Jason Hoefler

Director, Asset-Based Lending, BMO Harris Bank

40 Under 40 Category: Portfolio Management

Biography:

Born in Rock Falls, IL, Jason’s working career began at age 11 detasseling corn.   Working in the corn fields for five summers, two years at a dealership washing cars and one year working for his uncle’s septic tank business, Jason learned that he preferred the comforts of an air conditioned office to the great outdoors.   And so began the pursuit of an accounting degree from the University of Illinois after graduating from Newman Central Catholic High School in 1996.  

During the summers following his freshman and sophomore years, Jason returned to Rock Falls and worked at a local hardware manufacturing company called National Manufacturing.   It was at National that Jason developed an interest in manufacturing.   He carried this interest, along with his CPA, to the Industrial and Manufacturing group within the Audit practice at KPMG.  After three years at KPMG, Jason accepted an offer from Fleet Boston (now Bank of America) in 2003, where his now-13-year career in asset-based lending began.   Jason spent his first three years completing field exams on prospects and existing customers, allowing him to experience many different industries, see many different ABL structures, learn about many different types of collateral and accumulate a substantial amount of Hilton Honors points.  Subsequently, Jason spent two years in underwriting and then three years in portfolio management, where he learned deal structuring, legal documentation, credit monitoring, relationship building and credit product solutions.

After eight years at Bank of America, Jason accepted a job with the ABL group at BMO Harris Bank, where he now manages a team that includes two business development officers and five underwriters and portfolio managers.   Through this opportunity at BMO Harris, Jason has gained valuable experience on the front end of deals while continuing to manage the underwriting, closing and portfolio management aspects of each deal.   Jason is very experienced with private-equity-owned, family-owned and publicly traded companies across a variety of industries, deal sizes and capital structures.   Managing his own team also allows Jason to focus on mentoring, which is by far his favorite part of the job.

Jason lives in Palos Heights, IL, with his wife Vicki and his two children, without whose incredible patience, understanding and support of his career ambitions, no one would be reading this.

When informed he was one of the SFNet 40 Under 40 recipients, Jason replied, “Winning this award is incredibly humbling and I am so grateful and appreciative of my friend, mentor and manager, Mike Scolaro, for nominating me.  I also want to take this opportunity to thank my parents, who showed me that hard work and a focus on family can coexist and who inspired the work ethic that has brought me success thus far in my career.” 

His nominator Michael Scolaro, managing director, group head, Asset-based Lending at BMO Harris Bank, said, “In the five years since joining BMO Harris Bank, Jason has quickly risen to a team leader position. His team (many of whom possess significantly more ABL work experience than he does) operates effectively under deadline, sources deals on market terms, cooperates with other areas of the bank and is enormously efficient and profitable. He is recognized by all who come into contact with him as a dynamic leader.”