Jennifer Kempton

Managing Director, The PrivateBank

40 Under 40 Category: Portfolio Management

Biography:

Jennifer Kempton is a managing director at The PrivateBank, having spent more than a decade as an asset-based lender. Jennifer attended Murray State University where she obtained a B.A. in finance and was twice awarded the Allen Preble Memorial Scholarship from the SFNET Midwest Chapter.

Following graduation she was hired into LaSalle Bank’s commercial bank training program and subsequently joined LaSalle Business Credit as an analyst. A few years after Bank of America’s acquisition of LaSalle Bank, Jennifer joined the ABL team at The PrivateBank as the group’s first relationship manager.

Kempton is a board member of the Allen Preble Memorial Scholarship Foundation which has granted a scholarship to children of SFNET members for the last 15 years. In addition, she is a founding board member of the Midwest Chapter of Women in Commercial Finance.

How did you wind up in the industry? We know most kids don’t say “I want to be in commercial finance when I grow up?”

I’ve always been fascinated with problem-solving and learning how things, work; from “Mr. Rogers” and later school field trips, it seemed natural that I would pursue a career that allowed me to incorporate my interests. Without a natural aptitude for science, finance seemed like the next logical option. My studies took me to Murray State University in Kentucky and then on to The University of Regensburg in Germany to study finance. A mere semester from college graduation, I was unsure what I wanted to be when I grew up, and panic was setting in!

I had always found my corporate banking classes interesting, but didn’t know exactly what my career path in banking might look like. Fortunately for me, my father, a veteran of the asset-based lending industry, introduced to me a former colleague, Carol Morse, who thought I would be a great fit for LaSalle Bank’s Commercial Bank Training Program. I guess you could say the apple didn’t fall far from the tree as my first rotation was with Doug Colletti in asset-based lending and I have been doing it ever since. In 2010, I joined Doug and other senior leaders I had formerly worked with who were launching an asset-based lending division at The PrivateBank. I was fortunate to be exposed to every aspect of managing an asset-based credit in those early days, from reconciling borrowing bases, to structuring and underwriting transactions and subsequently managing those transactions. More than seven years later, I am still working with the same team at The PrivateBank.

What role has mentoring played in your career?

I firmly believe that mentorship is the best path to career success. I have been extremely fortunate to have great mentors who were willing to invest in me and provide meaningful opportunities for growth. The network of both personal and professional mentors, including my manager of more than 10 years, Doug Colletti, and the senior managers at The PrivateBank have been integral in guiding me to be in the position I am in today. Their willingness to take a risk in hiring me as their first asset-based lending relationship manager back in 2010 is something for which I will always be grateful.  While I am everlastingly grateful for the skills I’ve learned over time as a mentee, I also believe that mentoring is a two-way street. No role has as a mentor has been as transformative as my role as a Big Sister in partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago. I have mentored two “Little Sisters” through high school and on to college. While originally getting involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters to hopefully pay it forward in some small way, I underestimated how positively these two young women would impact my own personal development. I have found that the lessons I teach on personal and professional development are often the best reminders for my own life.