Managing Director, Loan Syndications

Korn Ferry has partnered with our client on their search for Managing Director, Loan Syndications

The Company

F.N.B. Corporation, headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a diversified financial services company with nearly $51 billion in assets and more than 350 banking offices across seven states and the District of Columbia. Through its largest subsidiary, First National Bank of Pennsylvania, founded in 1864, FNB provides commercial banking, consumer banking, and wealth management solutions across a growing regional footprint.

FNB’s commercial banking platform includes corporate banking, investment real estate financing, business credit, capital markets, treasury management, international banking, and lease financing. Within Capital Markets, the loan syndications team helps clients structure larger financing solutions with partner banks, supporting needs such as mergers and acquisitions, asset-based lending transactions, commercial real estate construction and term debt, growth financing, and refinancing.

The Opportunity

Position: Managing Director, Loan Syndications

Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Reporting Relationship: Head of Capital Markets

Website:

Purpose of the Position

The Managing Director, Loan Syndications will join FNB at an important stage in the evolution of its Capital Markets platform. FNB has consolidated its C&I and commercial real estate syndications activity under one leadership structure and is seeking a senior, execution-oriented leader to advance the C&I franchise while overseeing the broader syndications team.

The Managing Director will be responsible for originating, structuring, executing, and distributing broadly syndicated bank transactions. The role will partner closely with the Head of Capital Markets, relationship managers, regional commercial banking leaders, credit administration, agency services, legal, and external participating financial institutions.

This is a senior player-coach role. The successful candidate will directly lead transactions, support commercial bankers in pursuing larger and more complex client opportunities, build confidence across FNB’s regional banking teams, and strengthen lender relationships to support FNB-led and FNB-arranged transactions.

The ideal candidate will bring demonstrated lead arranger or underwriting experience, strong C&I structuring capability, practical credit judgment, and the relationship orientation to help FNB continue growing its syndications business in a hands-on, entrepreneurial regional bank environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead FNB’s consolidated loan syndications activity across C&I and commercial real estate, with primary emphasis on strengthening C&I syndications.
• Partner with the Head of Capital Markets, syndications originators, relationship managers, regional presidents, and credit administration to identify, evaluate, and pursue syndicated loan opportunities.
• Participate in client and prospect calls, helping commercial banking teams elevate conversations with middle-market and larger commercial clients.
• Serve as a senior structuring resource, helping define transaction structure, pricing, hold levels, lender strategy, covenant framework, risk/return parameters, and market-clearing terms.
• Lead due diligence for syndicated transactions, including borrower performance, financial model assumptions, cash flow analysis, repayment capacity, collateral position, industry considerations, and credit risks.
• Oversee creation and continuous improvement of term sheets, proposals, CIMs, lender presentations, pitchbooks, market updates, comparable transaction analyses, and syndication strategies.
• Build and maintain relationships with participating banks and other financial institutions, including practical knowledge of lender appetite, credit preferences, industry focus, return thresholds, and holdsize expectations.
• Lead distribution efforts for FNB-arranged or FNB-underwritten transactions, engaging prospective participant banks and managing lender feedback through execution.
• Coordinate transaction execution, including lender outreach, bank meetings, Q&A, credit agreement negotiations, internal approvals, closing activity, and coordination with agency services.
• Manage and coach syndications team members, including Directors, VPs, analysts, and associates, while remaining directly involved in transaction execution.
• Maintain current market intelligence on syndicated loan trends, pricing, comparable transactions, lender behavior, and relevant external news and information sources.
• Partner with loan operations, credit, legal, relationship teams, and agency services to ensure high-quality execution and a positive client and lender experience.
• Operate as a risk manager for the business by identifying, reporting, responding to, managing, and monitoring risk in alignment with FNB’s risk management program and compliance expectations.

The Candidate

Experience and Professional Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; minimum of 10 years of relevant experience in syndicated finance, loan capital markets, corporate banking, commercial banking capital markets, debt capital markets, ABL syndications, or a closely related field.
• Demonstrated C&I syndicated loan experience required; experience across commercial real estate, ABL, equipment finance, or other adjacent lending areas is valuable.
• Prior lead arranger, underwriter, or senior transaction leadership experience required. FNB is seeking a candidate who has shaped transaction structure, influenced terms, and led lender distribution—not solely evaluated or participated in deals originated by others.
• Strong credit training and relevant work experience required, including the ability to evaluate borrower risk, financial model assumptions, cash flow, leverage, collateral support, repayment capacity, and transaction structure.
• Experience structuring and distributing syndicated loans for middle-market, upper-middle-market, or larger commercial clients.
• Experience preparing or overseeing CIMs, lender presentations, term sheets, proposals, comparable transaction analyses, market updates, and syndication strategies.
• Demonstrated ability to work with relationship managers and credit partners to shape transactions that are both marketable and credit-appropriate.
• Experience developing participant-bank relationships and managing or mentoring junior team members preferred.
• Relevant experience in traditional, non-sponsor middle-market C&I lending is required. Sponsor finance experience may be complementary, but sponsor-only backgrounds are not aligned with FNB’s current strategy for this role.
• Expert proficiency with Microsoft Office products required. Experience with Thomson Reuters, Bloomberg, CapIQ, and related market data platforms preferred.

Skills and Competencies

Transaction leadership

• Demonstrated ability to lead syndicated loan transactions from opportunity identification through structuring, distribution, documentation, closing, and post-close handoff.

C&I structuring and credit judgment

• Strong command of C&I loan structuring, underwriting, risk/return evaluation, pricing, covenants, hold strategy, syndication strategy, and credit agreement considerations.

Distribution and lender-network development

• Established relationships with participant banks and financial institutions, with practical knowledge of lender appetite across industries, transaction types, credit profiles, and return thresholds.

Commercial influence and internal credibility

• Ability to build trust with relationship managers, regional presidents, credit partners, clients, prospects, and external lenders; able to help commercial teams pitch more confidently upmarket.

Player-coach leadership style

• Hands-on orientation with the willingness to execute directly, lead from the front, coach junior team members, and operate with urgency in a growing business.

Entrepreneurial drive

• Comfort operating in a less inbound-driven environment than a large money-center or major superregional platform; motivated to create opportunities, build internal adoption, and grow the business.

Execution discipline and communication

• High attention to detail, strong organization, and excellent written and verbal communication skills, including preparation and review of CIMs, lender presentations, pitch materials, and internal credit-related materials.

Success Factors

First 90 days

• Build credibility with the Head of Capital Markets, the syndications team, commercial banking leaders, credit administration, agency services, and key internal partners. Assess the active pipeline, team capabilities, FNB’s risk appetite, and current execution processes. Establish a consistent cadence for deal review, structuring support, distribution strategy, and internal communication.

First 6 months

• Become a trusted resource to commercial banking teams on larger and more complex syndicated opportunities. Demonstrate hands-on leadership of active transactions, improve consistency and quality of CIMs, lender materials, market reads, and execution processes, and deepen participant-bank engagement.

First 12–15 months

• Show measurable progress in both hard and soft metrics: successfully executed lead or arranged transactions, growth in syndication fee income, stronger deal flow, improved external credibility with participant banks, and increased confidence among commercial bankers pitching upmarket opportunities.

Longer term

• Help FNB grow its C&I syndications franchise, expand the reach and relevance of Capital Markets across the commercial bank, and create the foundation for additional team and business growth. The ideal leader will be commercially oriented, technically strong, entrepreneurial, practical, and willing to build momentum in a growing regional bank environment.

SE: 510802162