Head of Commercial Real Estate

Zions Bancorporation•Houston, TX

About The Position

The Head of Commercial Real Estate Lending provides executive leadership, strategic direction, and overall P&L accountability for Amegy Bank’s statewide Commercial Real Estate business. The role drives sustainable loan growth, deposit acquisition, and fee income across Texas’s major metropolitan markets while safeguarding the bank’s capital through credit discipline. The Head of CRE leads senior client coverage for premier sponsors and develops or attracts top-tier talent across Texas. Partnership with Treasury Management, Private Banking, and Capital Markets is a strategic focus for the group. The position leads the statewide team, supports collaboration with geographic bank leadership, and manages team staffing, development, compensation, performance assessments, and incentive goals. It also oversees business development and portfolio quality, including pipeline review, deal structuring, credit-risk forecasting, concentration limits, payoffs, and term conversions. The role engages with clients and prospects alongside product and credit partners and works with the Credit Exam Department as requested.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Real Estate, Business Administration, Economics, or a related discipline.
10+ years of directly related commercial lending and real estate banking experience.
Proven success in deal origination, deposit gathering, and portfolio management.
Demonstrated senior-level managerial and motivational track record leading professional lending teams.
Experience conducting performance coaching and attracting top talent.

Responsibilities

Lead statewide team meetings.
Travel to Dallas/Fort Worth, San Antonio, Austin, and The Woodlands as needed for team and client visits.
Collaborate with Geographic Bank Leadership to support connectivity and collaboration.
Manage team compensation, including salary, incentive compensation, and stock.
Manage team staffing and development.
Complete year-end performance assessments and mid-year check-ins for direct reports.
Complete and review development plans for direct reports.
Recommend officer and functional title promotions for direct and indirect reports.
Set annual incentive goals for the team and review and provide feedback on the incentive compensation plan.
Manage and review the CRE loan, deposit, and fee income pipeline.
Review and help structure new opportunities, modifications, and renewals.
Direct client and prospect engagement in collaboration with product and credit partners.
Encourage Salesforce usage.
Monitor portfolio credit quality, including criticized assets and trends, and communicate potential downgrades and upgrades.
Complete credit trends forecasts for Credit Risk Management and attend quarterly forecast meetings.
Manage CRE concentration limits.
Determine which pipeline deals should be tracked via the CRE Glide Path.
Project payoffs and construction-to-term conversions.
Track actual payoffs and term conversions.
Communicate potential concentration-limit breaches and request additional capacity from Corporate Credit as needed.
Meet with the Credit Exam Department as requested and respond to desk reviews and/or CED exams.
Recommend and defend risk grades.
Advocate for process improvement.
Provide executive leadership, strategic direction, and P&L accountability for the statewide CRE business.
Drive loan growth, deposit acquisition, and fee income while maintaining credit discipline.
Lead senior client coverage for premier sponsors and develop or attract top-tier talent across Texas.
Partner with Treasury Management, Private Banking, and Capital Markets.