Issue Q1, 2021
TOP WOMEN IN ASSET-BASED LENDING
ABF Journal’s inaugural Top Women in Asset-Based Lending feature includes profiles of more than
50 of the most influential and innovative women in the industry. This first class of honorees features professionals from multiple disciplines who have shaped and will continue to shape the ABL world.
A JOURNEY TO THE TOP
A career is a journey. This may not be a groundbreaking sentiment, but that’s only because it holds true, especially in a world in which few people follow the same trajectory as the person in the office next to them.
In the following pages, we will highlight the career paths of the most influential and innovative women in the asset-based lending industry while providing insight into the skills and motivations that drove them to where they are today. This inaugural class features professionals in traditional ABL, alternative finance, turnaround management, accounting, private equity, bankruptcy/restructuring law and more, with many of the honorees moving between disciplines during their career. Each honoree is listed within one of four specialties (traditional ABL, alternative finance, strategic advisors and legal), with their recent career path mapped out in an infographic.
The women on this list will help shape the future of ABL, meaning this honor is not a destination but another milestone on a collection of exceptionally impressive professional journeys.
BETTY HERNANDEZ
Executive Vice President and Chief Credit Officer, SLR Business Credit
- Chair, Diversity, Equity and Inclusiveness Committee, Secured Finance Network
- Past Chair and Vice-Chair, Chapters Committee, Secured Finance Network
- Member and Past President, New Jersey Chapter, Secured Finance Network
- Member, New York Chapter, Secured Finance Network
- Member, Women in Secured Finance Committee, Secured Finance Network
Through her active participation with the Secured Finance Network and professional role as executive vice president and chief credit officer of SLR Business Credit (formerly North Mill Capital), Betty Hernandez has become one of the most recognizable figures in the asset-based lending industry. Although Hernandez is always busy, she continues to work on delegating, something she believes good leaders need to make part of their routine.
“I think learning to delegate and prioritize are very important skills that I’m still fine-tuning. As a leader, you cannot ‘do it all,’” Hernandez says. “You need to count on your team to help and praise them when they do a good job.”
Hernandez got to where she is today by working hard, finding good mentors, and maintaining connections to the industry, but a bit of luck got her on the ABL track. In her first job out of college at what was then First Fidelity Bank, she happened to be placed in the bank’s ABL department. The rest, as they say, is history.
“I was very fortunate to have landed in the asset-based lending department … I could have been placed anywhere within the bank,” Hernandez says. “I think my path is like many others in that I found mentors who pushed me to learn and grow. They felt confident in my abilities.”
Some of those mentors are now her business partners, including Jeff Goldrich and Dan Tortoriello, who worked with Hernandez at First Fidelity Bank and Business Alliance Capital before they all reconnected at what is now SLR Business Credit. From her leadership position, Hernandez is a mentor in her own right and is focused on improving the industry beyond just the dollars and cents, chairing the Secured Finance Network’s diversity, equity, and inclusiveness committee, among other industry initiatives.
“I find it rewarding, as there is a critical need to continue to cultivate diverse talent and make everyone in our industry feel included,” Hernandez says.
To view all of the profiles featured in this article, click on the link below
https://magazine.abfjournal.com/top-women-intro
To view all of the articles in this issue, please visit https://magazine.abfjournal.com/