Paula Caldwell

Vice President, Operations Manager, Marquette Business Credit

Biography:

In 2005, Paula Caldwell, vice president, operations manager, joined Marquette Business Credit. She set up the entire loan operations and accounting department for the newly formed company. Currently, she manages five employees and oversees the daily cash needs for a portfolio of loans ranging from $2 million to $30 million and she is responsible for the accounting and operational needs for all of Marquette’s regional offices. Paula has extensive involvement in the SFNET’s continuing education program where in 2014 she assisted in the development of the SFNET’s online courses for asset- based lending operations professionals. She subsequently received the 2014 Harry H. Chen Memorial Award of Excellence in recognition of outstanding service as an instructor to the asset-based financial services industry. To this day, she continues to teach two courses for the Association including Borrowing Base Essentials and Cash Management Essentials. Paula also found time to serve her community with the development and implementation of banking and financial courses which were presented to Dallas homeless teens in an effort to guide them to a better future.

What advice would you offer to women just starting out in the industry?

As you first start out, listen carefully to what you hear from the client and your colleagues. One comment will most likely generate a multitude of other questions. Your more-experienced associates might even suggest other areas of interest that should be explored, so keep them informed as you go. Ask enough questions and provide enough reasonable suggestions so that you can actively deliver excellent customer service yet still be able to collect all of your loan balance.

What do you know now that you wish you knew in the beginning of your career?

To ask more questions and make communication a priority! You will lose more information from items getting “lost in translation”. As a loan operations person, it is essential to know how to execute the planned course of action. I know now to begin the discussion by asking what the client’s expectations are. Sometimes the loan officer is also confused about how to accomplish a transaction, so get enough details to contribute to the discussion, whatever the topic.

What kind of role has mentoring and/or sponsorship played in your career?

I started out young, still in college, and was fortunate enough to have two or three people willing to explain the basic hows and whys of providing, managing, and collecting loans. Understanding not only how to do something, but why it is important can help you to make the tough business decisions regarding the successful execution of a loan. Over my career, I’ve continued to learn as much as I can through my exposure to all kinds and sizes of loans, both to excellent clients and those that have declined significantly in performance, moving them into a workout loan status. I try very hard to mentor my associates and those outreach programs I participate in to pass on all I have learned in a way that is beneficial to my associates, my students, and even my clients. When I answer questions for them, I ask why we do this or why we should not do that, making it a point to hear out and possibly explain further the reasoning behind the decision.

What do you think the industry could do to attract and retain the best and the brightest today?

We need to expose them to the fun side of banking and train them well so they can build upon their knowledge as they get deeper in the field. While monitoring, field examinations, and verifications can seem basic in our world, we need to keep them excited about helping our clients grow and expand, while protecting the bank’s investment in their operation. If we can provide progressive training, mentoring, and fair compensation, they can work through every day learning amongst a myriad of different industries, while advancing their future of asset-based lending.

Tell us something about yourself that may surprise people.

The newest addition to my family is a Corgi/Dachshund mix named Shorty with big ears and short legs causing him to need a cute little “boost” to get on our bed. He is just three years old and weighs only 11 lbs. We adopted him from the Carrollton no-kill shelter on March 10 of this year. I firmly believe adopting from shelters is the most admirable and caring way to get a new pet for a family.