TThe ELFA Nominating Committee has named the following individuals

Transcription

1 TThe ELFA Nominating Committee has named the following individuals to stand for election to the ELFA Board of Directors. If elected, all will take office at the conclusion of ELFA s Annual Convention, October in Orlando, Florida. Each ELFA member company has one vote for directors. On August 17, voting materials and instructions will be ed to each member company, which can then vote via electronic ballot on the ELFA website until October 12. Verhelle to stand for Chair, Ambrose slated for Vice Chair Laird Boulden has tendered his resignation as Chairman-elect of the Association due to increasing business demands. Laird is an experienced, passionate and committed executive and ELFA commends him for his contribution as an officer and as Chair-Elect. Laird was involved with many of ELFA s most recent strategic initiatives, most recently as Chairman of the Code of Fair Business Practices committee a milestone that underscores our membership s belief that the industry should be a robust voice to represent and uphold fair and honorable business practices. As a result of Laird s resignation, the Nominations Committee is recommending the leadership slate of Bill Verhelle as Chairman and Jim Ambrose as Chairman-elect for the term. Both Bill s and Jim s names will be placed on the ballot for election by the membership. 48 LT July/August 2007

2 Chairman William H. Verhelle Bill is the CEO and founder of First American Commercial Bancorp, Inc., d/b/a First American Equipment Finance. Before founding First American in 1995, Bill was Vice President and Western Division Manager for Tokai Financial Services, Inc. where he was responsible for managing seven of Tokai s middle-market leasing offices. Bill has nearly 20 years of equipment leasing industry experience in sales, operations, credit, syndications and management. Bill is a member of the New York Bar and is an active member of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association, having served as a vicechairman and irector of the board of the Government Affairs Council, as well as having participated as a member of the Industry Futures Council, and the Middle Market Independent Steering Committee. Chairman-Elect James J. Ambrose With over 27 years of experience within the GE business community, Jim is the president of Equipment Finance at GE Healthcare Financial Services. Joining GE s Information Systems Management Program (ISMP) in 1982, he went on to become an Electronics Trader with GE Trading Company from before moving to GE Plastics in 1988, where he held positions in Marketing and Product Management until being promoted to Business Development in GE Capital s Transportation & Industrial Funding Corp. in In 1995, he became Northeast Region Manager for GE Capital s Commercial Equipment financing business. He was named General Manager, GE Healthcare Financial Services (HFS) in HFS became the first GE Commercial Finance vertical in November 2001 after completion of the Heller Financial acquisition, and Jim is currently the President of the global Equipment Finance organization within HFS. HFS Equipment Finance includes: GE Healthcare equipment financing, vendor program financing, Healthcare and dental practice financing and has operations in the U.S. Europe, Asia and Latin America. Jim has been active with ELFA for a number of a years and has vicechairman of the Executive Committee, and the Finance Committee. Captive Vendor Finance Kent M. Adams Kent M. Adams is president of Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation. July/August 2007 LT 49

3 He has administrative responsibility for the Financial Products Division, which is comprised of Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation, Caterpillar Insurance Services Corporation, Caterpillar Redistribution Services Inc. and Caterpillar Power Ventures Corporation. Kent most recently served as executive vice president with responsibility for North America operations, including the U.S. Regions, Canada, FCC Equipment Financing Inc. and the Customer Business Center. Since joining Caterpillar in 1979, he has held various positions including Assistant Treasurer for Caterpillar Americas Co., Region Finance Manager for North American Commercial Division, Treasurer for Caterpillar Asia Pte. Ltd., and Treasurer-Controller for Caterpillar Brasil Ltda. In 1998, Kent was appointed vice president at Caterpillar Financial with responsibilities for operations in Europe and Marine divisions, and later Corporate Support Services which included Accounting, Business Excellence, Human Resources, Information Technology, Risk Management and Corporate Marketing, CRSI & Remarketing, and Treasury. Kent has been involved with the association for a number of years and has served as a member of the Global Committee, the Large Ticket and the Captive and Vendor Finance. Middle Market Independent Fred Summers Fred founded Vision Financial Group in With over 35 years of experience in the leasing and consumer finance business, he is actively involved in sales and marketing, as well as monitoring relationships with key customers, vendors and funding sources. Prior to founding Vision Financial, Fred was a senior executive with a number of prominent leasing companies including: Capital Associates, Joy Finance, Banc Boston Leasing, GE Capital, and American Financial. As a result of this experience, Fred is extremely knowledgeable about all aspects of the leasing industry. He has been very effective over his career in creating innovative leasing packages to solve his customer s equipment leasing needs. This innovation has resulted in Fred being successful in building Vision Financial into one of the premier, privately held leasing groups in the Midwest. Throughout the years Fred has maintained a high level of interaction with ELFA, including stints on the Nominating Committee, the Middle Market Steering Committee, and the Funding Exhibition Planning Committee. Small Ticket Jim McGrane Jim is a veteran in the business of equipment leasing and the president of US Express Leasing. He brings 23 years of experience to the helm of USXL, with leadership stints in such industry standouts as US Leasing, AT&T Capital, and Heller Financial. Jim is no stranger to building successful businesses, having launched AT&T s CapitaPlus business later sold to American Express and two successful management consulting practices. His expertise spans disciplines from sales and marketing to business process and organization design, business development and global relationship-building. Most recently, as Group President of Heller Global Vendor Finance, Jim was responsible for leading the company s activities in North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. He received his bachelor s degree in Business Administration from New York Institute of Technology. Jim has 50 LT July/August 2007

