In November, Valley National Bank announced the appointment of Terry M. Keating as head of Asset Based Lending (ABL).  In this role, Keating oversees the continued growth and strategic direction of Valley’s ABL platform.

Keating brings more than three decades of leadership experience in commercial finance, specialty lending, growth, organizational development and transformation, including 25 years in commercial banking. Most recently, he was CEO of Access Capital leading the specialty asset-based lender through a period of transition and growth.

Based in New York City, Keating leads the ABL team delivering tailored financing structures to support working capital growth, acquisitions, and recapitalizations for  middle-market businesses across a wide range of industries nationwide. He is an active member of the Secured Finance Network, and has served on its Data Committee, DEI Committee, and also participates in leading its Mentoring Program. He also serves on the boards of the New York Chapter of SFNet and the New York Institute of Credit.

Keating succeeds John DePledge, who retired at the end of 2025 after a long and distinguished career in asset-based lending. 

Tell us about your career trajectory.
It has been an interesting journey thus far and not a short story.  To paraphrase a favorite Beatles song, “It’s been a long and winding road.”  After starting college at Valparaiso University in northwest Indiana as a history major, I graduated with a degree in economics and no specific career path in mind, just ambition and willingness to work hard.

 A summer job at a local bank before my last semester of college turned into full-time when I graduated.  This was a $50-million community bank, which I thought was all the money in the world.  I had a wide variety of duties, from manning a teller window on Friday evenings (cashing a lot of payroll checks), to managing its student loan and auto finance portfolios, making and managing commercial loans to local businesses and farmers.

After three years I wanted to get to Chicago, answered an ad and more or less talked my way into a job as a middle-market lender that, at least on paper, I wasn’t qualified for.  The bank was UnibancTrust Company, based in the Sears Tower.  I went from a city of 20,000 people to a building with 15,000 people.  That turned out to be one of many big transitions for me.  At Unibanc, I was exposed to the Chicago middle market and completed my MBA at night.

Following three years at Unibanc, I moved to LaSalle Bank in a similar role, but with larger and more sophisticated companies. A couple of years in, I was trying to figure out how to differentiate myself. I had the idea of starting an industry specialty and was given the opportunity to do so.  I’d had some experience dabbling in a couple of industry specialties: diamond/jewelry, short line railroad, and a few non-bank lenders. I chose lender finance  and for the next 15 years I built a division lending to consumer, commercial, leasing, mortgage banking, premium finance, BDCs, etc. Pretty much any lender that didn’t have a banking license across the country.  This was LaSalle’s first national specialty business and when I left the bank, and banking, in 2005, it was $1 billion in commitments, $500 million in outstanding loans and $1 billion in deposits, primarily from mortgage servicing companies.

I then spent five years consulting on my own, before joining Amherst Partners, a Detroit-based investment bank and turnaround advisory  firm. My role was sourcing and delivering services to financial companies, as well as  building their market presence in Chicago.

Five years into my stint with them I was calling on Accord Financial, a Toronto Canada-based public company with a factoring business in the US.  I was pitching some acquisition ideas to the CEO, who instead of hiring Amherst to do buyside work, hired me to run the US business, based in Greenville, SC.  After a very short two-week interview process, I move to Greenville with a mandate to grow and “modernize” the business, including greatly expanding its nascent ABL product.

Over eight years, we more than doubled AUM, transformed every aspect of the business. I played a significant role in two acquisitions by the parent company, worked on other corporate projects, from brand refresh, digital marketing, better integrating and working more closely with the other business units, and increasing our bank facility.

I left in mid-2021 and returned to advisory work.  Notably I arranged senior debt placement for an equipment lender and served as an independent director for a highly distressed commercial finance platform on behalf of its lender group.  In addition, I joined forces with a former client, Crosslake Group, an independent sponsor who was building an aerospace parts platform.  I served as an advisor to Crosslake and became a board member as we acquired several businesses.

Then in May of 2022 I was recruited by Access Capital, to become CEO following the death of its founder and longtime CEO.  Access specializes in asset-based lending for temporary staffing and related industries.  My mandate was to chart a course for the future of the business, modernize many aspects of its operations, and grow the platform.  All of which we were able to do, including as I had told the family ownership, I would build/curate a team that didn’t need me, and I left in May of 2025 at the end of my three-year employment contract 

In the months following departing Access, I spent considerable time with Crosslake as we sold the four businesses we had acquired to a funded sponsor, while also  considering several leadership and board roles.  Then in September I saw that Valley Bank was looking for a successor to John DePlege, who was retiring.  I know John fairly well from industry associations in New York, we’ve spoken on panels together etc.  In addition, I knew/know Valley Bank well, as they became Access’s lead bank during my tenure there.

Following a short, but fairly intense, interview process, I joined the bank on October 27.

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