In the clubby, male-dominated world of commercial lending Dorothy Horvath has broken new ground for women.
Last month, Robert Mo Associates, the venerable if somewhat stodgy trade group for commercial loan and credit office elected Ms. Horvath a nation officer, putting her in line to become the group's first woman president two years from now.
While Robert Morris keeps fairly low profile - it does not, for example, lobby Congress or the executive branch - the association's president effectively functions as spokesperson for the commercial, lending business an occasionally steps into the national spotlight, testifying on Capitol Hill about credit-related issues.
Ms. Horvath, who is executive vice president and chief credit policy officer of National City Bank in Columbus, Ohio, began her three-year term of national office on Sept. I as the trade group's second vice president. Next year, she will move up to first vice president, and die following year, Ms. Horvath will assume group's top leadership post.
Many members of the 80-year-old association say it's about time the trade group put a woman in the rotation to become president. At the same time, though, gender politics apparently didn't influence the nominating process.
"My real sense is that it was gender neutral," said Lee Murphey, executive vice president and chief credit officer of First Liberty Bank in Macon, Ga., and a newly elected Robert Morris director.
William Rossman. president of Mid-state Bank and Trust Co. in Altoona. Pa., who chaired the trade group's nominating committee, said the group wants to put women in leadership positions, but added that Ms. Horvath's nomination was based purely on her qualifications.
Those who know her describe Ms. Horvath as a tough, competent banker who gets things done, and who has paid her dues over the years as an active Robert Morris member.
In an hourlong telephone interview last week, Ms. Horvath said she had no sense that the nominating committee specifically set out to select a woman candidate.
Gail Ginnetty, a senior vice president at Fleet National Bank in Providence, R.I., and a former member of the trade group's board, said Ms. Horvath's election to national office mainly reflects, the fact that there are "more women in senior positions at more banks" today.
Robert Morris officers typically are senior lenders or chief credit officers with 25 to 30 years of industry experience. "We're just getting to the point now" where women are starting to move up to those senior-level, positions, Ms. Horvath says, creating a bigger pool from which the group can choose women bankers for leadership positions.
"Back when I got started in banking, there simply weren't that many women in commercial lending," Ms. Horvath adds.
But if there are more women in senior-level lending and credit positions at banks today, it is not reflected in the makeup of the trade group's 23-member board. Only three board members are women.
Robert Morris officials say the group tries hard to make it leadership reflect their contituency. but it's hard to tell how well it is doing on that score. The croup does not break down its total membership roster of over 16,000 loan and credit officers by sex.
If attendance at the association's annual fall conference is any indication, though, the membership is overwhelmingly male.
Ms. Horvath says she hopes her position as a Robert Morris national officer will attract younger women to commercial lending - and, by implication, to the trade group - although she does not necessarily see herself as a role model.
"I've never really thought of role model in terms of gender," she says.
But her election seems to have struck a spark even among senior-level bankers like Sandra Jansky, executive vice president and chief credit officer of SunBank in Orlando.
"I'm excited, and I hope Dorothy will be the first of many" women elected to national office, says Ms. Jansky.
Ms. Horvath's male colleagues in the commercial lending business seem equally enthusiastic.
"It's one of those things that I wish had happened before now. I think it's very positive" for the group, said Keith Lawder, senior vice president at Wachovia Bank of Georgia.
Michael Pimley, who runs his own consulting and training business and who served with Ms. Horvath on the Robert Morris board several years ago, calls her a "very knowledgeable, very literate credit professional."
Ms. Horvath is assuming the leadership mantle at a time when the commercial lending business is in relatively good shape. Although competition is intense and pricing remains under pressure, problem loans have virtually disappeared from the landscape. And banking industry profits are running at record levels, thanks in part to rising credit demand.
Symbolic of the sunny conditions, the trade group's fall conference is being held this year at a posh resort just a stone's throw from Disney's Magic Kingdom in Florida.
But more than a few bankers and industry analysts fret that lenders are loosening credit standards too much to attract new business. It's possible that two years from now, Ms. Horvath will ascend to the Robert Morris presidency just as the industry is entering a new round of credit woes, as today's new loans start to sour.
Ms. Horvath acknowledges that the thought has occurred to her, but she holds to the belief that bankers, collective memories are long enough that they won't soon forget the credit fiasco that imperiled the industry just a few short years ago.
The credit woes of several years ago created recruitment problems for Robert Morris. Given the demands in terms of time and travel involved in being a national officer of the association, many bankers couldn't afford to be distracted from the demands of their jobs.
"I could not have committed to this two years ago," says Ms. Horvath.
