Gibraltar Business Capital has a lot to celebrate, looking back at 2019. It was our best year ever! We owe many thanks this year to our great clients and financing partners, and to our talented and amazing staff.
Record-Breaking Growth – Thank You Partners!
After breaking a significant record in 2018—$150 million in total commitments—we continued our strong growth to reach new milestones in 2019 in our top line, bottom line, funding commitments and net funds outstanding.
We offer our thanks to the financial partners who helped us do this, including Hercules Capital, the nation’s largest non-bank source of venture lending financing. Gibraltar joined them in 2018 and we continue to enjoy a great partnership with this innovative company. Our partnership amplifies our ability to deliver the creative financing solutions that have established our reputation and made us successful.
In addition, Wells Fargo Capital Finance, a company with which we’ve had strong ties over the years, facilitated our continued growth by raising our credit line by 25% in 2019, to $125 million. The increase boosted our capacity to serve the small and mid-market businesses that need our flexible financing options.
With the help of these partners, we were able to support a multitude of diverse companies—both borrowers and private equity sponsors—in achieving their goals. We demonstrated our strength in understanding and financing businesses in transition nationwide, across a range of products and services that include staffing, IT, home furnishing, retail/e-tail, defense, food products, chemicals, textiles, surgical solutions, business services and sporting goods.
Our People Are Our Most Powerful Source of Strength
While our partners have been active in supporting our growth our biggest strength has always been, and remains, the talented people on our staff.
In 2019, Gibraltar welcomed two veteran business development executives to the team. Gregg Marsicano, our new Senior Vice President for the Northwest Region, has decades of finance experience, specializing in turnarounds, mergers/acquisitions, high-growth, seasonal swings, and start-ups. And Tony Vassallo brought over 25 years of asset-based lending experience to our dynamic Northeast regional business development team. We plan to continue to invest in the expansion of our sales team in the upcoming year.
We also hired new credit talent in 2019, as we continue to strengthen our credit discipline. Bruce Mettel, a 25-year credit professional, joined the team as SVP and Account Executive, helping to underwrite and manage Gibraltar’s continuously expanding portfolio of asset-based credit facilities. And just recently, Randi M. Hershgordon became our newest SVP and Account Executive, bringing more than 30 years of experience serving middle-market companies and over 15 years in leadership roles in the asset-based lending industry to our growing team.
Not to mention that this past year we saw marriages, engagements, new babies and a multitude of staff anniversaries. Congratulations and thanks to all our people for building the strong culture and engaged team that has made this company a leader in our industry!
It’s Exciting to Look Forward
As we wrap up a truly rewarding 2019, we’re looking forward to more new ventures, new clients and new team members in 2020. We believe our future growth will be strong and exciting as we continue to devote our efforts to providing our clients the best-in-class service and innovative financing solutions they deserve.
