A natural at identifying hidden potential, Kristin Maxell is a positive disruptor who believes change fuels innovation, solves challenges and helps organizations retain a competitive edge.

Kristin Maxwell is on a mission to help working capital providers grow borrower loyalty and conquer common challenges with dynamic technology. Trained as a commercial loan service provider, she has a 15-year background in specialty finance and softwareas-a-service (SaaS) and cloud technology solutions.

As a solutions consultant at Solifi, Maxwell consults with working capital providers to identify and resolve business challenges, opportunities and objectives. Her areas of focus are legacy application modernization, process improvement, automation and client advocacy. She presents solutions and functional strategies to resolve various challenges via detailed software demonstrations and educates working capital providers about industry trends and how Solifi technology can help them mitigate risk, optimize workflows, make better business decisions, save money and create better customer experiences.

Before Solifi, during her time on the lender side, Maxwell realized emerging technology could be a game-changer to solve problems, leading her to take her current role with Solifi in the summer of 2021. The transition from lender to service provider has been a successful one for Maxwell, who was serving as a director of specialty loan servicing at Sterling National Bank before making the move to Solifi.

“I spent a lot of time partnering with Solifi [previously William Stucky and Associates] and so it just became this natural transition for me to continue my career progression,” Maxwell says. “It’s rewarding for me to come from a place of understanding, talk with customers about their pain points and provide practical technology solutions.”

Seeing the Big Picture

Maxwell has spent a significant amount of time assessing different opportunities for product enhancements so Solifi can help customers optimize workflows, mitigate risk and differentiate in the market.

Maxwell’s shift in career and mindset is in large part owed to the relationships she has formed with colleagues at Solifi, where she has further embraced her passion to help shape the secured financing industry’s technology journey while strengthening her belief in the power of many to develop innovative solutions and provide value to customers.

“I look at the big picture and say, ‘Wow, we could really change the landscape of what loan servicing looks like,’” Maxwell says. “[We can] make ABL, factoring, working capital in general, more accessible to businesses that need access to money and mitigate the risk for lenders so that they have a strong product to offer without a huge expense associated with it.”

Maxwell brings a valuable perspective to Solifi, as she is a master of distilling technical information and educating customers about the value that emerging trends bring, ultimately helping companies that are uncertain about digital transformation. As Maxwell explains, a lot goes into that digital-transformation process, as in addition to technologies like SaaS capabilities, machine learning and artificial intelligence that require policy changes, lenders are also introduced to procedural changes related to new systems and whole new data ecosystems.

“The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure or the unknown. You can’t let that guide your decision-making process. Be OK with experimenting and with failure, and then fail quickly and move on,” Maxwell says. “We live in a world full of technology that already exists; building relationships with our customers helps us figure it out together.”

Purposeful Change

Maxwell is dedicated to the digital transformation journey of Solifi’s clients, making her an effective change leader and customer and industry advocate. However, while the technology side of her role is a highlight for Maxwell, she finds working with people to be the most rewarding part.

“I love coaching, mentoring and connecting with people, and working alongside them to better understand their challenges and provide solutions,” Maxwell says. Maxwell believes innovation fuels positive change that breaks down the protective barriers that keep people or companies from progressing forward and succeeding.

“Change isn’t always comfortable, but it is a necessary aspect of life,” Maxwell says. “Positive disruption fuels innovation, solves challenges and helps customers differentiate and succeed.”

Success for All

As a big cheerleader for her clients and peers, Maxwell genuinely wants everyone to succeed. When one of her current clients is promoted or moves to a new company, she maintains the relationship. Alongside adopting modern technology, she believes building relationships, mentoring others and transferring knowledge ensure success for everyone.

“I love educating customers about how dynamic technology could increase their commercial lending product offerings,” Maxwell says. “As technology evolves, so does our definition for ABL. It’s rewarding to pay it forward by transferring knowledge and then seeing customers modernize their technology and succeed.”

Editor’s Note: Prior to publication, Maxwell left Solifi and joined Axiom Bank as vice president of product management.