Special Assets Officer

Position Summary:

The Special Assets Officer is responsible for the management, restructuring, and resolution of criticized, classified, and nonperforming commercial loans, with an emphasis on community banking relationships, small-business credits, and SBA-guaranteed loans.

This is a hands-on position requiring extensive experience evaluating troubled borrowers, developing practical workout strategies, protecting collateral and guarantor positions, and maximizing recoveries while minimizing potential losses to the Bank.

The position will play an important role in the assessment and resolution of problem loans within existing and acquired portfolios, working closely with the Chief Credit Officer, lending teams, Credit Administration, and outside legal counsel.

Essential Functions:

1. Independently manage a portfolio of criticized, classified, and nonperforming commercial loans, including C&I, small-business, SBA-guaranteed, and commercial real estate credits.
2. Evaluate troubled borrower relationships and develop, recommend, and execute workout strategies, including restructurings, renewals, forbearance agreements, settlements, collateral liquidation, foreclosure, and other recovery alternatives.
3. Manage the servicing, collection, and liquidation of SBA 7(a) and other government-guaranteed loans, ensuring compliance with applicable SBA requirements and protection of the Bank's guaranty rights.
4. Prepare and coordinate SBA guaranty purchase requests, liquidation plans, supporting documentation, and related reporting. Identify and address potential guaranty repair or denial exposure.
5. Evaluate loan documentation, collateral positions, lien perfection, guarantor obligations, and other factors affecting repayment and recovery.
6. Negotiate directly with borrowers, guarantors, attorneys, and other stakeholders to achieve timely and economically sound resolutions.
7. Coordinate legal proceedings, including bankruptcy, foreclosure, receivership, litigation, and deficiency recovery, in conjunction with internal and external counsel.
8. Review problem loans within acquired portfolios, identify documentation deficiencies and potential credit exposure, and recommend appropriate remediation and resolution strategies.
9. Analyze borrower cash flow, collateral values, liquidation alternatives, and potential recovery scenarios to support credit decisions and loss mitigation.
10. Monitor delinquency trends, criticized and classified assets, nonaccrual loans, and other indicators of emerging credit deterioration.
11. Recommend appropriate risk ratings, nonaccrual treatment, charge-offs, and reserve considerations in coordination with Credit Administration and the Bank's established policies.
12. Prepare clear and timely workout action plans, credit memoranda, recovery estimates, and management reports for the Chief Credit Officer and appropriate credit committees.
13. Coordinate with relationship managers and portfolio managers to identify emerging problem credits and facilitate timely transitions to Special Assets when appropriate.
14. Manage outside professionals, including legal counsel, appraisers, brokers, collateral specialists, and liquidation vendors, while monitoring resolution costs and recovery effectiveness.
15. Participate in Special Assets Committee meetings and other credit discussions as appropriate.
16. Ensure all workout and recovery activities comply with applicable banking regulations, SBA requirements, and Bank policies.
17. Perform other duties as assigned.

Skills and Experience

• 10+ years of commercial banking or related credit experience, including significant direct experience managing troubled loans, special assets, and commercial loan workouts.
• Strong background in community or regional banking, with demonstrated experience handling small to middle-market commercial credit relationships.
• Direct, hands-on experience with SBA 7(a) loan servicing, liquidation, guaranty purchase procedures, and resolution of defaulted SBA loans strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to independently manage problem loan relationships from initial assessment through final resolution.
• Strong knowledge of commercial loan documentation, collateral valuation, lien perfection, bankruptcy, foreclosure, collections, and legal recovery strategies.
• Experience with criticized and classified loans, nonaccrual treatment, charge-offs, and collateral-dependent credit analysis.
• Experience evaluating acquired loan portfolios and resolving inherited credit issues preferred.
• Sound credit judgment with the ability to balance practical borrower solutions against the Bank's risk and recovery objectives.
• Strong negotiation, analytical, organizational, and written communication skills.
• Ability to manage multiple problem relationships, prioritize urgent matters, and deliver results with limited supervision.
• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, or related field preferred; equivalent relevant experience considered.

Position Type:

This position is a full-time, exempt position. Typical work hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00am to 5:00pm.

Direct Reports:

No

Travel:

Some travel may be required

Work Environment:

This job operates in a professional office environment. This position uses office equipment such as computers, phones, copy and fax machines, calculators, filing cabinets and printers.

Physical Demands:

This position will be responsible for writing, typing, speaking, listening, lifting (up to 50 pounds), driving, carrying, seeing (such as close, color and peripheral vision, depth perception and adjusted focus), sitting, pulling, walking, standing, squatting, kneeling, and reaching.

Mental Demands:

The incumbent in this position must be able to accommodate reading documents or instruments, detailed work, problem solving, customer contact, reasoning, math, language, presentations, verbal and written communication, analytical reasoning, stress, multiple concurrent tasks, and constant interruptions.