Meridian Bank Executive Vice President Rocco Perate is a team player both in and out of the workplace. As the leader of the SBA Lending department, he coaches his team to help small businesses. With a goal to lead Meridian Bank to be the top SBA lender in the region for the fourth year in a row, the team has already achieved top lender status in Pennsylvania, No. 3 in New Jersey and No. 47 in the country.

Recognized by the Philadelphia Business Journal as the dean of the local SBA lending community¹, Perate oversees every aspect of the SBA department from building up his employees’ talents and doing underwriting, to closing deals and managing portfolios. He solicits and produces borrowers for small business loans, as well as oversees new initiatives like Merit Business Funding.

“The SBA team is a somewhat independent unit within the bank,” said Perate. “I enjoy that my role is unique because I get to think strategically on a macro and micro level to pass information and thought processes to the rest of the bank.”

Perate and his team joined Meridian over five years ago from Beneficial where they lent $400 million in SBA loans. Sought after by many in the Philadelphia area, they found a natural fit within the bank and have risen to the top.

In addition to his impact in SBA, Perate also navigated the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) during COVID-19. This program ensured borrowers could help their businesses stay afloat and maintain employment for their personnel through economic turbulence. The SBA team played a crucial role in supporting their clients during this time and attracted new customers to Meridian.

However, when he’s not challenging himself and his teammates to remain the top SBA lender in the region, he challenges himself in a different way.

Setting out to find a mental and physical avenue for stress and discipline, Perate took to jiu-jitsu, otherwise called the gentle art. When he began training multiple times a week, he quickly noticed he was the oldest in the room by at least 20 years. He did not let that stop him as he had a goal of earning a purple belt, something that can take over five years to obtain.

“After those five years of steady practice and attendance, I received my purple belt. While this adventure has changed me physically, I have also grown mentally and socially through meeting people from every corner of the region and visiting gyms in other cities,” he said.

Just as it takes commitment and support to complete the challenges presented by jiu-jitsu, Perate demonstrates the same values of hard work and persistence while working with his SBA teammates at Meridian Bank.

Learn more at Meridian Bank, Meridian’s SBA Lending, and Merit Business Funding.

1. Philadelphia Business Journal. ↩︎