JR Thompson

AVP, ABL Operations Team Supervisor, Fifth Third Bank Business Capital

40 Under 40 Category: Operations

Biography:

JR Thompson is an assistant vice president, ABL operations team supervisor for Fifth Third Bank Business Capital.  JR is responsible for managing a team of collateral analysts.  He is also responsible for training new employees. 

JR has over 17 years of experience in asset-based lending operations.  He began his career in ABL as a loan analyst with LaSalle Business Credit in 2003.  In 2008, LaSalle Business Credit was acquired by Bank of America Business Capital and JR was promoted to a team leader.  After eight years at Bank of America, JR took a role as an operations manager with U.S. Bank Asset Based Finance Group. 

JR graduated from Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, IL in 2002 with a Bachelor of Science in economics/finance.  He currently resides in northwest Indiana with his wife, Sara, and three children.

What advice would you give to forthcoming generations of talent aspiring to win this aware?

There are two pieces of advice I would give to somebody aspiring to win this award.  The first one is hard work.  Hard work is critical to succeeding in any job, but it is especially critical in winning this award.  Success is not going to be handed to you; it is something that you must work for and earn.  You must always be willing to give the extra effort to get the job done.  It might mean spending extra time in the office working or spending time outside of work reading and studying, but it is a necessary step to success.  Over time, others will see your hard work and it will lead you to opportunities that you might not otherwise get.  The second piece of advice I would be is be willing to learn.  It is easy for a young professional to think they know all the answers, but they still have so much to learn.  You need to take any opportunity you can to learn.  Even if you are in a position that you know is not a long-term position, learn as much as you can.  Take the time to ask questions of those around you.  Spend time job-shadowing for a position you desire.  Seek help from those who have been doing the job a long time.  Be willing to sit and listen.  This doesn’t change even after you win an award like this.  I still ask questions and seek out help from those who are more knowledgeable than I am.  Industries and jobs are always changing and evolving and the only way to keep up is to be willing to learn daily.

How would you encourage young professionals to become more involved in their community or volunteer?  How have these activities outside of work helped shape your professional life?  

Volunteering has always been an important aspect of my life.  Even at a young age, I always wanted to help where ever it was needed.  As I got older and started my career, I started to realize even more how important it was to volunteer and give back to the community.  Volunteering can look different for each person.  Some of the many ways I have volunteered is through coaching sports, teaching a finance class in an elementary school, mentoring young men and assisting in various school activities.  One of the main ways I think volunteering has helped me in my professional life is it has given me an outlet.  Early in my career I wanted to spend as much time as I could at work in order to learn and prove myself.  However, it is necessary to have interest and hobbies outside of work.  Volunteering helped give me this outlet.  It allowed me down time away from work to refresh myself.  Another way volunteering has helped me is that it taught me to work with others.  In order to gain success in the workplace, you need to be willing to work with others.  You will have the opportunity to work with many different people, including many who have different ideas or opinions that you have.  However, it is critical to put these differences aside to get the job done.  Finally, volunteering also gave me an opportunity to worked with youth and help shape them.  It gave me an opportunity to share my experiences and help them and help them in their journey into adulthood and the workplace.