“I wish I had known early on that growth and confidence come from stepping outside your comfort zone, taking calculated risks and trusting your preparation. Specialty finance rewards technical competence, practical judgment and commercial discipline — and if you bring those, you belong at the table.”
Sarah Ciavarro’s success in asset-based lending stems from a complete, end-to-end understanding of the credit life cycle. She built a solid foundation early in her career across internal accounting, FP&A and financial strategy at JPMorgan Chase before pivoting to the client-facing side of banking. Transitioning to JPMorgan’s asset-based lending group as a field exam auditor proved to be a defining step, giving her direct technical experience with collateral analysis, borrower diligence and facility mechanics.
Recognizing that originations offered an ideal intersection of her technical background and client strategy, Ciavarro stepped into a junior originator role supporting a dozen high performing originators across multiple states. That immersive environment accelerated her development, enabling her to advance to senior originator within three years and earn a reputation as a technically credible, commercially driven dealmaker.
At First Merchants Bank, Ciavarro has played an instrumental role in establishing and scaling the bank’s specialty finance platform. By integrating disciplined credit execution with market development and relationship strategy, she helped build the ABL infrastructure from the ground up. In the platform’s inaugural year alone, she generated significant momentum by closing nine transactions and providing middle-market clients with flexible, tailored capital solutions.
Having worked across sourcing, underwriting, structuring and portfolio management, Ciavarro brings practical judgment and strategic clarity to complex financing structures. She actively advocates for earlier industry awareness and college-level education to help the next generation of women recognize and pursue rewarding paths in specialty finance. As one of the few female leaders in her field, she continues to serve as a grounded, commercially focused advocate for advancing women in specialty finance.
