Lauren Tayag

Vice President, Relationship Manager, PNC Business Credit

40 Under 40 Category: Portfolio/Risk Management

Biography:

Lauren Wagner began her career at PNC Business Credit in 2011 as an operations analyst and has advanced rapidly within the organization over the ensuing nine years. Demonstrating exceptional performance, Lauren quickly advanced to a position as field examiner and, shortly thereafter, relocated and joined the underwriting team. As an underwriter, Lauren spent five years working on complex transactions that highlighted her strengths in financial analysis, effective communication and credit risk management. Most recently, Lauren accepted a position as relationship manager with the Portfolio group, managing as many as a dozen accounts, including a workout within her first few months in the new role. A graduate of Lafayette College with a dual major in economics and psychology, Lauren remains active in the secured lending community as a committee member in the Philadelphia chapters of SFNet, TMA NextGen and TMA NOW.

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

“It’s okay to make mistakes.” Key elements of learning and professional growth are the mistakes that you make, especially in the early stages of your career. An important distinction is how you handle the mistake and the challenging situation that results. I have admired my mentors and peers who own up to their mistakes and work to correct their missteps. I have learned that self-confidence is equally as important as humility in the face of errors. Learning from past mistakes, applying the lessons learned to new situations, and continuing to collaborate with team members with different perspectives have been critically important to advancement in my career thus far.  

What effect has the COVID crisis had on your professional life?

The current environment has provided many challenges and with those challenges, opportunities for professional growth. As a younger professional in the secured lending community, the current market dynamics provide a unique experience – managing a distressed portfolio. While personally managing nearly a dozen clients, each individual borrower has positively, or more often, negatively been impacted by the sudden halt and restart of businesses. Although not all conversations are comfortable, the pandemic has afforded me the opportunity to connect personally with management teams, while also mediating the challenges of borrowers’ financial outlooks paired with the bank’s credit risk.  

In addition, I find the pandemic has challenged me to further enhance the effectiveness of my communication. My responsibilities require continual communications amongst product partners, internal management teams, borrower contacts, external networking connections, etc. In a few short months, the value of virtual communication has expanded exponentially. Although I find there is no replacement for a face-to-face personal meeting, ensuring continued productivity through conference calls, emails and video calls while working remotely has been critical to ensuring all of my clients’ needs are met. 

What advice do you normally give to the junior talent you mentor?

Typically, my advice focuses on two key items: (1) make connections, and (2) hard work pays off.  

Both internally and externally, the connections made in the early stages of your career provide the resources you need to propel development. These connections can provide valuable industry insights, business opportunities, and/or future career advancement, and for me, many of these connections also have turned into mentors. 

I find unofficial mentors and peers to be valuable resources for questions, concerns or engaging conversations. One of the most comforting parts of my job is knowing that I am supported and encouraged by peers, mentors and management. Plus, through relationships developed with connected individuals, I have also developed valued advocates who help position me for continued success.

Although it may not be immediately apparent, hard work is recognized. My advice centers on challenging yourself whether that’s through a complex project, a meeting with a new acquaintance or leading research on a new topic. In my experience, I find the ability to rise to new challenges and persevere is not only a valued professional quality, but one that represents a learning opportunity for continued growth.