Building a Three-Pronged Growth Engine for Small Business Lending

First State Bank of the Florida Keys set record loan production and improved efficiency with Baker Hill.

United Federal Credit Union

A Credit Union Built for Relationships, Not Quarters

For more than 75 years, United Federal Credit Union (United) has operated with a long-term mindset — one shaped by its cooperative roots and its commitment to people over profits. Serving members across seven states with $4.2B in assets, United has steadily grown a $340M member business lending portfolio by focusing on trust, access, and relationship depth.

When Lee Beason, chief commercial officer, joined United after decades in large and regional banking, he saw something different — and something powerful.

“In banking, you live quarter to quarter. In a credit union, you can live relationship to relationship. That changes how you think about growth — and how you serve small businesses.”

That philosophy became the foundation for United’s next chapter in member business lending.

The Challenge

Growth Opportunity, Operational Friction

By 2023, United was already a strong commercial lender — but leadership recognized that small business lending was constrained by process, not demand.

Smaller-dollar member business requests were often treated like full commercial loans, creating unnecessary friction for members and staff alike. At the same time, SBA lending — while attractive — was difficult to scale without specialized expertise. And once loans were booked, the organization lacked the portfolio-level visibility needed to manage risk proactively.

“We had opportunity everywhere — but we were asking our people to work harder instead of smarter,” said Beason. “That’s not sustainable if you want to grow.”

United didn’t see these challenges as isolated issues. They saw them as symptoms of a fragmented approach to member business lending.

Strategic Vision

One Market, Three Paths

Rather than doubling down on a single product, United reframed the problem entirely. Small business lending wasn’t one lane — it was an ecosystem.

Leadership aligned around a three-pronged strategy, ensuring every business request had a clear, intentional path:

“If you say no too early, you lose the relationship,” said Beason. “If you take too long, you lose their trust. We wanted a model where every deal had somewhere to go.”

This strategy ensured that SBA success didn’t exist in isolation — it was fed by smarter commercial and smaller dollar member business decisioning upstream.

The Solution

People First. Platforms Second.

United invested heavily in experience — bringing in seasoned commercial lenders and hiring an elite SBA team with decades of collective expertise.

“The secret isn’t complicated,” said Beason. “You hire great people, you give them a clear vision, and then you get out of their way.”

These hires immediately accelerated production — but leadership knew people alone wouldn’t be enough to scale sustainably.

Baker Hill supports:

• Standardized commercial and member business credit workflows.
• Scored decisioning with rapid review for loans under $200K.
• Faster approvals and same-day funding in many cases.
• Consistent credit structure across teams.

Baker Hill plays a critical upstream role — helping lenders quickly determine whether a request fits commercial, scored small business, or would flow into SBA.

“Speed matters, but clarity matters more,” said Benson, “Baker Hill helps us quickly understand what a deal is — and where it belongs.”

With portfolio monitoring now added, United is extending that clarity well beyond origination.

“Team United has taken a deliberate crawl, walk, run approach to adopting lending technology. What stands out most is how every decision starts with the relationship,” Craig Heman, RVP, Client Success and Growth. “Over the past four years, partnering with leaders like Lee, Brad, Paul, Amanda, and others has been a masterclass in people-first execution. Their consistency, transparency, and care for members are the reason their small business lending engine keeps getting stronger.”

Results

Measured Growth Across All Three Fronts

United’s strategy delivered results quickly — and across the entire small business ecosystem.

• Grew from 1 SBA loan to 53 loans in 2025.
• Approved approximately $69M in SBA lending.
• Named a Top 100 SBA 7(a) Lender nationwide.
• Ranked #1 in the nation for percentage growth.

• Commercial production for the first quarter of 2026 has already exceeded the total commercial production for all of 2025.

“For smaller member business loans, we continuously strive to match the experience members expect — fast, clear, and consistent,” added Beason.

What’s Next

From Faster Decisions to Smarter Portfolios

With proactive portfolio monitoring in the works, and as credit policies continuing to evolve, United is focused on the next phase of maturity:

• Increasing automated approvals and declines to allow the credit union to focus more on relationships that matter.
• Reducing manual reviews and requests to member businesses so that members feel the trust the credit union has in them based on past loan behaviors.
• Proactively managing risk across the portfolio and looking for outliers that would indicate to a portfolio manager that an outreach is in order.
• Deepening relationships beyond the first loan and actively knowing what the member business is needing and reacting to that need before they even have to ask.

“The first loan earns you the conversation,” said Beason. “What you do after that earns you the relationship.”