JPMorgan Chase & Co.: As the new Michigan region manager for middle market banking for Michigan's largest lender, Terrah Opferman, 39, enters the role during a period of economic uncertainty as the coronavirus pandemic shows no signs of relenting.
While acknowledging that smaller businesses continue to suffer, most middle market businesses with which she works have adapted well and are becoming much more efficient in their operations, Opferman said.
In her new role, Opferman succeeds John Carter, a 40-year veteran of the bank, who will retire next year.
What's it been like taking over middle-market banking in Michigan during a time when companies increasingly depend on lending institutions to get by?
Yes, so definitely an interesting time, for sure. I've been incredibly impressed by how quickly our clients adapted to the changing environment. I think it's important to note that, you know, small businesses have been really challenged during this time. But in the middle market space, our clients have quickly pivoted to figure out how to operate successfully and safely in this current environment. I would say initially, the top concern was liquidity and making sure that they had enough liquidity in reserves to continue to operate. And then I think the other important factor that they've all been considering is, you know, how to continue to keep their employees safe, while also continuing to serve their own customers.
What are clients needing from their lender at this moment?
They're leaning on us heavily for our technology, and how to be able to send payments electronically. And so a lot of what we're having conversations about with our clients is how to operate efficiently without the use of paper, or a minimal use of paper. So, from a real world perspective, all of our clients are very focused on how to make their payments to their vendors, electronically and efficiently. We are doing a lot of work in kind of helping clients review their business processes, and how to make tweaks along the way to make them more efficient, and to be able to get their payments out quicker, and manage their liquidity as well.
The other side of the coin is how to accept those payments. So how are you going to virtually accept those payments from your customers, as more and more businesses are moving off of checks to ACH (Automated Clearing House)? How do they kind of electrify that whole process and again, a lot of companies are investing heavily in new ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems, so how can we as their banking partner really help to optimize the use of those ERP systems?
Are banking clients you talk with paying attention to the fight in Washington, D.C., over another stimulus package? If so, are they feeling like it's needed, or are they figuring out how to get by?
You know, I think it truly depends on the industry, and how they've been impacted. What we're trying to do as much as we can, our team has been working tirelessly to help our clients get through this time period. Whether it be from a liquidity perspective, or, again, to optimize operations. I think all of our clients are very focused on the overall general economic landscape and sort of how the election will drive a lot of those changes. So a lot of it is trying to plan for the future with a certain degree of uncertainty of how all of this sort of progresses.
Would you say the political uncertainty is creating challenges for both Chase Bank and for clients?
I would say it's presenting ... businesses to take pause, and think through all of the various avenues to which they can, you know, optimize and be agile. And I think clients are very focused on the supplier dynamic.
You know, we did a mid-year business leaders outlook survey and there was a pretty good degree of optimism within their business locally and throughout the United States. I think as the clients were looking more outside of the U.S., globally, that level of certainty was quite a bit different than what the optimism was based on the kind of local dynamics.
And I think clients are also thinking through their (capital expenditure) needs, and when is the right time to make those investments, and sort of trying to really not necessarily completely reinvent themselves, but how to operate as efficiently as possible. And a lot of our clients, impressively, have really taken this time to kind of reconfigure a lot of their business and are very happy with a lot of the changes that they've had to make, and it's making them a lot more efficient than maybe they would have been in the past.
So basically you're saying that while March, April and May may have been chaos, businesses you're working with are now figuring out how to operate in this period?
I would say for our clients in the middle markets, yes. I think those impacted in the service industry are very challenged. And as I mentioned previously, in the small business space, but our middle market manufacturing clients have adjusted — and impeccably well — to the current climate.
As far as our team goes, I'm incredibly proud of how quickly the firm and our team have adjusted to this new kind of virtual environment. And we're meeting very regularly with our clients, albeit over Zoom, but still as effective, just very different than being ... face to face.
What made you want to get into the banking world, and eventually into this leadership position for a large bank in Michigan?
I went to undergrad at Albion College, and had the benefit of having a couple different internships to explore different opportunities. And, you know, as a kid, ironically, I was always very interested in entrepreneurship — whether it was like making crafts and selling lemonade on the side of the street — but I was always super interested in the business world.
I received an offer from Bank One, but when I started, we were now JP Morgan. So it was certainly an interesting time, but I had the awesome experience of working with incredibly talented people across metro Detroit, and spent quite a bit of time in our health care business, and was traveling all over the place and really enjoyed that business. But there was this opportunity to be more local, and work with local businesses that are in the community in which I live. And I was super excited because I'm very passionate about the community and really excited to work with business leaders that are, you know, right in our backyard.
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JPMorgan Chase's Terrah Opferman steers middle market businesses through economic uncertainy - Crain's Detroit Business
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