We recently met up with Michael Conrad, senior vice president and business development officer of the originations team at Gibraltar Business Capital. He is responsible for the innovative financing terms that have helped businesses tap lines of liquidity to weather tough industry times. One of his most recent deals was with Horizon Mud Company, an oil- and gas-services provider based in Midland, Tex. who needed an ABL to help it get through a restructuring.
Here’s a bit of our question-and-answer with Conrad:
What’s your role at Gibraltar?
I’m the senior vice president and business development officer for the ABL originations team. I joined Gibraltar after a 25-year banking career, primarily with Wells Fargo and Bank of America. In the first part of my career, I was in corporate and investment bank origination, but the last 12 years have been in ABL origination. I’ve enjoyed the transition to lower-middle market specialty finance – there is so much room for growth and less-restrictive regulations allow us to add more value to clients.
What opportunities do you see on the horizon?
One of our biggest opportunities is a marketing one—getting the word out about our approach to providing accessible capital alternatives to a commercial bank loan. As I travel and meet new people, I am constantly excited by their enthusiasm and at times, their disbelief. It’s not uncommon to hear, “Wow, you can do that? That’s great.” We help business owners execute their plans, at their pace – and we love what we do.
What makes Gibraltar unique?
We have significant flexibility in terms of our structure and this allows our customers to manage their business through business-to-business cycles, and the challenges that they might have running their companies. We strive to always be direct and proactive. We want to ensure awareness—not surprises—and at Gibraltar, we believe transparency is essential to achieving that.
What would your coworkers and clients be surprised to learn about you?
My wife and our two teenage sons live in Charlotte, N.C. and I opened our Gibraltar office here. I’m a runner and I love doing 5k and 10k races. I also play tennis and love to cook.
