Reinventing How Banking Works for Entrepreneurs - The Journey of Wendy Cai-Lee

Wendy Cai-Lee is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Piermont Bank, a next-generation bank that focuses on accelerating growth for entrepreneurs. It is the first bank to open in New York State since 2008.

As a successful entrepreneur and executive, Wendy has 25 years of management and business-building experience in commercial and consumer banking, mergers & acquisitions, and cross-border investment advisory services at Fortune 500 financial organizations as well as start-up companies.

Wendy is a member of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s New York State Committee for the Advancement of Women in Leadership in Financial Services. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of Friends of UNFPA (the United Nations Population Fund) since 2007 and served as its chairperson for seven years. She serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board at Douglass College. Wendy is a recipient of numerous industry honors, including “50 Most Important People in Commercial Real Estate Finance” by the Mortgage Observer in 2015 and frequently invited to speak at industry forums and media programs including CNBC.

Don’t forget to listen to last week’s episodes with Christine Chang, CEO of 6th Avenue Capital on how they bridge the small businesses financing gap and a special episode with Carol Normandeau, Executive Vice President, Advice & Service with Libro Credit Union who is in the trenches helping Canadian small business owners with the application process with Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) and Export Development of Canada (EDC) Loan Guarantee programs.

I would love to hear from you and let me know what financial questions you need help with. Submit your question here or email me at [email protected] and I will answer your question in a bonus episode.


In this episode, Wendy shared:

➤ Wendy’s journey to build the first chartered bank in New York since 2008 (6:41)

➤ Piermont Bank holistic approach to serving its clients (9:06)

➤ Common struggles among women business owners (14:24)

➤ The key takeaway of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) (19:46)

➤ Strong capital and cash position set Piermont Bank to actively offering more loans (24:02)

➤ The type of financing offers by Piermont Bank (25:43)

➤ The underwriting process to apply for financing at Piermont Bank (26:55)

➤ A list of questions business owners must answer before applying for financing (28:02)

➤ How a finance expert can help answer the questions raised by the bank (29:25)

➤ The type of communication a lender expects from a borrower during any crisis (31:25)

➤ Guiding a client to stress test the financial situation of the business (33:53)

➤ Advice from a lender perspective to small business owners during COVID-19 crisis (36:28)


Connect with Wendy:

➤ Website

➤ Linkedin - Wendy Cai-Lee

➤ Linkedin - Piermont Bank