As Sales Director for the SCF Sales team, Juan manages relationships with any prospect who is interested in a payables program.
“My team and I work with any corporate clients or prospective clients and explain the solutions and products we offer and explain to them how these can bring benefit to their business and their suppliers,” he says.
Juan began his career in the trade finance space as an intern in structured finance while attending Rotterdam School of Management. He later moved to New York where he began working at Citibank on the Supply Chain Finance team, focusing on supplier onboarding.
He met Raistone CEO Dave Skirzenski and Raistone Director of Administration Wayne Domnitz while he was working at Mizuho Bank. Juan recognized that Raistone’s idea of using non-bank working capital to support SCF programs would allow for more flexibility in terms of what businesses could take advantage of the solution.
“At banks I worked at in the past, their focus was on offering Supply Chain finance to Fortune 500 companies, but the same demand existed for mid-market corporates,” he shares. “I thought Raistone’s idea of using non-bank capital to support Supply Chain Finance programs would allow more flexibility in terms of who can benefit from this solution.”
One of the aspects Juan enjoys most about working at Raistone is the personal touch he is able to provide clients.
“I’ve been able to take a much more individualized approach with clients at Raistone, I think being able to speak with the owner of these companies allows us to build a more specialized program that works best for their business,” he says.
Along with being able to have a more personal relationship with clients, Juan says that Raistone can support clients from end to end. “Raistone has a team with a lot of experience that have gone through this process countless times, so we’re able to seamless support clients in multiple stages from initial discussion to legal agreements to the payment and collections for both suppliers and investors,” he shares.
As adoption of Supply Chain Finance grew in the broader market, transparency and disclosure of these programs became an important topic of discussion. Recently, new disclosure laws have been developed that aim to increase awareness — and decrease mystery or misconceptions — around commonly used Supply Chain Finance programs.
“The new disclosures play a crucial role in fostering transparency and accountability. They provide relevant stakeholders with insight into a company’s health as well as how they treat their suppliers,” Juan shares. “These new rules will also help to build trust with investors and get them more comfortable with funding Supply Chain Finance programs.”
When Juan is not leading the Raistone Supply Chain Finance Sales team, he enjoys playing soccer and spending time with his daughter and son.
