Djuana Beamon

Chief Diversity Officer
M&T Capital and Leasing Corp.

I am a seasoned diversity practitioner with more than 20 years experience in various business capacities. I'm experienced in leading D&I strategies for organizations to find new ways to enhance their cultures and celebrate our unique differences and collective similarities.

Through my professional career, I have lead diversity and Inclusion efforts in various companies and industries with increasing responsibility and scope. I am a thought leader in the DEIJ space and have been a featured guest on podcasts including The Winters Group Inclusion Solution Live, The Power of Owning Your Career, and 94.3 WYBC's Electric Drum as well as features in Savoy and Latino Leaders Magazines and as a guest on Bonnie Marcus’ “Women Mean Business” radio Show. I have also been a keynote speaker at local and national conferences and events.

I enjoy serving my community through volunteerism and have served as the Director, Diversity & Inclusion for the CT SHRM HR State Council as well as on the Advisory Board for the creation of the Human Capital Management Media's Diversity Value Index. I previously served on the Board of Our Piece of the Pie, and currently serve as a Board Trustee and Chair of the Governance Committee for the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center in Hartford, CT. I am humbled to be inducted into the 2019 class of 100 Women of Color and named as a 2018 Honoree by the Minority Inclusion Project.

I received my MBA as well as a Graduate Certificate in HR Management from the University of New Haven and a BSBM degree from Albertus Magnus College. I also received a Certificate in Diversity Management and Cornell Certified Diversity Professional/Advanced Practitioner Certification (CCDP/AP) from Cornell ILR. I am a certified diversity facilitator on topics including Unconscious Bias, Appreciating Differences, and MBTI among other D&I disciplines. I am a lifetime member of the National Black MBA Association, and a member of the National Society of Hispanic MBAs.

Specialties: Diversity & Inclusion Strategy and Leadership, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Relationship Management, Training & Development.

Alexander Darcy

Shareholder
Darcy & Devassy PC

Alex Darcy is a shareholder at Askounis & Darcy PC in Chicago. Alex specializes in representing banks, finance companies, and vendors in equipment lease litigation, appellate, bankruptcy and transactional matters. He has litigated equipment leasing related matters in all fifty states and Puerto Rico. Since graduating in 1993 from The Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, he has practiced exclusively in the equipment finance area with Tom Askounis.

Alex cut his teeth on the $180 million Recomm equipment leasing fraud, a mid-1990s Ponzi scheme in which the vendor rebated a portion of the lease payments back to the lessees through separate, undisclosed "royalty" contracts. More recently, Alex worked to uncover fraud in the Wildwood Industries and Equipment Acquisition Resources matters. He also defended an equipment finance company from the Federal Trade Commission's challenge to floating forum selection clauses in equipment lease contracts, winning dismissal of that part of the Federal Trade Commission's Complaint.

Alex is licensed to practice law in Illinois, California, and Maryland, as well as numerous federal courts throughout the country. He is a 1987 graduate of Hamilton College.

Doug DiFilippo

US Manager Campaign Strategy
DLL

Robert Fagan

Vice President of Customer Service & Collections
Eastern Funding LLC

Arlene Gelman

Shareholder
Vedder Price P.C.

Arlene N. Gelman is a Shareholder at Vedder Price in the firm’s Commercial Litigation and Corporate Reorganization, Bankruptcy and Insolvency groups and currently serves as Co-Chair of the firm's Creditors' Rights and Collections group.

Ms. Gelman concentrates her practice in the representation of lenders, equipment lessors and other creditors in U.S. state, federal district, appellate and bankruptcy courts, including prosecuting numerous breach-of-contract and replevin actions, and representing the interests of secured and unsecured creditors in various state courts and in bankruptcy matters.

Ms. Gelman is a frequent and sought after speaker on equipment finance and bankruptcy related topics. She is a member of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA), Chicago Bar
Association, The Illinois State Bar
Association, the American Bankruptcy Institute, and the International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation.

