Sara V. Traberman

Senior Business Development Officer, PNC Business Credit

Biography:

Sara V. Traberman is a senior financial professional with more than 30 years of experience in various operating and lending positions. For the past 14 years, Sara has been a Senior Business Development Officer for PNC Business Credit in NY, responsible for originating, structuring and closing senior credit facilities for acquisitions, recapitalizations, restructurings and refinancings. In the past 10 years Sara originated close to 50 transactions valued at $1.5 billion in commitments. Sara was recently an honoree at PNC’s annual Summit Meeting which recognizes PNC’s top performers, and is a recipient of PNC’s 2018 Corporate and Institutional Bank’s Sales Excellence award. She has also been recognized by PNC Capital Markets for her significant revenue contributions. Prior to PNC, Sara held senior positions as Credit Team Leader at Transamerica Business Credit, Chief Credit Officer of Transamerica Premium Finance, and CFO of Emerging Vision, Inc. Sara has an MBA in Finance from Pace University, and a BS Foreign Service from Georgetown University. Sara lives in Manhattan with her husband Elliot and their two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. She has two grown children, Stephanie and Garrett.

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

Start out on the right foot by adopting good work habits in order to quickly establish yourself as a high performer — someone who delivers a stellar work product. Form relationships with the people you work with and throughout your organization: having an inside network is just as important as making connections outside your firm. Take every opportunity to gain knowledge and experience. Above all, believe in yourself and always conduct yourself with integrity. Jobs and companies come and go but, if you operate with integrity, people will remember that about you! From a personal standpoint, if you’re serious about having a career, make sure that, early on, whatever personal relationships you’re came along in my 35-plus year career. In many cases, these opportunities meant extra burden on him in terms of our home life. Having a general understanding will enable you to avoid dealing with a domestic dispute at the time an exciting career opportunity is presented to you! Having a career and a family is possible, but it takes effort, sacrifice, continued commitment, and definitely a sense of humor to hold it together.

There will be times when you’ll feel that maybe you can’t have both. That’s when it’s critical for whoever is by your side to be as equally committed to your career as you are, so that person can provide support when you most need it.

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

While you don’t need to be “one of the guys” to try and fit in, one place that I think is still male-dominated is the golf course. You won’t necessarily be shut out of deals and opportunities if you don’t play golf, but it really is an amazing way to forge and deepen business relationships. I wish I had started playing earlier in my career.

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

There have been several individuals our jobs. It helps to have a sounding board when you’re frustrated, and to learn how others at different institutions deal with similar situations.

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

Perhaps more outreach by industry associations could expand the pool of professionals willing to consider the commercial finance industry for their career. Also, those in hiring positions should be open to bringing in talent from other industries – candidates that maybe haven’t followed the traditional commercial finance career path.