Last Fall, Webster Bank announced that Abby Parsonnet was named executive managing director, head of Asset Based Lending (ABL) for Webster Bank. In her role, she oversees the nationwide Asset-Based Lending and Commercial Services teams at Webster, which also includes staffing solutions and factoring. She reports to Chris Motl, president of Commercial Banking.

As head of ABL, Parsonnet is responsible for continuing Webster’s strong tradition of excellence in delivering customized working capital solutions to middle- market clients and sponsors.  She will lead a team of bankers based in strategic markets nationwide.

Parsonnet joined Webster in 2013 as regional president and quickly grew its New York franchise from the ground up to just under a billion dollars in commitments. In 2018, she further expanded her role by leading Webster’s Sales Council, which has resulted in consistently strong engagement and referral activity supporting our strong sales culture. Parsonnet was recognized as one of Crain’s NY Business’ Notable Women in Banking in 2019.

Here, Abby discusses her career, goals in her new role, how the merger with Sterling National Bank helped to expand Webster’s offerings, particularly in ABL and factoring, and more.

TSL: Congrats on the new role! Before we dive into that, can you provide some background on your career?

Parsonnet: I was fortunate to hold several different roles at JP Morgan, including a two-specialty unit within business credit and leading the dedicated ABL Restructuring Group through the Great Recession. After that, I was at FTI Consulting, and was senior managing director in Corporate Finance and Restructuring and I primarily was representing secured lenders so that was leveraging the same skills I utilized through much of my banking career -- leading bank groups and helping them through processes.

I joined Webster as a regional president in metro New York to build out the commercial banking presence as part of our geographic expansion at the time.  It was really a great experience because I got to build our team from scratch and grow it into a successful business with wonderful clients. 

In addition, I serve as head of Webster’s sales council so that’s our cross-selling initiative, which is throughout the commercial bank, helping the commercial bank collaborate with different products for the benefit of our clients.

How did your previous roles at JP Morgan Chase, FTI Consulting and as regional president at Webster Bank helped prepare you for your current role?

From my time at JPMorgan, I developed a really strong credit orientation and that, in addition to a good ABL skillset, were really the backbone of everything we do.  It’s critical in the field.

Through the different leadership roles I’ve had, I learned to quickly assess and unlock the full potential of teams. I led winning teams and enhanced critical leadership skills to add immense value in this role that I have now.  It’s really all about the team, we’re only as successful as the team, and the ability to energize and invigorate people and get everybody moving in the same direction. We’re still building on the culture that’s come together so nicely through our merger that was just over one year ago.

I am really excited to discuss more on what I’m doing in my current role, which is overseeing our national ABL business and our commercial services team at Webster.Commercial Services includes our Staffing Solutions Group and our Factoring Group, which are new to the bank from the merger with Sterling. They are wonderful businesses that complement our ABL business.

It’s been a year since Webster Bank announced its acquisition of Sterling Bank. How has this merger helped to expand Webster’s offerings, particularly in ABL and factoring?

The merger has been fantastic in so many ways.  The merger was announced in 2021 and we had time to really plan and pull everything together and make some good strategic decisions before it did close last year. 

For us, factoring is a brand new product offering for Webster. It was a legacy Sterling product, and we really see the opportunity to grow that business throughout commercial banking. We can bring this to all the business units to help them offer the best solutions for their clients.  We can bring credit production to clients and provide financing in a way that we couldn’t before for smaller and mid-size clients or clients that have different needs that can be accommodated through middle market or even ABL.

We have this incredible staffing solutions platform that offers a wide range of financing capabilities to staffing businesses of any size and we’re looking to leverage our prominence in the staffing business to other areas and clients of the bank, whether they be middle-market size clients or in ABL. There is just a tremendous wealth of knowledge there.

For ABL, which is the biggest team that I work with, the merger brought expanded scope, amazing talent, a greater depth and breadth of experience. We have an incredibly talented team, and our larger balance sheet lets us do bigger deals, bringing more value to our clients, and will enable us to develop more through our capital markets team.

Webster also has long had dedicated coverage of private equity sponsors and we’re looking to leverage those relationships with the ABL product, as well.

What are you seeing in the staffing industry?

Staffing is a dynamic industry that you’ll see in a lot of sectors.  Staffing companies serve a valuable role in healthcare and skilled nursing, which are reliant on staffing in different areas.  In healthcare, for example, smaller hospitals may not want to have specialists on staff, but they can tap that expertise through staffing companies dedicated to doctors.  Staffing plays a vital role in industry-specific seasonal workforces, like warehousing and logistics, as well as IT projects. IT skills can be so specific, you can go out and hire a person full-time, but if you only need their skills for a limited time for a project, you’re probably better off going to a qualified staffing agency that has that expertise. There are also companies that are rapidly growing and trying to evaluate what the permanent staffing needs are, so staffing agencies can be helpful.

What have been your top priorities in your new position as executive managing director and head of Asset Based Lending and Commercial Services at Webster Bank and why?