In 2020 and 2022, Ms. Gelman was included on Lawdragon’s list of the 500 Leading U.S. Bankruptcy and Restructuring Lawyers. Since 2013, she has been selected by her peers as a Leading Lawyer in Bankruptcy & Workout: Commercial
and Creditor’s Rights/Commercial Collections. She has also received an "AV Preeminent" Peer Rating in Martindale-Hubbell. Ms. Gelman was recognized by The Best Lawyers in America in the 2023 edition for Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights/Insolvency Law and Reorganization Law.

Ms. Gelman is a graduate of the University of Illinois (B.A., with distinction, 1989) and Boston University School of Law (J.D., 1994), where she was an Edward F. Hennessey Scholar. Ms. Gelman also served as a staff attorney to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois; Law Clerk to the Honorable Ronald Barliant, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of Illinois; Law Clerk to the Honorable Eugene Wedoff, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of Illinois; and Law Clerk to the Honorable Joan H. Lefkow, U.S. District Court Judge for the Northern District of Illinois.

Ms. Gelman is currently a member of ELFA’s Legal Committee and is a past member of ELFA's Credit and Collections Committee.

Ms. Gelman's past ELFA speaking events include:

Speaking as a moderator at the Legal Update panel at ELFA's 2022 Legal Forum

Speaking as a panelist at the Legal Update panel at ELFA's 2021 Credit & Collections Management Conference

Speaking as a panelist at the Legal Update panel at ELFA's 2021 Legal Forum

Speaking as a panelist at ELFA's 2020 Webinar: Covid-19's Hidden Costs: Bankruptcy, Repossessions & Challenging Legislation

Speaking as a panelist on the Legal Update panel at ELFA's 2019 Legal Forum

Speaking as a panelist on the Legal Update panel at ELFA's 2019 Credit & Collections Conference

Speaking as a panelist on the Legal Update panel at ELFA's 2018 Credit & Collections Conference

Speaking as a panelist at ELFA's 2017 Equipment Management Conference and Exhibition on the topic of forbearance agreements

Daniel Goderis

Director, Portfolio Management
GreatAmerica Financial Services

Stephanie Hasenbos-Case

Chief Human Resources Officer

Thomas Jalics

Chief Market Strategist, Vice President
Fifth Third Bank, National Association

Tom Jalics is the Chief Market Strategist at Fifth Third Bank where he is responsible for leading the Investment Management Group's asset allocation process, both strategic and tactical, which informs the management of the ~$29 billion in assets under management (AUM) at the bank. He provides internal and external communication on the economy and the markets, making public speaking and media appearances on behalf of the bank. Additionally, Tom is a discretionary investment portfolio manager focusing on high net worth clients. Prior to his current role, Tom was Director of Asset Allocation at the firm. With over 20 years of industry experience, Tom has been a sought after industry expert and commentator having been quoted in the media including The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Business News, The Economist, and Reuters.

Tom has also appeared on television and radio including Bloomberg (Television, Radio, and Business News), CNBC, and CBS Radio Chicago. Tom earned a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry and Economics from Miami University and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He has earned his Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) professional designation.

Nicholas Jones

Vice President, Credit & Risk Region North America
Volvo Financial Services

Nicholas Jones is Vice President of Credit and Operations for the Americas Region at Volvo Financial Services, the global finance arm of the Volvo Group, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of trucks, buses, construction equipment, and marine and industrial engines. Nicholas’ region encompasses the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Peru and he leads the functions that include portfolio management, risk analysis, credit, documentation, and funding, and booking processes in those diverse markets.

Nicholas joined Volvo Financial Service in 2005 and has held a range of senior management roles in credit, risk, operations and market optimization within the organization in Europe and North America. Prior to joining Volvo Financial Services, he worked in several independent and captive equipment finance and leasing organizations over his 20+ year career. Nicholas holds an MBA from Georgia State University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Northern Illinois University, and resides in Greensboro, North Carolina with his wife and son.

Chris Jung

Director, Americas Credit & Risk Officer
Cisco Systems Capital Corporation

Cecile Latouche

Executive Director
Sumitomo Mitsui Finance & Leasing Co., Ltd.

