Jim Kahler, Vice President SBA Credit &Operations Manager, First United Bank
Jim Kahler has been active in SBA lending since 1994. With close to 20 years experience, he has worked on all aspects of SBA lending, from origination, to underwriting, to closing/funding to servicing and liquidations. He has a great deal of knowledge and understanding of the SBA Standard Operating Procedures.
Jim joined First United Bank as the Vice President – SBA Credit and Operations Manager in February 2012. He is responsible for the operations of the SBA Loan Processing Center located in Denton. He oversees all aspects of the SBA Department related to the credit and closing of SBA loans.
He was in a similar position at Independent Bank of Texas as Vice President/SBA Lending during 2011. There he had very similar responsibilities but also assisted with conventional lending products.
Prior to joining IBT, he was the Business Credit Analyst for Texans Credit Union. At Texans Credit Union he was responsible for the SBA operations and underwriting of SBA and conventional small business loan requests.
He has also been the Sr. Operations Manger for the SBA division of First National Bank of Arizona. In this capacity, he was responsible for the NationalLoanOperationsCenter in Plano and supervised up to 10 underwriters, closers and disbursement officers.
Jim has worked for several other SBA lenders, some of which were local banks and others were top SBA national lenders. At the national lenders he has worked in business development, underwriting and loan operations.
Jim holds a Master of Business Administration degree in Marketing as well as a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management/Entrepreneurship from BaylorUniversity.
In addition to his normal work responsibilities, Jim recently took over as the President of the North Texas Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders (NTAGGL). Prior to this position, he held the offices of Treasurer, 2nd Vice President and 1st Vice President. He is very active in this organization and is Co-Chair of the Education Committee. In 2011 he was Co-Chair for the Conference and Chair of the Finance Committee for the Mid-America Lender’s Conference. He is one of the original founding members of NTAGGL.
Jim is very active in small business lending and is a member of North Texas SBDC Advisory Board. The SBDC Advisory Board is composed of stakeholders, partners and individuals with extensive small business experience. The function of the Advisory Board is to provide input to the SBDC management regarding the training, education, and assistance needed by small businesses.