Wells Fargo announced John Coad has been named national sales manager for SBA Lending. A senior sales leader with 30 years of experience in commercial lending, including SBA lending and small business leadership roles at GE Capital, Coad will lead a national sales team of SBA lending professionals and help drive growth for a line of business that has been America’s No. 1 SBA 7(a) lender in dollars for six consecutive years (U.S. SBA, federal fiscal years 2009-2014). He will be based in New York and report to Donna Serres, head of Wells Fargo SBA Lending.

“I am happy to welcome John to the SBA Lending team, and to Wells Fargo,” said Donna Serres. “With a proven track record and exceptional sales and management experience, I know he will be instrumental in helping us serve the small business community and as a result, earn more business and build on Wells Fargo’s reputation as a leader in SBA lending.”

Coad joins Wells Fargo after a 30-year career in commercial lending, 24 of those years with GE Capital where he was first introduced to SBA lending as Regional Sales Leader for GE Capital’s Small Business Finance Group in 1995. Coad held various regional and national sales leadership roles within GE Capital’s Business Property and Small Business Finance departments, focusing on SBA and conventional loan products. In his most recent position with GE, he led the East Coast loan origination team for the Franchise Finance division.

Wells Fargo is the nation’s leading SBA 7(a) lender in dollars and units through ten months of federal fiscal year 2015 (October 2014 – July 2015), approving 37 percent more SBA 7(a) loan dollars and 73 percent more SBA 7(a) units than a year ago. To help more small businesses achieve financial success, Wells Fargo launched Wells Fargo Works forSmall BusinessSM – a broad initiative to deliver resources, guidance and services for business owners.