Commercial banking relationship manager
Within her first week at City National Bank in 2018, Laura Dodd was working on her first deal — and the first deal for the aerospace and defense group that she was brought in to help launch.
“I was not expecting to hit the ground running that fast. But it was a great opportunity,” said Dodd,
a relationship manager in commercial banking.
Los Angeles-based City National is often called the “bank to the stars” due to its ties to the entertainment industry. But the $75.8-billion-asset bank, a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada, has been expanding into other industries through a national corporate banking initiative.
The aerospace and defense group was the first with a specific focus, and Dodd contributed to the success of the business model, which became a template for the growth of other corporate banking teams. The early deal helped prove it would work, said Dodd, the first relationship manager hired in her group. She’s now part of a team of 10, consulting on financial strategies to support business growth, recapitalizations, acquisitions and risk reduction.
Dodd has concentrated on setting the tone for how the group interacts with clients and expanding its reach around the country. “It was really important to show that we were dedicated to the industry,” she said.
She also became the team’s Paycheck Protection Program loan expert last year, qualifying companies and shepherding them through the Small Business Administration’s application and forgiveness process.
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She brings an extra dash of insight to her business clients. Her late father owned a pest-control business in her hometown of Charlotte, N.C. She saw firsthand the influence that bankers had on her father’s success and the ties that developed.
“My dad had a very close relationship with his banker. He was a family friend and I just really appreciated that close relationship,” said Dodd, who tries to forge similar bonds with her own clients. “It feels less like work when you’re able to have that kind of relationship.”
After graduating from college, Dodd worked for 18 months in the family business, which is now run by her two older sisters. But wanting to branch out on her own, Dodd gravitated toward banking, one of Charlotte’s dominant industries.
A job with Bank of America brought her to San Diego, but not before she found one of her other passions: fostering rescue dogs. She spotted a dog running loose on the freeway in Charlotte and ended up fostering her with the help of a neighbor who ran a rescue group.
Dodd has fostered six dogs over the last several years and also has two of her own: Caerus, a 13-year-old pit bull/boxer mix, and a 2-year-old mutt named Rosarita.
“It’s always a very comforting thing, for me at least, to be able to spend time with dogs and play with them and see the joy that they have, with even the smallest things,” Dodd said.
Nominating executive:Michael Walker, commercial banking manager
What he said: “Laura has a passion for self-improvement, a relentless focus on the client and an emotional competency that supports a long and successful career as a banker.”