We’re looking to leverage the complementary strengths between the legacy Sterling and Webster ABL businesses to maximize the growth potential of the business.  We’re looking to leverage and grow our market presence and our partnership with the rest of the bank where we think we can be a good partner as well as generate additional revenue and a client base for our lines of business. 

A key component for us is growth and our strategic vision is three-fold — it’s leveraging the bank’s capability and providing value-added solutions for our existing client base to deepen relationships and continuing to grow Webster’s ABL footprint nationwide, adding coverage to new markets where we’re not presently represented. We do have BDOs throughout the country, but there are a few pockets that we’re looking to add to that we think will be strategic.  Then we will draw on the best practices from both institutions.  We think that’s a recipe for success.

We’re taking advantage of the opportunity to leverage the factoring staffing solutions businesses and deliver those capabilities to clients throughout the bank and we see a flow of business coming from the other areas of the bank looking for ways to insure their receivables or finance companies are supported in a way where the bank can now help companies they couldn’t before through difficult times.

Another focus is making sure that we are visible in all relevant markets across the nation, and we’ve been identifying pockets of ABL-friendly industries where we can grow our presence. We are looking to grow our presence in Dallas where we already have an operations and portfolio management hub.  Lastly, we’re looking to leverage our balance sheet, take larger positions in deals, bring new value to clients through our larger balance sheet, and leverage our capital markets capabilities.

What are some other industry sectors you see growth in? 

We see several different opportunities. On the one hand, there are companies right now that have substantial inventory positions, maybe more substantial than they would like, but certainly more than they had in the past as they had to change their sourcing strategies in response to supply chain issues, looking to mitigate the risk of supply chain issues and diversify sourcing. Those companies often make wonderful ABL candidates because we can really understand the inventory and figure out how best to finance it.

We also see a trend with on-shoring manufacturing, whether it’s technology or more traditional areas of manufacturing as a reaction to the supply chain issues and concerns around off-shoring of vital technologies. Manufacturing is always a wonderful opportunity for ABL.

We continue to see growth in the better-for-you category, and many are smaller, but rapidly growing, businesses like cosmetics and nutritional products, as people continue to pursue wellness. Those products, particularly in the rapidly growing markets, often align themselves well with ABL or with factoring.

How can banks and factoring companies address challenges and prepare for all the uncertainty everyone keeps talking about?

The market’s really been spoiled by historically low interest rates since the Great Recession, which is a long time ago at this point, and that’s left us with a generation of lenders and even CFOs who haven’t had to navigate to normalizing interest rates.  Couple that with inflation, the skillset may be a little dusty, but managing through inflation and higher interest rates requires a different skillset.

For example, we’ll see financial statements with growing top lines, and the question is, are the margins really there or is it because inflation is automatically going to grow top lines, if all else is equal? Digging deeper and understanding what’s going on with clients is critical.  

Identifying the impact of interest rates and inflation early is so important because that’s the way we’re best positioned to help our clients and deliver the most appropriate solutions. We need to work closely with our clients as always, but now, more than ever, help them anticipate their needs before they arise and that’s the best way to respond to uncertainty. It’s the basic blocking and tackling of ABL and it’s where we excel.

We’re speaking right around the time The Secured Lender’s March Women in Secured Finance issue comes out, and it’s also Women’s History Month. In an industry that is still more male-dominated, what advice would you give to women in the secured finance industry who want to advance into a more senior role? Was there anything you know now that you wish you knew when you were starting your career?

You have to look at ways to identify your own unique strengths and figure ways to differentiate. As a more junior banker, I realized I could stand out in a crowd if I intentionally put myself in situations where you didn’t see many women and that worked to my advantage. There were times when I was made to feel uncomfortable, no doubt about it, but I knew that I had the capability, and I just didn’t let that weigh on me and kept moving forward.

I think the best advice I can give is don’t let the noise bother you.  Don’t let people’s perception of your ability bother you. Prove what you can do.  It applies to everyone.  No one hands opportunity over to you, you have to earn it, or you have to fight for it.

When you are not busy at Webster Bank, what can you be found doing?

A key value of Webster Bank is giving back to the communities we serve and community involvement.  I’m fortunate; with my family, my career, and to be as successful as I am, and I have to remind myself of that and I remind my team constantly. I think it’s so important that we all look to give back. I’ve done that personally. I was originally one of the founders of Delivering Good, which is an amazing charity. I’m on the board of Big Brothers, Big Sisters because I think youth is the future. And anything we can do to help youth successfully launch is generational change, so that’s very important to me.

I was also fortunate to be honored last year by the Queens Center for Progress, which is an amazing organization doing very important work on the local level, and I think sometimes organizations like that get overlooked. 

When I’m not at the bank, I’m playing with my little Maltese, at the gym, or taking advantage of what New York still has to offer culturally — the Philharmonic, theater, or museums. If you haven’t been to the new David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, which was renovated during the pandemic, it’s amazing. It was great timing for them, and the acoustics are off the charts. My happy place is also going to Florida and the beach.