Lee Farabaugh is the co-founder and president of Monarch Professional Services Group (Monarch), a Core10 division that provides implementation and customer success services for leading financial service CRM and SaaS platforms. Farabaugh oversees division strategy, business development, sales, and marketing.

Farabaugh has expertise in raising venture capital, geographic expansion, and creating partnerships with non-profit and industry partners. Previously, she co-founded and served as president at Core10, a U.S.-based provider of middleware products and software development services. Farabaugh also co-founded PointClear Solutions, where she managed innovation in healthcare technology delivery through new strategies, business opportunities, technologies, and key partner relationships.

Farabaugh was recently elected to the Board for the Association for Financial Technology (AFT), a national association devoted to the advancement of fintech companies and the U.S. financial industry through technology. Farabaugh also serves as Co-Entrepreneur in Residence for Project Fintech, an initiative of LaunchTN and Nashville Entrepreneur Center. Outside of Monarch, she was actively involved with non-profit partners to create NewForce, a software development boot camp in West Virginia.

Monarch’s mission is all about enabling the people who move financial services forward. How does that core purpose guide your approach to implementation, client success, and culture?

We live by the core value of rising together, meaning we approach every client engagement with a spirit of collaboration and shared success. That value extends beyond our immediate team to include our clients and their customers, because we recognize that the impact of our work does not stop at the go-live stage. There are multiple stakeholders in every delivery project – financial service firms and their technology partners – and we act as the connector, ensuring seamless solution delivery and optimized user experiences.

By enabling technology that simplifies complexity, we empower practitioners to operate at their highest and best ability, which means more time building relationships, driving growth, and delivering better outcomes. Everything we do is anchored in helping people succeed, from our client success approach to the internal culture we foster.

Your team places a strong emphasis on developing talent—especially those early in their careers. How do you approach mentorship and training, and why is that integral to Monarch’s success?

Our people are Monarch’s greatest asset, and success starts with culture fit: we look for individuals who are curious, collaborative, and aligned with our core values. We invest heavily in mentorship and training that goes beyond technology, providing education on the financial services industry and the specific functional roles team members will play. Structured onboarding, ongoing support, and a culture of growth without ego ensure new hires feel empowered from day one.

We highly support career growth, even when employees expand their expertise beyond Monarch. “Boomerang” journeys —when team members leave to pursue new opportunities and later return with fresh insights—are embraced as a way to cultivate a dynamic culture grounded in mutual respect and continuous learning.

Finally, team members are equipped to serve clients with confidence by gaining deep familiarity with the solutions we implement and configure, even if those tools are not part of our internal operations. Hands-on learning and, mutual support, and curiosity fuels our team development and ultimately, client success.

What market trends should financial service firms be paying close attention to as they rethink implementation and customer success strategies? Where do you see the biggest opportunities?

One of the key trends financial services firms should be watching closely is the extended holding period for private assets. These durations are increasing, which makes it more important to optimize the value of an asset before it goes to market. Implementation and customer success strategies need to evolve to drive proactive value creation throughout the holding period. Tools like Cobalt, for example, provide visibility into portfolio companies over the entire lifecycle, enabling data-driven value.

Structural shifts like the pandemic, interest rate fluctuations, and policy uncertainty have also changed how firms operate. Additionally, newer generations of investors, who naturally turn to technology for insight, need systems that deliver transparency and efficiency. Tools like DealCloud—and the dashboards, external-facing reports, automations, and workflows we help build within it—create a shared language that bridges internal teams and external stakeholders, empowering faster, more aligned decision-making.

The slowdown in M&A activity is another challenge. With fewer assets coming to market, firms cannot rely on a steady pipeline of inbound opportunities. They need repeatable business development strategies to engage business owners, especially when uncertainty is causing many owners to pause. The firms that invest in tech and process optimization now will be best positioned to unlock value and build trust across every stage of the deal cycle.

For private capital firms and other financial services organizations, why is it critical to invest in a strong, future-proof tech stack? What risks do firms face if they don’t?

Investing in a strong, future-proof tech stack is essential for long-term resilience. This industry has always faced high turnover, and when institutional knowledge walks out the door, so does the nuance of a firm’s unique investment strategy or client service model. That is why it is critical to have tools that not only support efficient operations but also embed and scale best practices across teams, especially during onboarding.

At Monarch, we tailor technology to fit the firm’s existing processes, so teams are not forced into a one-size-fits-all solution that compromises their workflow. We bring deep familiarity with industry best practices and offer guidance on where firms can enhance efficiency to complement their unique methodology.

Ultimately, technology either enables you to do more with the same team or to deliver higher-quality services with greater consistency. With major shifts like the great wealth transfer underway, the firms that can adapt quickly, capture institutional knowledge, and equip their people with the right tools will be more likely to maintain competitive advantage.

What are some of the operational blind spots that firms often overlook—and how can the right tech infrastructure help eliminate those challenges?

A common blind spot for firms is relying heavily on top performers without capturing and scaling their effective habits. With the right tech infrastructure, especially tools that support data harvesting and guided workflows, firms can embed those high-impact behaviors across the organization.

Firms also overlook the need for coordinated business development. Without shared visibility, teams end up duplicating efforts or competing internally instead of selling alongside one another. Technology can help align outreach strategies, surface relationship insights, and ensure firms are moving in sync.

Looking ahead, what trends are you watching most closely—and what’s next for Monarch as you continue to expand your impact in financial services?

We are monitoring the ongoing effects of policy uncertainty and shifting macroeconomic conditions. Investors are factoring regulatory and economic risk into acquisition decisions more than ever, which increases the pressure to capture, process, and analyze a broader set of data points at speed.

Real-time data plays a critical role in surfacing early indicators of change and enabling firms to pivot when market conditions shift. But that level of agility is only possible with a modern tech stack that allows firms to continuously ingest new information, automate analysis, and deliver actionable intelligence.

Many firms have also paused on expanding investment teams, but this market lull is an ideal time to optimize systems and empower teams through technology. The firms that invest in infrastructure now will be best positioned to move decisively when conditions improve. At Monarch, we are doubling down on client support and expanding our team to help firms emerge from this period stronger and more prepared to lead.

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