Gail Jensen-Bigknife

Gail Jensen-Bigknife, chief credit officer at Security Business Bank, started out as a branch secretary, filling out loan documents on a typewriter for California First Bank (now Union Bank). She moved on to positions in consumer, commercial and real estate lending and credit administration, before joining Security Business in 2002.

“My early experience was helpful because I had the ability to work with a wide variety of loan types,” she recalls.

Today, she oversees credits at $152 million-plus Security Business Bank, which has grown from its Downtown headquarters to three branches. She describes the bank’s loan portfolio as 25 percent general business loans, 10 percent consumer (i.e., loans to owners of businesses already banking with Security Business) and 65 percent construction, SBA and commercial real estate.

In evaluating loan applications, Security Business employs a committee system. For loans roughly less than $1 million, the committee consists of Jensen-Bigknife, CEO Paul Rodeno and Senior Loan Officer Steve Espino. For loans larger than $1 million, or $750,000 unsecured, Jensen-Bigknife serves as secretary to a board members’ committee including Rodeno, Dennis Cruzan, Greg Cody and Chairman of the Board Robert Keller.

A committee with four members might be subject to a tie, but Jensen-Bigknife says, “We’ve never had a split vote.” The committee system appears to be working; Jensen-Bigknife says delinquencies are at less than 1 percent.

As Security Business Bank’s assets approach a community bank milestone of $200 million, Jensen-Bigknife says Security Business is looking to branch beyond its three current locations to somewhere on the I-15 corridor, East County and South Bay, though technology has made neighborhood branches less of a necessity.

“We’re reaching the point where we don’t have to have brick and mortar on every corner because we have so many alternate delivery systems that clients can do a deposit from their desktop,” she says.

So why do it?

“It’s an additional asset in deposit gathering, and some communities feel if you don’t have brick and mortar, you’re not committed,” she explains.

Another problem with branching is finding lenders who have a track record in the community. “The older type bankers went through training programs at large banks, but the newer bankers are more departmentalized, so they don’t have the wide range of experiences community banks seek, and big banks don’t have management training programs anymore,” she says.

Away from the office, Jensen-Bigknife enjoys reading mysteries and vacationing in Cabo San Lucas.