Lani Hay, daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, retired from the Navy as an intelligence officer, and then with her American Express card and some savings, opened a technology consulting business serving the federal government. By 2007, just four years after it opened its doors, Lanmark Technology had grown to bring in $12 million in annual revenue and employ 100 people.* Then the recession hit. “Along with L.M.T.’s annual revenues dropping, L.M.T.’s line of credit was also dropped, by a bank that bought out the bank that I was working with,” Ms. Hay said Wednesday in a conference in Washington, convened by the Obama administration to address the problems small businesses have had finding capital during the recession. Worse, she said, the bank canceled the credit line just before she was to receive a $500,000 contract from the Defense Department — and she had needed the credit to tide her firm over until the government paid its bills.
Ms. Hay’s story, which she recounted to an audience of government officials, small businesses, lenders and interested trade associations, had a punchline. “That bank is actually here today,” she said. “I’m not going to name them, but they are here.”
In the Cash Room, the Obama Administration Is All Ears - You’re the Boss Blog - NYTimes.com
