Farrah Vargas

SVP, Business Development, Allied Affiliated Funding, a division of Axiom Bank, N.A.

40 Under 40 Category: Business Development

Message from Farrah Vargas

Biography:

Farrah currently serves as senior vice president, business development at Allied Affiliated Funding, a division of Axiom Bank, N.A., providing accounts receivable financing and ledgered asset-based lending to companies with facilities ranging from $100K - $15MM.

Farrah has been with Allied for over 12 years and the primary thing people have come to expect from her is MORE. Whether leading branding efforts, managing the underwriting department or, more recently, in a business development capacity, she always delivers more than required. Because of that, referral sources as well as clients have come to trust her and know that by calling Farrah, she will go above and beyond to get the job done expediently while delivering exemplary customer service. Farrah has reviewed over 3,000 businesses applying for financing and directly delivered over $100MM in annual fundings, allowing her to bring a breadth of knowledge to each funding need presented. 

In addition to serving as a member of the executive management team, Farrah currently oversees Allied’s key bank referral relationships while developing new business opportunities. She prioritizes staying in constant connection with the marketplace and solidifying relationships even during challenging times. Farrah graduated in the top five percent of Texas A&M University’s business school with a degree in finance. She enjoys traveling adventures with her husband, entertaining her dog, exploring new food and cultures, and serving her friends/community. \

What is your definition of success? 

Continual growth, both personally and professionally. To be better every day than I was before and enjoy each moment of the journey. Darren Hardy wrote a book called The Compound Effect that applies the same concept of compounding interest to your life choices – that all of the small, seemingly insignificant decisions you make every single day compound and greatly change the trajectory of your ultimate destiny. This has been a guiding principle for my life. The Compound Effect is the operating system that is running all of our lives and it is up to us to use it to our advantage. That is success.

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

Always deliver more than required. It is usually what you do after what is required that matters. It is the MORE that matters. Considering the excessive environment we live in, things tend to blur together and thus, are unmemorable. To be memorable, you have to do MORE. In order to do more, you have to listen and then utilize your creativity when asking yourself “what is the pain point they are asking me to solve and how can I take it three steps further?” An example would be if a prospect is asking about the difference between your product and two competitors. Instead of telling them in a phone conversation (the easiest route), perhaps you make them a quick infographic that compares all three, easily listing the pros and cons in addition to verbally covering the information. Instead of sending someone a standard gift basket at Christmas time, you send them a present specifically tailored to their interests that they causally mentioned six months ago over lunch. 

How do you define a good leader?

A good leader is someone who makes you think, someone who doesn’t answer all of the questions, but questions the answers, making one think at a more advanced level, resulting in growth. A good leader will push their team members to find ways to lean in to the discomfort, for outside of the comfort zone is often where growth happens…and accomplishment…and excitement. A good leader creates a culture of teamwork and accountability; one that can have candid conversations about what is working and what is not working. They let their team members know what they need done, but not how to do it. This gives the employee a great opportunity to think cognitively and learn and the leader often learns a new way of doing something as well. A good leader makes the same decision when no one is watching as the one they would make if the world were watching. They do what is right, even when it isn’t what is easy. A common thread amongst all of these things is the necessity to be an impactful communicator. In order to have commitment, there must be clarity in the message. A leader will often have to deliver messages to a variety of audiences and the ability to adapt this message, while still maintaining clarity and the solidarity of the relationship, is an art.