4 been active in ELFA for a number of years and has sat on various committees, including the Government Affairs Council, the Industry Futures Council, Nominating Committee, and the Small Ticket Steering Committee, of which he is currently the chair. Service Providers Philip R. Rosenblatt He is admitted to practice before the Massachusetts courts and the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, First Circuit. Phil has served as a mediator for the Middlesex Multi-Door Courthouse and on the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee of the Boston Bar Association s Litigation Section. Phil is a long-standing member of the ELFA s Legal Committee and a frequent speaker at industry and professional gatherings. Christa Hemans Christa Hemans is president of Provident Bank s Court Square Leasing Division in Malvern, PA. Hemans, who most recently served as a senior vice president within Provident s Credit Administration Division, has more than 25 years of experience in lease financing, credit administration, consumer financing, and small and large corporate financing. Prior to joining Provident, she began her banking career at the former First Union Bank, where she served as a trainer and later became a Senior Vice President in the Commercial Banking Division. At that time, she supported a $900 million portfolio and went through the organization s Credit Management Training Program. Christa has been active with the ELFA for several years, participating in the Bank Leasing Conference, Funding Exhibition, and the annual Convention. Rick Remicker Serving as Managing Director of the Equipment Finance Group of Merrill Lynch Capital, Rick leads the business group dedicated to providing structured equipment financing solutions to middle-market and non-invest- Philip R. Rosenblatt is a partner in the Business Department and co-chair of Nutter, McClennen & Fish LLC Commercial Finance Group. Phil also represents technology, health care, and other entrepreneurial companies through every phase, from initial planning through capital formation, operations, and exit. July/August 2007 LT 51

5 ment grade large corporate public and private companies, including specialties in business aviation and marine transportation. Prior to serving at Merrill Lynch Capital, Mr. Remicker was President and CEO, Commercial Leasing Services at Key Equipment Finance. Rick, who is a 24-year veteran of the equipment leasing industry, has significant experience in numerous aspects of the equipment finance field, including full P&L responsibility, sales management, lease documentation, syndications, operations management, business process design as well as acquisitions and integration. He is the past chair of the ELFA Middle Market Steering Committee and is currently a member of the Board of Directors for The Leasing Exchange and a member of the Financial Institutions Steering Committee. Rick also serves as a trustee of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation. Bob Rinaldi Robert J. Rinaldi, executive vice president National City Commercial Capital Corp. and president National City Commercial Capital Canada Corp, has over 20 years of experience in the commercial equipment finance industry. He is actively involved in ELFA, having held many posts, and is currently a member of the Government Affairs Committee and the Chairman of LeasePac -ELFA s political action committee. Bob also serves as a trustee of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation. Bob was one of the four founding partners of the original ILC organization before its sale to Provident Financial Group Inc. in December 1996 and its subsequent merger with National City Corporation in July NC4 has over 330 employees nationwide, with $2 billion in owned assets and another $1.5 billion under management. Adam Warner Adam Warner was named president and chief operating officer of Key Equipment-commercial leasing services in October He joined Key Equipment Finance as president and COO, Express Leasing Services, in August Prior to joining Key, he was senior vice president, sales and marketing, at Mellon Leasing Corporation where he had worked since Prior to that position Mr. Warner was vice president and chief operating officer. He also worked at McDonnell Douglas Finance Corp. where he was operations manager from Adam has been active in the association for a number of years, regularly attending and contributing to the annual Convention and the Executive Roundtable. 52 LT July/August 2007