Field examiners are key players in the asset-based lending ecosystem, providing many of the insights necessary to determine which deals to close as well as how to structure each transaction. Brenda Czekaj is among the best in the business at this craft, which she has been perfecting for the better part of more than 40 years in the ABL industry.

Currently the field exam manager at First Horizon Bank in Delray Beach, FL, Czekaj leads a team of field examiners for the bank, helping to not only improve its underwriting on ABL transactions, but to mentor and train the bank’s field examination team. Training and mentoring have been major parts of Czekaj’s career, both for bank ABL groups and third-party field exam firms. From 1988 to 2002, she served as the national field exam manager for the National Bank of Canada before taking on a regional exam manager role with RBS Citizens in 2002. She would later be promoted to manager of the field exam group in 2005 at RBS Citizens, a role she would hold until 2014.

After nearly a dozen years with RBS Citizens, Czekaj stepped outside the banking world to join Sisterson, an independent assurance, tax and advisory firm based in Pittsburgh. In her three years with the company, she served as director of the lender services group before forming her own consulting firm in 2018. Working as an independent consultant for two and a half years, she relocated to Delray Beach, FL, before finding her way back to bank ABL field exams in 2021, which is when she joined First Horizon Bank in her current role.

“Brenda has been instrumental in the development of numerous ABL professionals’ daily lives,” John Nelson, senior field examiner at First Horizon Bank, says. “Brenda’s career spans 40-plus years and her insight, knowledge and training has been used and appreciated by many in the ABL industry.”