Vice President, Construction Risk & Portfolio Management

Role Specifics
Position Vice President, Construction Risk & Portfolio Management
Company Confidential Client
Location Woodland Hills, CA
Reporting Relationship EVP, Construction & Development
Website

Company Background

Our client is the leading national lender providing bridge loans to top tier real estate developers – a fast-growing specialty finance niche with attractive risk-adjusted return characteristics. Headquartered in Southern California, the company has a leading presence in Los Angeles and the greater Southern California market and has expanded into numerous other urban markets, including Arizona, Florida, Northern California, and the New York Metro Area.

The company has been an active lender since 2007, originating over 3,000 loans totaling over
$3 billion. The company has grown from originating ~$5 million per month to ~$100 million per month. Given the size of the addressable market, the company is well positioned for continued and sustained growth.

Position Summary
The Vice President, Construction Risk & Portfolio Management will lead the development and ongoing build-out of the company’s construction risk and portfolio management infrastructure and systems including processes, policies, procedures, technology systems, reporting and analytics to enable the business to effectively underwrite, track, analyze and report all key data related to Construction Risk & Portfolio Management. He/she will also directly manage all construction portfolio management activities including management and reporting of portfolio construction status, loan extensions, equity construction projects, construction risk indicators, and other portfolio oversight activities as agreed to with the EVP and Executive Committee.
In addition, he/she will bring management and operational leadership and support to the EVP Construction & Development as well as the entire construction team including being a resource to the leadership and team in matters such as construction borrower and loan underwriting/vetting and fund control and draw administration. Qualified candidates should have management experience in construction risk and portfolio management in the commercial lending industry. Single family construction management/oversight experience is desirable but not required.

Essential Functions
Lead the development and/or enhancement, implementation, and monitoring of an institutional quality framework of processes, policies, procedures, reporting and analytics to enable the business to effectively capture, track, analyze and report on all key risk and performance data related to the construction department.

• Directly manage and enhance all construction portfolio management activities including loan extensions, equity construction portfolio oversight/management, construction status reporting, construction risk reporting, and any other portfolio management activities as may be deemed appropriate in collaboration with EVP Construction & Development and the Executive Committee
• Help lead and be the point of contact for the construction department and team on the build out of existing systems (GLASS) as necessary to support immediate business needs, and play a pivotal role to ensure best in class new construction management systems are developed as part of the company replatforming process

• Assist with the day-to-day recruiting and management of the team by providing support – including thoughts on staff capacity and process improvement - in matters related to construction borrower and loan underwriting/vetting and fund control and draw administration.

• Collaborate closely with the draw and underwriting teams and the EVP to design customized profiles for borrowers to enable the construction team to provide a bespoke level of service by capturing and leveraging information obtained during meetings with borrowers

• Design and build flexible and scalable reporting and analytics to address business and department needs – e.g. Phase I and Monthly Extension Reporting, Sponsor Construction Profiling, Equity Construction Reporting, Project Stagnation with follow up reports, Vendor Management reporting and segmented reporting for draws, borrower underwriting, project underwriting,

• Supervise the performance of team members to ensure accuracy and compliance, build (in collaboration with the CFO) and maintain review the tracking of KPI’s including construction department financials to ensure transparency and performance company-wide

• When necessary, provide input on and assist construction team members in the structuring and underwriting of major loans and special-situation loans to assure the business maximizes originations while managing risk and enabling loan leverage or resale.

• Understand and research industry best practices on construction risk and portfolio management and leverage knowledge and research to improve policies, practices and infrastructure.

Leadership Responsibilities
• Cultivates and fosters team building and cooperation and effectively motivates team members to achieve goals and further their career development.
• Coaches and directs the activities of the work group and ensures that the construction team members have appropriate training and all the needed resources to do their jobs.
• Manages, trains, develops, and motivates team members to achieve and exceed performance goals. Establishes and continually improves business processes and enhances the ability of the company to help attract and retain high quality borrowers.
• Provides performance feedback to provide customized coaching on a regular basis to each team member. Address disciplinary and/or performance problems according to company policy.

Professional Experience/Qualifications
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty effectively. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
• Minimum of 10 or more years overall experience in commercial real estate construction lending and construction loan portfolio management with the ability to provide senior team leadership support.
• Experience with a private real estate lender, commercial bank, real estate fund, REIT or a Single Family/Multifamily real estate business combined with commercial loan underwriting, reporting and analytics and/or credit analytics are required.
• Expert knowledge of complex commercial lending and financial deal structuring combined with a desire and ability to design and build a reporting and analytics framework to support the needs of the business.
• Real Estate industry knowledge related to credit and financial analysis including cash flow analysis, balance sheet analysis, profitability, liquidity and solvency analysis as is knowledge of the building and construction process and costing.
• Prior experience underwriting construction loans for mid-large size lender with the ability to understand property valuation and assess the development project-related risks.
• Expert knowledge of credit underwriting policies, procedures, processes, collateral valuation and documentation is required
• Highly proficient/advanced skills in Excel, Word, PowerPoint needed.
• Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Finance or a related field required, Master’s in Business or Finance preferred.

Additional
• Advance leadership and independent thinking skills
• Ability to rely on extensive experience and judgment to plan and accomplish goals.
• Ability to read and interpret data both macro and micro utilizing analytical skills
• Ability to incorporate information from many sources to identify underwriting risks, conduct analysis and articulate and communicate information in a concise recommendation
• Ability to lead and manage multiple tasks concurrently and self-prioritize workload to meet deadlines as an individual and a leader
• Excellent interpersonal, negotiation, presentation, oral and written communication skills