Meet The Team: Philipp Stief

Name: Philipp Stief 

Title: Assistant Vice President 

Office: Frankfurt, Germany 

Day-to-day: I work in the European Primary Servicing Team collaborating closely with the London office. We manage loans for investment banks. We service the loans, so we control the cash flow. We review the reporting that borrowers provide. We manage any amendment or waiver processes for our clients. We take our job seriously and always try our best to deliver. As Lisa Williams, the Head of Europe, always says: We are only as good as our last deal. 

What it takes: A good grasp of complex topics and contexts. Of course, a structured approach to work, a sense of responsibility and a little bit of patience also help. I’m learning every day.  

Defining my path: I started working for SitusAMC almost six years ago as an Associate. At the beginning, it was quite hard for me to start a job that is almost completely in English. I mean, I learned English at school, but it’s more tourism-oriented. The first few weeks I thought: How am I going to do this? I set up a small dictionary with the words that are very common in this field and slowly, I got used to it and was able to communicate. My colleagues in the Frankfurt office helped me. I’m very thankful for that. 

A competitive streak: I was a long-distance runner and competed in National Championships. I was Top 10 in Germany in the 5000m event. I was training 12 times a week, twice a day, five days a week. Running taught me that hard work always pays off. Also, I found my best friends in running, because we are all very ambitious. We love to wake up early to get the day started.  

Home is: Saarland, a region in the west of Germany, right on the border with France. It is very rural, very green. We have a lot of forests and nature in contrast to Frankfurt. On Mondays and Fridays, I work from home in the countryside, and Tuesday through Thursday, I’m in the Frankfurt office enjoying the time with my colleagues in a big city.  

Inspiration: Alexander Zverev. Recently, after he was out of Wimbledon, first round, he was very open with his feelings. He said that he never felt so alone. That’s something that really touched my heart, because there are hundreds of thousands of people out there that feel the same, and they feel ashamed of expressing their vulnerability, but there is no reason to feel ashamed. Because he’s a sports star on TV, he can inspire people to be open.  

Life lessons that go the distance: When I lost a race or was not performing as I wanted, my first reaction was to appreciate the winner, and to congratulate them, because he was just better that day. Second, I tried to learn what I did wrong in preparations, or in the race itself, and change my frustration into motivation to be the winner next time.  

Moments that mattered: When my boss and the Head of Europe decided that I’ll be a signatory for the German entity, I realized: They really trust me. For someone else, it’s maybe not that big, but it really means a lot to me, because for me to trust someone 100 percent is a very big hurdle. 

Note to my younger self: Start earlier with running! And maybe, hopefully, make it to the Olympic games. But other than that, I wouldn’t do anything differently, because I’m actually very happy in my life.