Executive Vice President, Chief Credit Officer

About the role

The Chief Credit Officer is responsible for improving quality earnings by enforcing and overseeing all credit policies, improving asset quality, leading the credit culture, managing capital and credit concentration risks, and supporting growth of the loan portfolio.

Responsibilities

• Manage the bank’s overall credit risk exposure and facilitate portfolio review and strategy.
• Develop, assess, and submit for annual approval all policies, plans, and procedures for loans and credit products.
• Ensure compliance with all policies and procedures governing credit activities.
• Provide leadership for Credit Administration.
• Lead efforts in Special Assets and Problem Loan Management.
• Convene meetings for the Senior Loan Committee and Board Loan Committee.
• Approve or reject all credits exceeding specified policy limits. Recommend loans that have potential for presentation to the management and/or board loan committees.
• Evaluate and analyze the quality of the portfolio and monitor industry trends.
• Oversee the implementation and management of the Loan Risk Rating System, ensuring loan officers are trained to analyze the risk in their portfolios accurately.
• Ensure that the ACL complies with CECL and accurately reflects loan impairments derived from the loan risk rating process.
• Prepare budget forecasts and expense controls for areas of supervision.
• Maintain a continuous monitoring of key macroeconomic trends to review and determine impact on portfolio performance.
• Conduct quantitative analyses and troubleshoot issues, including examining the drivers contributing to credit quality deterioration, and providing recommendations to improve performance.
• Ensure that all pertinent operational and credit risks are identified and appropriately assessed, along with established controls and action plans to mitigate these risks.
• Oversee the credit analytical needs of the Bank by developing and communicating credit risk analysis techniques.
• Collaborate with the Senior Officers of the Retail and Commercial Banking Groups to ensure support to meet the customer sales and support requirements for their customers, as well as to support the bank's strategic objectives for financial performance and risk management.
• Coordinate with the Director of Risk Management, Audit Manager, and/or Director of Compliance to ensure that credit-related issues identified through formal audits, independent loan reviews, and regulatory examinations are addressed adequately and on time.
• Consult with the Director of Risk Management on current & emerging credit risk exposures while seeking independent advice on appropriate mitigating strategies, such as policy or procedure revisions.
• Provide oversight on credit-related guidance to ensure compliance with credit –related supervisory guidance and regulations from state and federal authorities.

Requirements

• Recruit, train, and cultivate quality team members.
• Build and support a positive team environment.
• Exercise the standard authority of a department head regarding staffing, performance evaluations, promotions, rewards and recognitions, salary administration, and terminations.
• Delegate responsibilities as needed.
• Conduct regular coaching, mentoring, and feedback with each member on a “one on one” and group basis.
• Propose recommendations for development, education, and training programs for credit related employees.
• Make personnel changes as required to maintain service objectives.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree is required, preferably in the fields of business or finance.
• Prior experience as a chief credit officer is strongly preferred.
• A minimum of 7 to 10 years of experience in lending, credit administration, and problem loan management is required, ideally within a bank with assets exceeding $1 billion.
• Experience across multiple markets is desired.
• Management/supervisory experience of a minimum of 5 years.
• Experience as a voting member in the loan approval process and/or loan committee is required.
• Common Sense approach to community bank and credit administration practices.
• Capacity and eagerness to build highly effective working relationships within one’s own department and across other departments and teams in the organization.
• Comprehensive knowledge of commercial, real estate, and consumer lending, as well as operations, is essential.
• Skills in market monitoring.
• In-depth knowledge of financial analysis, loan structuring, problem credit resolution, and banking laws and regulations, with an emphasis on credit administration.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Proficiency in organizing projects, setting priorities, and managing time effectively.
• Working knowledge of loan risk rating, portfolio monitoring, asset recovery, and loan workouts.
• Willingness to make decisions and take responsibility for them.

Skills

• Adherence to CoreFirst Values; Respect, Communication, Integrity, Initiative, and Accountability.
• A secondary focus on internal and external Customers, Compliance, Ethics, Perseverance, and Time Management.

Benefits

CoreFirst Bank & Trust offers competitive benefits including health insurance, retirement plans, paid time off, and more. Details will be provided upon hire.

Pay

The salary range for this position is $120,000 - $150,000 annually, commensurate with experience.

Schedule

This role operates Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, with occasional evening and weekend work as needed.