods. I do know these people and think they are representative of great leadership. I try to help my community in small ways through mentorship and volunteering my time to aid in financial literacy, but, as I progress in my career, I hope to find new ways to utilize my skills, education and experience to make a greater impact on the LA community.

What advice do you normally give to the junior talent you mentor/what advice would you give to forthcoming generation of talent aspiring to win this award?

I tell junior talent who despite what they might think, there isn’t a right or wrong way to develop business, but it is through trial and error that you find your own voice and style. Early in my career, when I was an underwriter, I was looking to move into capital markets, but a mentor encouraged me to sign-up for sales training and consider originations. I was under the impression that all business developers had a specific personality, and definitely didn’t think I fit the bill – but a good mentor pushes you outside your comfort zone. I still remember how uncomfortable I was at that sales training. I had to make cold calls in front of colleagues and, as a group, we watched video recordings of rehearsed prospect meetings and dissected each other’s presentation. That training was brutal, but she really encouraged and supported me. She believed in me and thought individuals with strong credit backgrounds were great at developing business, something that is a hallmark of my sales style today. It is easy to attribute someone’s accomplishments to some innate quality, but I don’t believe that’s how it works. I tell junior talent, particularly those intimidated by sales or client interaction, that I have seen many different types of people, with varied backgrounds and personalities, find success.