Sonya Morlock-Ryals is one of the most willing and capable coaches within Signature Financial. She is committed to the maintenance and advancement of an open and equitable work environment that leverages great competencies, recognizes that there are interpersonal differences in all people that can be used to create a better environment and has great appreciation for a humble message. Since progressing to her C-Suite role as senior vice president and deputy chief risk officer at Signature Financial, Morlock-Ryals has accelerated her involvement with the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association, frequently attending annual national conferences and becoming a regular attendant of its Women Leadership Conference.

Morlock-Ryals’ passion is to mentor and share her knowledge with her peers. In her role with Signature Financial, she has a broad reach across the company’s footprint. She always focuses on identifying people’s strengths to help foster independence and a career path for those around her. Morlock-Ryals has experienced the pleasure of watching many of her direct reports soar in their careers via her mentoring, seeing this as one of her greatest accomplishments as a manager.

Morlock-Ryals began her equipment finance career at All Points Capital. Her true trajectory, however, started with the formation of Signature Financial in March 2012. Her desire to learn and excitement for the industry led to her promotion from underwriter to senior manager of several of Signature Financial’s businesses, which ultimately resulted in her recent promotion to her current role.\

“Success is determined by how you do what you do every day when no one else is watching. Women should be independent and courageous in their decisions,” Morlock-Ryals says. “Always be open minded and listen to what those around you have to say; you may learn something.”

Determined to expand her responsibilities within Signature Financial, Morlock-Ryals became involved in the launching of a new business platform, Vendor Industrial Finance, in 2021. She has also been instrumental in the development of an application-only scorecard liaison for audits and the writing of credit policy while chairing the firm’s credit committee. Her other responsibilities include organizing problem loan reporting for Signature’s executive team.

“Sonya combines a diversified skill set, courageous work ethic and ownership mentality to continuously help make teammates better while releasing tangible value for Signature Financial and our clients. Her special and unique professional profile leverages over two decades of risk management experience, product knowledge, asset management and appreciation for clients that has made her a ‘go to’ for me,” Anthony Perettine, executive vice president and division head of national third-party intermediaries at Signature Financial, says. “As deputy CRO, Sonya is responsible for the safety and soundness, profitable growth and risk leadership of our $6.4 billion portfolio. However, it’s the path she took to this destination that always stands out for me. When first launched, Sonya was part of a pool of talented risk teammates that were quickly assigned to lead risk roles for developing platforms. Sonya was different; she jumped into a combined risk/client facing role that propelled our intermediary business to the national, market-leading brand that it enjoys today.”

“Success is determined by how you do what you do every day when no one else is watching. Women should be independent and courageous in their decisions. Always be open minded and listen to what those around you have to say; you may learn something.”