Beth Stehr has been around horses since she was a baby; her father trained thoroughbreds at Fairmount Park Racetrack in Collinsville (now known as Fanduel Sportsbook and Horse Racing), and she worked for him after high school.
When she moved to a farm in Lonedell, Missouri, her first priority was horses.
“I wanted to build a big barn for my horses, which I built myself along with a few friends,” Beth shares.
Now she’s added to her farm. She loves animals and helping those in need, “which has led me to having many horses, pigs, dogs and a few cows!” she says. And it’s not just animals that keep her farm a busy, happy place: Beth is also the legal guardian of two children she’s now raising, ages 5 and 12.
As if that wasn’t a full plate, Beth is embarking on a new adventure: joining INB! Beth is now Small Business Administration (SBA) Closer and Officer for INB’s St. Louis-area loan office.
In this role, she’ll be supporting all INB loan officers who close SBA loans.
“Due to my former bank merging, I found myself looking for a new bank to call home. I had interviews with large banks and SBA processing centers that just didn’t fit with what I was looking for. One day, INB popped up on my phone looking for an SBA Loan Closer; I hadn’t heard of INB, so of course I had to investigate,” Beth recalls.
“This was a place that had my interest. I applied and had my interview, and I knew this was the place for me,” she adds.
Always learning about loans
Beth grew up in St. Louis, graduating from Mehlville Senior High School and completing business and accounting courses at St. Louis Community College in 1994.
Beth has been a banker in the St. Louis metropolitan area since 1999. Over her career, she’s been in multiple roles at multiple banks, moving around due to bank mergers. But each role only helped her build her expertise regarding the documentation and processing of loans.
Beth has 24 years of experience in loan administration and eight years of specialized SBA administration experience. Her specialties include loan documentation, construction loan draws, SBA application software, creating and implementing SBA closing checklists, and pre-closing audits of SBA files.
“I started in banking many years ago, starting at the bottom and working my way up learning everything that was available,” she says.
Back in the saddle – for kids with cancer
While her home life is quite busy, Beth’s also devoted to her community. Her love of horses led her to get involved with the nonprofit St. Clair Saddle Club and the annual Kids with Cancer event the organization produces.
St. Clair Saddle Club puts on horse shows, rodeos and hosts a Fun Night, so that the children battling cancer can ride a horse and forgo their strict diets for just one night.
Being so comfortable with horses herself, she was dismayed to see how many of the children were nervous around the horses and set out to change that.
“I volunteered at my first Camp Quality event for the children with cancer and saw how they were so scared at first to get on a horse,” she says. “All you needed to do was talk with them and get them to relax and love on the horse they were riding. Then things turned around to them loving the horses and not wanting to leave. It was a great feeling, and every year I couldn’t wait to see them again.”
Today, Beth looks forward to helping the SBA Department grow. Her 20+ years of experience in banking have enabled her to identify potential issues and select appropriate solutions in SBA loan closings.
“I love helping people with their dream of opening a business and the look on their faces at the closing table when their dream has come true,” she shares.