Most Powerful Women to Watch: No. 22, Zions Bancorp's Olga Hoff

Director of Enterprise Retail Banking

The pandemic devastated many small businesses, especially those owned by women and people of color, and Zions Bancorp. in Salt Lake City devised a plan to help, with Olga Hoff leading the effort.

Early this year, the $80 billion-asset Zions launched a program focused specifically on the needs of businesses owned by women, minorities and veterans. The program, established in connection with a similar effort by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, provides loans or lines of credit on modified terms. Adjustments to underwriting standards can be made in areas such as credit score, leverage or liquidity. A typical loan amount made under the program might range from $50,000 to $1 million.

One benefit for Zions is more data about the borrowers and the particular challenges they face, said Hoff, who stepped up to serve as executive sponsor for the initiative. “This data gives us the ability to continue to refine the program to expand access to credit and economic opportunity for small businesses,” she said.

Hoff oversees consumer and small-business loan centers at Zions and supervises digital product development, credit cards and the technology provided to retail bankers. She also played a role in implementing a new core banking platform in the company’s consumer lending business, leading to quicker credit decisions and better support for bankers.

Hoff was named director of enterprise retail banking in 2018, when LeeAnne Linderman retired. (Linderman herself was on the Most Powerful Women list numerous times and received a Lifetime Achievement in 2019.)

The pandemic and its fallout tested Hoff as a leader, but also helped her grow. “Figuring out a way to stay optimistic and not allowing hurdles, whatever they are, obstruct our view of the possible, is something I’m certainly not letting go of,” she said.