As a senior lender for Citibank, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley, PCV Advisor David Taylor felt a sense of career satisfaction whenever he closed a transaction for a large corporation or a high-profile individual. Yet at the same time David often wondered whether his work as a banker had a broader impact on the world or made any real difference in the lives of others. So when PCV’s CFO Carolyn Clarke asked David if he would be interested in becoming a PCV Volunteer Business Advisor, David jumped at the opportunity.
“I was really attracted to volunteer with PCV by the clear focus of PCV’s mission – to create quality jobs in underserved communities – and by the opportunity to share my time and expertise with local business owners whom I could get to know personally,” David says. “Our career lives have become increasingly impersonal now that so much business is conducted electronically. I really yearned for a volunteer opportunity that would provide that missing personal element and that would enable me to experience the impact first-hand.”
Having served as a PCV Advisor for the past two years, David says that the experience has provided everything he wanted in a volunteer opportunity and much more. “What I didn’t expect when I signed up to be a volunteer advisor was how much I would learn as I worked with Ben and Bruno to understand the issues that their business faced. And I certainly didn’t expect how personally rewarding the experience would turn out to be.”
In early 2012, David met Ben Kelley and Bruno Baglin, the owners of Triple BK Landscape Gardening in San Francisco. Triple BK was hit hard by the recession as customers cut back on major landscape projects. The business survived, but with a large debt overhang that threatened to impede its future growth prospects. With his financial background, David was able to advise Ben and Bruno on the steps they would need to take to qualify for a debt consolidation loan that would put the company on a firmer financial footing.
In 2013, Triple BK applied for a loan through the SAIL program. The $147,000 SAIL loan that PCV approved will significantly lower Triple BK’s interest expense. The loan will enable the business to hire additional workers to meet the rising demand for its landscape and gardening services.