The key to contracting
When government contractor IT Coalition needed to make a tricky business decision, Sandy Spring Bank’s Government Contractor Banking Team stepped in to help.
By WP Creative Group
While no industry was left completely unscathed, the pandemic certainly brought its own unique set of challenges to the government contracting world. Some industries were shut down temporarily or chose to close their doors voluntarily, but the government marched on.
For Greg Fitzgerald, President of IT Coalition, an information technology and business services provider to the federal government, managing his 1200-plus employees nationwide was somewhat of a logistical nightmare.
Half of his workforce needed to remain in government facilities during the pandemic — either because they were working with classified networks or they were based at facilities requiring physical access to the systems and information — while the other half needed to transition to remote work.
“It was a huge challenge to navigate the social distancing requirements, tend to the general concerns about the pandemic and take care of the health and safety of our workforce and their families — all while in the middle of trying to operationally complete a mission,” Fitzgerald said.
When things finally seemed to be calming down, Fitzgerald and his leadership team faced another dilemma: It was time to buy out a founding partner.
With business moving fast, time was of the essence. The only problem? They needed a partnering bank that could keep up.
Although their existing bank had been a solid partner for years, it couldn’t meet IT Coalition’s new needs and rapidly approaching deadline.
“We really needed a bank that understood the vision that we were going for, the complexities of our balance sheet and the risk profile that it presented,” Fitzgerald explained. “For a variety of reasons, they weren’t able to get it done.”
That’s when they turned to local bank and financial services partner, Sandy Spring Bank.
“Right away, Sandy Spring got us,” Fitzgerald said. “They offered us a creative solution and moved very, very fast. Quite honestly, they helped us solve a challenge that our prior bank could not.”
Beyond catering to IT Coalition’s unique challenges, what stood out to Fitzgerald was the instant ease he felt from the Sandy Spring Government Contractor Banking Team and their fast-acting tactics. Within 24 hours of initiating a discussion, the Sandy Spring senior leadership team sprung into action, getting on a call with IT Coalition after business hours to come up with a plan that would meet their goals.
“We felt comfortable right away — like our business mattered,” Fitzgerald said. “They understood exactly how to help us buy out the partner and grow as an organization.”
Helping government contractors grow
What sets Sandy Spring Bank apart from other banks is that the Government Contractor Banking Team members have over a century of experience partnering with government contractors and fulfilling their many opportunities for growth and success.
Frank Merendino, Senior Vice President and Team Leader of Sandy Spring Bank’s Government Contractor Lending Group, has over 20 years of experience in the government contracting industry and a decade of experience as the Team Leader at Sandy Spring Bank. His personal experience, combined with a strong working knowledge of industry partners outside the Bank, enabled him to create a customized, complex lending solution that met all the expectations of the IT Coalition management team and of the Bank within the required timeline.
“Our experience means that we know partners in the market that can help our Government Contracting Banking Team support complex loan requests. So in this case, that same data came to me and with IT Coalition’s leaderships consent, I reached out to a secondary partner in the market to customize a complex lending solution to support IT Coalition’s loan request,” Merendino said.
Having a bank that understood the intricacies of government contractors made a huge difference for IT Coalition during a pivotal time for the company, Fitzgerald explained.
“Like a lot of government contractors, we had scaled up very quickly, and so we had balance sheet complexities associated with doing this buyout while trying to grow and manage operations at a fast pace,” Fitzgerald said. “Had we not been trying to buy out the partner at the same time, we could have stayed where we were and it would have been fine, but we really needed to move. When we sat down with the Government Contractor Banking Team at Sandy Spring Bank and said, ‘This is our plan, this is our backlog, this is what’s in our pipeline and this is where we’re going to be as a company,’ they understood it and they were able to help us.”
Building relationships that last
In addition to fast turnarounds and inventive workarounds, what really impressed Fitzgerald about Sandy Spring Bank was the attentiveness at the highest levels. “Within 24 hours of us reaching out, Sandy Spring Bank got their whole senior leadership team on a call with us,” Fitzgerald said.
Establishing a dedicated customer relationship team from the inception stage that persists throughout the entire tenure of the banking relationship is something that Sandy Spring Bank prides itself on — and something that no other bank in town does. These relationships also make possible the timely, flat credit decision-making that’s vital for meeting deadlines and establishing creative lending solutions.
“The benefit to the customer is that by the time we go to closing, our client doesn’t know someone at the treasury management office — they know them as ‘Erin,’” Merendino said. “It’s not the portfolio manager, it’s ‘Tom.’ We provide real contacts from day one, and most importantly, after the relationship transitions, nobody has to call a 1-800 number.”
For Fitzgerald, these close-knit relationships make him feel secure in his relationship with Sandy Spring Bank, knowing they’re at-the-ready for any challenges that arise with his business.
Fostering community beyond its walls
Sandy Spring Bank is headquartered in Olney, Md., and has more than 50 locations throughout the D.C. area. While catering to community businesses like IT Coalition is its number one priority, its service doesn’t stop there.
Sandy Spring Bank encourages its employees to give back throughout the greater D.C. community by volunteering, equipping employees with paid volunteer hours that they can use towards whatever cause or organization they’re passionate about.
“You’ll consistently see Sandy Spring Bank employees racking up 10,000 volunteer hours per year, putting us alongside companies the size of a big corporation,” Merendino said. “I’ve been in banking my entire career, and I’ve never worked for another bank that’s come close to Sandy Spring Bank in terms of commitment to the community.”
Merendino believes this strong community involvement, along with his Team’s creativity, experience and ability to act quickly to meet and even exceed customer expectations sets our bank apart from other banks: “These are not just transactions — these are true customer relationships.”
Discover how Sandy Spring Bank can help grow your business here.
Content From
