Ellen joined Fifth Third Bank, National Association in 2021 as a Vice President/Assistant General Counsel supporting the Bank’s Middle Market and International Commercial Lending businesses, as well as Global Trade (supply chain finance).  Ellen advises the Bank’s internal document preparation team and works with outside legal partners on the documenting of bilateral and syndicated commercial lending transactions.  Ellen also works with the Bank’s Global Trade business team and outside legal partners on documenting letters of credit and the financing of accounts receivable and payable.

Since joining Fifth Third, Ellen has worked with Legal and business partners on the Bank’s transition away from LIBOR, the development of standard template loan documents for Middle Market loan transactions, and large-scale implementation of e-signatures for commercial loan transactions.  Ellen’s primary areas of interest are commercial lending generally, and specifically commercial real estate and secured transactions under the Uniform Commercial Code.

Prior to joining Fifth Third Ellen spent ten years at a state-chartered bank where at various times she managed the bank’s non-performing loans and Other Real Estate, provided general legal counsel, and supervised the majority of the bank’s credit administration functions, including Loan Documentation, Loan Review, and Special Assets.  Ellen was a member of the bank’s Credit Risk Committee and Asset and Liability Committee, and served as a non-voting member of the Loan Committee, providing advice and guidance to committee members on the structure of commercial loans.

Before moving in-house, Ellen practiced law in the Lexington, Kentucky office of regional law firm Frost Brown Todd LLC, where she was a member of the firm’s Financial Restructuring Group, practicing in the areas of creditors’ rights, commercial and consumer foreclosure, bankruptcy law, real estate law, and general creditor/debtor issues. 
 
Ellen is a graduate of Rollins College, and earned her M.A. and J.D. from the University of Kentucky.  She graduated with Honors in 2018 from the Graduate School of Banking at Colorado, where she has been invited to return as part of the faculty, teaching an elective course on Loan Workouts.  Ellen enjoys travelling and spending time with her husband Michael at home in the Bluegrass countryside, and is crazy about the Kentucky Wildcats, as well as her two pet cats.

PRACTICE AREAS

Commercial Lending

Supply Chain Finance

BAR ADMISSIONS

Kentucky, Florida

Ohio (corporate counsel)

COURT ADMISSIONS

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

U.S. District and Bankruptcy Courts for the Eastern District of Kentucky

U.S. District and Bankruptcy Courts for the Western District of Kentucky

U.S. District and Bankruptcy Courts for the Northern District of Florida

U.S. District and Bankruptcy Courts for the Middle District of Florida

EDUCATION

Graduate School of Banking at Colorado, Honors Graduate 2018

University of Kentucky College of Law, J.D. 2008

University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, M.A., 2002

Rollins College, A.B. Honoris, 1996