MY JOURNEY
WELLS FARGO-VERTICALEASE.COM-FIRSTRUST
After college I joined the CoreStates Management Training Program. (Note: Wells Fargo is the successor by merger to CoreStates). Upon completion I moved into the Transportation & Equipment finance group. I learned how to analyze cash flows of finance companies, transportation companies and operating lessors. My exposure to various asset classes was exciting as I financed railcars, aircraft, jet engines, small-ticket equipment leases, tugboats and barges and even ships! Later as a few customers expanded to Europe I was able to follow them and I got exposure to international lending. Finally I transitioned into the asset securitization group where I learned how to turn portfolios into securitize-able bonds through our commercial paper conduit. Working with borrowers, rating agencies and sureties was like an advanced degree in finance. After the First Union acquisition I left to start an internet leasing company called VerticaLease.com. We were a few years ahead of our time and the the business could not withstand the shock caused by the internet and technology bubble of 2000. Next, I joined FirsTrust Bank to start a small ticket leasing company for them called FirstLease, which is still operating and successful today. But I always wanted autonomy and ownership so my friend and I left to start Vanguard Leasing.
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UNIVEST BANK
Vanguard Leasing was acquired by Univest and later re-branded Univest Capital. I helped build this new business into a nationwide leasing company. In doing so, I learned how to embed new software tools into the workflow to drive efficiency and lower costs. We built a patchwork quilt of software tools and had built a terrific product suite. Then I stumbled across nCino in 2013 - and that changed everything.
nCino was the integration of all the tools I had used but in one solution built on the backbone of Salesforce.com. I quickly implemented it at Univest Capital. Banks always struggle with lending to small businesses because they use traditional underwriting tools and apply them to loans ranging from $25,000 to $1 million+. That's an expensive way to go. With nCino I drove the efficiency ratio into the high 40's and this with a nationwide footprint. The bank leadership took notice.
​Next, I built a new small business lending platform allowing the bank to originate and manage small business loans efficiently. In 2015, we won a Bank Director FinTech Award for digitizing the loan process and creating new loans in 7 minutes. Now I ran Business Banking and Univest Capital. Because I had experience with Cash Management and was a Certified Treasury Professional I was asked to run Cash Management when a leadership change occurred. I did this and helped grow the revenue and product suite. We added a SWIFT code and began making F/X income on international wire volume. But by 2018 my earn-out from the sale to Univest ended and I sought a new challenge. I just didn't know what it would be.
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HUNTINGDON VALLEY BANK
After a few idle months, a friend invited me to meet the CEO of HVB. They wanted to build a commercial bank, had tried a few times before, and failed. I tried to scare him off with bold and innovative ideas ahead of the times, but he listened. I talked about all-digital lending and account opening, lending to eCommerce companies using data streams from Amazon to validate collateral and automate advance rates. I spoke of digital signatures and automatic loan doc generation, and still he listened. Finally I agreed to do a business plan. The Board liked it and asked if I would come on full-time to build it. I agreed and the next three years would be the most exciting and productive of my career.
Shortly after I started, COVID hit. Over a weekend in April 2020, I built the first version of a digital loan machine. The process was people-intensive but worked. After the program funds were exhausted we had a short break. During this time I engaged nCino and built a digital version of our process. When things re-started, so did we! We were now cranking PPP loans digitally, but it still was cumbersome to me. When the first round ended, I sought to improve our system. I knew the folks at Numerated and they had high marks in Round 1. In a few days we engaged them and had the fastest implementation in their history. The product was built for speed, automation and PPP. We experienced a head-snapping 700% increase in production overnight. It was amazing. The program ended and things reverted to normal.
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After PPP ended the government came out with the Main Street Lending Program administered by the Boston Federal Reserve. This was a complicated program, not at all like PPP. But there was something there so I studied it for 3 months and found a simple path we could use to make the program work for our clients. Our Board agreed, and in a few short months we became the top originator of Main Street loans in the Philadelphia MSA.
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As Main Street was winding down, I picked up my work on our eCommerce platform but in speaking with the normal software providers none could do what I wanted. So after re-connecting with Bryan Adler who recently sold his Fintech, he agreed to join the team with his CTO and we built the system ourselves - enter BraavoBank.com.
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While Braavo was now moving forward, my Market President, Dan Krewson, introduced me to Greg DiPrisco from RWA Co. Greg wanted to use commercial bank loans to collateralize cryptocurrency. What? I first dove into the Blockchain after the 2017 AFP Conference in San Diego where I met Don Tapscott author of Blockchain. So I knew a little, very little... After we studied the various compliance hurdles, we brought the idea to our CEO and Board. After many meetings we got approval to proceed. On August 19, 2022 we closed the world's first commercial bank secured cryptocurrency transaction in the world. This is the most scrutinized and the cleanest regulatory transaction in the world involving a US broker-dealer, US Trust bank and US commercial Bank. It has been a huge success for all involved. On October 19, 2022 HVB agreed to merge with FCCB. A new challenge awaits!
DIGITAL BANKING
What is Digital Banking?
For me, it's all about the process. A famous technology CEO says, "I'm not here to digitize your inefficient processes." He's absolutely correct, and yet, so many banks do just that. For me it starts with a blank page. If we were building a bank today, how would it work? What would the workflows be, how can we streamline them, simplify them, make the user experience frictionless? All of these questions need to be answered however, many bank executives fear the answers!
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Too many banking leaders fear the disruption that comes with a full digital banking re-do. To me it's akin to restoring a vintage car, you can do it piecemeal, or a full frame-off restoration. I prefer the latter. You get a superior product in the end and it is not more time consuming to do.
I've built digital lending systems several times in my career and each one was wildly successful. Mostly because the leadership was all-in and allowed me to do the work necessary to be successful. If you don't know what it looks like when it's done, don't start until you do!
I start by analyzing current workflows and processes, suggest improvements and then implement digital technology solutions to simplify the process and digitize the workflows. The result? Faster, more accurate workflows and a better customer journey.
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IDEAS
INNOVATION LAB
Companies say their employees are their greatest asset. Yet when employees have great ideas they are often ignored. AT HVB I developed the concept of an Innovation Lab where employee ideas can turn into businesses. It's where our Bravo Bank and our Consumer finance businesses were born. There are so many opportunities for companies to empower the ideas of their employees as long as there is a structure to foster the development of the idea and gauge whether or not the idea goes forward.
SMALL BUSINESS CENTER FOR EXCELLENCE
I saw with the Emerging Leaders Program how desperate small businesses are for mentorship and guidance. I think a bank-sponsored curriculum could help CEOs improve their skills and hone their financial acumen to become better businesses. Better businesses become better borrowers and so the business and the bank both win, as we share the same goal.
CEO BOOK CLUB
One of the benefits of Vistage and the Emerging Leaders Program is CEO peer education and the camaraderie that rises among the CEOs. Having the ability to introduce modern business topics in the setting of a book club I think could foster CEO growth beyond the classroom and also build relationships among other CEOs so ideas and problems can be shared and a network-effect could emerge where the members all rose their businesses together.