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Robert Espaillat, 38
President and CEO
Acción New York
When Robert Espaillat served as a Marine during Operation Desert Shield, his calm, take-charge manner soon won him the nickname "The General." Only 23, he was in charge of 20 men and maintaining a $35 million aircraft. He's never lost the leadership skills he acquired on the tarmac.
"I'll always be a Marine," says Mr. Espaillat, whose office decor includes a prized photo of General Norman Schwarzkopf shaking his hand.
When he couldn't find the airport management job he wanted after he left the military, Mr. Espaillat went into consumer credit counseling for banks. That gave him the experience he needed to run Acción. The Manhattan nonprofit borrows money from big banks, adds points, and typically doles it out as $5,000 to $10,000 loans to small entrepreneurs.
That involves risk, with much depending on Mr. Espaillat's reading of the applicant's trustworthiness. As a street-savvy product of Washington Heights, Mr. Espaillat, a father of five, has an admirable track record. During his three-year tenure, Acción's default rate has dropped to 5% from 14%, even as the total amount loaned has grown to $14.5 million in 2005 from $4.8 million in 2002.
Carlos Sanchez, a Washington Mutual vice president who has worked with Mr. Espaillat through Acción, says, "He's a great judge of character. Working for a big bank, I have to look only at the numbers when I decide who gets loans, but Robert can look at human factors and size things up."