Kim Salibello

SVP, Underwriting, People’s United Bank

Kim is a senior vice president and underwriting manager for ABL group of People’s United Bank. She started her commercial finance career right out of college when at Fidelcor Business Credit as an assistant account executive. She worked her way through their career path that included collateral analyst, field examiner and relationship manager. During that time CIT Group purchased Fidelcor and it became part of a bigger organization. Kim eventually moved on to positions with Century Business Credit and NationsCredit and Bank of America. After Bank of America, Kim spent some time in the turnaround consulting field with Executive Sounding Board and Getzler Henrich. Kim returned to the ABL space in 2011 when she joined People’s United Bank. She never would have guessed that taking that position at Fidelcor over 30 years ago would have landed her on this amazing journey. She is incredibly grateful for the people and experiences that have come her way.

Kim earned a Bachelor of Science degree from State University of New York at Oswego and graduated cum laude with minors in economics and sociology. 

What advice would you offer to women just starting out in the industry?

I would and have said to women starting out in the industry that the most important trait that you can bring to this industry is curiosity. When I was in college, I did not study asset-based lending. I’m not even sure if there was any mention of it in any of my business classes at SUNY Oswego. On your first day, you may want to impress everyone, but the honest truth is that no one expects you to know much. What I expect is for you to show up with the willingness to ask lot of questions…lots. I love to share the wisdom that I have gained in these multiple decades of being employed in this field, but I never want to lecture anyone. In order for me to be effective in training or mentoring you, I need to get to know how you think and how you process information. There has to be an intellectual curiosity and a willingness to learn. It sounds cliché, but there really are no stupid questions. Another piece of advice to those just starting out is to raise your hand often when new opportunities are offered. It will show your managers that you are willing to expand beyond your defined position. Each opportunity should be viewed as a chance to further your experience. My last piece of advice would be to find a mentor- it doesn’t have to be anything formal but reach out to other women who may be a few years (or decades) ahead of you in their career. Most women are willing to spend time with you offering guidance and advice, but you need to take that first step and ask.

What do you think work will look like in the post-pandemic world? 

I think people have surprised themselves as to how productive they can be working remotely. Once we got past the technical issues and everyone settled into a routine, we realized that we could still get stuff done regardless of where we are sitting. Initially, I was really keen to get back to the office; I prefer to have a separation of my work life and personal life and I thought there would be too much cross-over if I were to work from home. As time has progressed, I have come to embrace the flexibility of working from home. The key for me was having a defined work space where I could be separated from everything else going on at home. I think this time has shown everyone that reporting to a dedicated office is not necessarily required to be effective. As a result, I think you will see a more hybrid work environment. Face-to-face meetings will resume at some point, but I think we have all gotten more technologically savvy and you will see virtual meetings and events continue for the near future.