Amanda Maez

I have been in banking for 15 years this April, and I've been in my current role as a commercial lender for 3 years. I honestly kind of fell into the banking industry and started as a part-time teller just because it was something that fit well with my college schedule. I've been able to advance in different roles throughout these 15 years, from being very hands-on in customer service, to working some more of the backroom side of things, to now my role as a commercial lender, where I'm really able to engage with the community and originate loans, which helps definitely in this rural community that I'm in. The industry has afforded me a lot of room for growth. My typical day mainly starts with prioritizing my members' needs, and that could be from just arranging some servicing items that they need done from us, anything from wires to sending out loan statements or what have you, to then sitting down with people face-to-face and having conversations with them about what their business looks like and what some of their business needs are, potentially. That is pretty much the majority of the day, whether it's in my office or having lunch with members, to get an idea of what role I can play, not only in the development of their business today, but looking into the future. Throughout my career, I've continually taken on different roles, and that's been more so just because I seem to get bored easily, but in this role as a commercial loan officer, every day is a little bit different, every request is a little bit different, and it's a lot more rewarding because you're able to kind of help people come to an end goal of realizing their dreams as far as their business aspirations are concerned.