Sam O'Donnell

Regional Underwriting Manager and Senior Vice President, PNC Business Credit

40 Under 40 Category: Underwriting

Biography:

Sam O’ Donnell has demonstrated superior leadership qualities, and dedication to asset-based lending at PNC Business Credit, and active involvement in his community.

Sam is a graduate of Saint Vincent College, in Latrobe, PA, having earned a double major in finance and economics, as well as a minor in accounting.  He also earned a collegiate golf scholarship. Sam has been with PNC Business Credit (“PNCBC”) for ten years. Sam started with PNCBC in 2006 as a field examiner based in East Brunswick, NJ and then worked in New York City, NY for two and a half years as a relationship manager, before moving with his wife to Pittsburgh.

Sam is currently a regional underwriting manager and senior vice president with PNC Business Credit, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In this role, Sam leads a team of six underwriters located throughout the country in structuring, underwriting and negotiating middle-market asset-based and cash flow-financing transactions with a high degree of complexity. Transactions span multiple industries, resulting from corporate acquisitions, expansion, recapitalization, and turnaround situations.

Prior to this role, Sam was a senior underwriter and team leader with additional responsibilities, including the training and managing of junior underwriters. Sam transitioned from an underwriter role to team leader to regional underwriting manager quickly, over the course of four years.

Sam was awarded the PNC Market All-Stars Award in 2014. Each year, PNC selects the top business producers in each market based on their performance.  Sam was only one of four underwriters nationwide who received this award.  This recognition highlighted Sam’s performance and achievements relative to key metrics as a senior underwriter and team leader.

Sam was also instrumental in the design, creation and roll-out of an Underwriting Financial Template and Projection Model, which serve as the primary tools for analyzing the credit worthiness of a prospective borrower, and is used today across the entire PNCBC Underwriting Group. He has greatly contributed to improvement of the efficiency of the lending process through his implementation of advanced spreadsheet applications.

Sam has also helped in PNC’s recruitment of talent and future lenders, by selectively interviewing college graduates and potential candidates at PNC’s Super Day recruiting events.

Sam also finds time in his busy schedule to get involved and make a difference in the community. He has participated in PNC’s Grow Up Great, which is an initiative that began in 2004 to help prepare children from birth to age five for success in school and life, and develop a passion for learning. Sam’s past involvement has included, for example, cleaning and painting at a local non-profit organization that aims to provide single low-income parents who are actively pursuing an education with free child care.

Sam also regularly volunteers at his local parish, including activities such as de-construction of the church rectory for remodeling.  Sam is also a participant and fundraiser for Pittsburgh’s Autism Speaks -- Walk for Autism, and a volunteer at a local Allegheny County Park. 

When informed he had been chosen as one of SFNet’s 40 Under 40, Sam said, “Winning this award was a shock to me; goes to show that Gary Player was right when he said, ‘The harder you work, the luckier you get’.”

His nominator, Joe Sum, national underwriting manager, PNC Business Credit, said, “Sam O’Donnell is an excellent candidate for this award because he has demonstrated superior leadership qualities, dedication to asset-based lending at PNC Business Credit, and active involvement in his community.”