Veteran South Florida banking executive Judy Douek, who recently joined Turnberry Bank, thinks the time is right for people who want to borrow money.

"The growth and the opportunity are definitely there for anybody that wants to finance and borrow money," said Douek, the new vice president for lending of the Pinecrest branch of Turnberry Bank. "The terms and conditions are very favorable and now's the time, really, for businesses to borrow. I think it will remain that way in the year 2000."

Douek, married 13 years to husband Maurice and the mother of three -- Jennifer, 12, Jonathan, 7, and Jacqueline, 5 -- recently severed a 22-year relationship with Kendall's Executive National Bank to join Turnberry Bank, 9300 So. Dixie Highway.

"Challenge and opportunity," she said matter-of-factly, when asked about her decision to change jobs. "The challenge of building and making Turnberry very well-known in the community was very appealing. We are upscale, very service-oriented and we want to be known as the number one service institution here in South Florida. My personal feeling is that we're already there and we have to get that out to the public."

Douek, a Saga Bay-area resident, was born in New York City and raised in

Trenton, NJ. She moved to Miami when she was 13 years old, grew up in South Miami-Dade County and graduated Killian High in 1978.

"I wanted to be a journalist when I was in high school," she recalled with a smile and a trace of nostalgia. "I worked on the school paper and the yearbook. But, I guess I got sidetracked when I ran off and got married."

And journalism's loss was banking's gain, as Douek went on to Nova University, took banking courses and got a job at what was then Jefferson National Bank. Now, 22 years later, she has no regrets about her career in banking and is excited about her position as Turnberry's officer in charge of lending in the upscale Pinecrest and South Coral Gables areas.

"I love what I do, I love the people," she said. "I'm a people person and getting out there and doing the lending is one part of it. But, the relationship-building is another. There are doctors I started out in practice 20 years ago. And, they started down there and they're up here now. And, today I'm working with their children. It's a good feeling, it really is."