Mary A. Kerner

By Brian Sodoma

Monday, June 29, 2009 | 12:51 p.m.

Mary A. Kerner is often asked how she gets so much done. Her response is always simply, “You just do!” That positive perspective has served her

well professionally, and it has also allowed the mother of five to help many rural Nevada small businesses find financing.

A lending administrator with the Rural Nevada Development Corp. since 2002, Kerner helps the agency book about $1 million per year in small-business loans, ranging from $5,000 to $150,000. She also has helped build a loan portfolio exceeding $7 million, with a default rate of less than 1 percent. Most, if not all, of the business owners she has loaned to have been turned down by banks before coming to the RNDC.

“Instead of finding a way to turn it down, we try to find a way to make it work,” Kerner said of working for the RNDC. “Just because someone filed a bankruptcy a few years ago doesn’t mean we can’t help them.”

With most of the funding RNDC coordinates for rural small businesses coming through federal programs, Kerner admits coming to the agency required “a good year to settle in.” Kerner spent considerable time studying federal loan programs and loan scenarios when she arrived and is still known for doing some late-night reading or coming back to work in the office after she puts her children to bed.

Kerner grew up near Ely, Nev., where she first considered a career in medicine.

“I’m a people person. I was looking at physical therapy. But once I got into high school, I took accounting classes and got involved in FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America),” she said.

With the help of a full-ride scholarship from FBLA, an educational association made up of student members preparing for careers in business, Kerner was able to go to college on the East Coast at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I. After completing an associate degree in business, Kerner began networking on the East Coast, but realized she missed her rural roots and also believed her contributions could be felt on a greater level back in the Silver State.

“I was building a big network there and was really enjoying it. … But part of me felt I could be so much more helpful back home,” Kerner added. “I have some friends who never went to college, some only a year or two, then they worked in family businesses. … I really felt like I could help some of these people.”

When she came back to the Ely area, Kerner was hired on at a local bank, eventually working her way up to a management position in which she oversaw two branches. After eight years, Kerner left banking for the RNDC to pursue her passion, lending to business owners who really need the help.

“Nothing against banks, but if it didn’t fit inside the box, it was outside the door,” she said of the more rigid lending requirements in the private sector.

Kerner sees her new role as a partnership with the banking industry. In fact, her agency requires prospective borrowers to be turned down by a bank before the RNDC takes them on as a client.

“We really want to get them from nonbankable to bankable. That’s why we give the banks first right of refusal,” she clarified.

In 2007, Kerner completed her bachelor’s degree in business administration with an emphasis in human resource management. In addition to volunteering for civic causes, Kerner also conducts financial literacy and business-related seminars for the public. Last year, Kerner implemented rural loan seminars in conjunction with the Small Business Administration and Nevada Microenterprise Initiative for 22 cities in rural Nevada.