Cecile Latouche has over 15 years of leasing experience in originating, structuring and underwriting commercial transactions. In her last position she was the Chief Risk Officer with 36th Street Capital, an independent leasing company focused on bank adjacent credits. Prior to joining 36SC, Cecile was a Principal at Atalaya Leasing, where she managed a fund dedicated to leasing. Prior to this, she was the Credit Risk Officer for the equipment finance segment at Sterling National Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing (SMFL) and Societe Generale Equipment Finance where in her leadership role she was instrumental to the development and growth of the company’s footprint in the US.

Lou Maslowe

Chief Risk Officer, Commercial Domain
DLL

Chris Maudlin CLFP

SVP, Chief Operating Officer
Wintrust Specialty Finance

Chris Maudlin, CLFP is the Chief Credit Officer for Wintrust Specialty Finance, a Division of Beverly Bank & Trust Company, N.A. Prior to joining Wintrust, he was SVP Risk and Analytics for Hanmi Bank and VP Commercial Credit Manager for Banc of California. Chris has more than 15 years’ experience in commercial equipment finance serving in a variety of roles for both independent lessor’s as well as bank owned finance companies. Chris earned his Certified Lease & Finance Professional designation in 2013 and is actively involved in supporting the industry. Chris currently serves on the ELFA Credit & Collections Committee and speaks regularly at conferences around the country.

Scott McCann

Senior Credit Officer
Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc.

Eric McGriff

Chief Risk Officer
36th Street Capital

Eric has been in the Equipment Finance industry for 37 years and has served as a senior leader whose responsibilities have included credit, portfolio management, collections, asset management, operations, customer service, legal operations and statistical modeling. Eric is Chief Risk Officer at 36th Street Capital.

Michael Mount CLFP, CFA

SVP, Credit Executive
U.S. Bank

Dana Pace

Senior Vice President, Director of Operations & Asset Resolution
PNC Equipment Finance

Dana M. Pace is the Director of Operations and Asset Management for PNC Equipment Finance, overseeing operations and equipment management. PNC?s combined leasing and equipment finance portfolio exceeds $18 billion in assets making the firm the 3rd largest bank leasing company in the country. She has more than 25 years of experience in collections, equipment valuation, remarketing, vendor finance operations and portfolio risk management. Her prior work experience includes her start with Information Leasing Corporation (ILC) and through mergers and acquisitions Provident Bank, National City Bank and National City Commercial Capital Corporation.

Currently, by managing both the front-end asset management valuations and the back-end asset management lease end loan operations teams. This allows her to see industry changes both from an equipment perspective and a client perspective, enabling them to stay nimble and react quickly when markets change. As real-time data is often the key to moving the finance and leasing business to the next level, Pace ensures data transparency throughout the transaction lifecycle is the norm for asset management.

Over the last decade as a member of the ELFA Credit & Collections Management Committee, Pace has contributed to conferences and coordinated ELFA Women?s Council events. Featured by the Monitor in 2019 as a top woman in Equipment Finance. She is member of ASA American Society of Appraisers and a PNC Certified Women?s Business Advocate.

Ms. Pace holds a bachelor?s degree out of the College of Education, University of Cincinnati.

Outside of work, Pace is actively involved in global wildlife conservation and fundraising for conservation reserves, as well as local zoo conservation research projects to protect endangered species and habitats. She resides in a suburb of Cincinnati with five dogs and is active in AKC breed and confirmation events.

Sarah Palmer

Head of Credit, AML and Commercial Finance
DLL

Ralph Petta

Kevin Prykull CLFP

Adjunct Professor in Finance --Duquesne University

Jennifer Rosenberg

Senior Vice President, Senior Credit Officer
Fifth Third Bank, National Association

Jennifer Poland Rosenberg is the Senior Credit Officer for MB Equipment Finance, overseeing credit and equipment management. She has more than 20 years of experience in risk management, financial analysis and business valuation.

From 2012 until the merger with MB, she was senior vice president, credit for Cole Taylor Equipment Finance. Prior to that, Rosenberg was senior manager with Tucker & Meltzer Valuation Advisors in Baltimore where she focused on corporate valuations of closely held businesses and private equity investments. She spent three years as a risk manager for GE Capital Corporation where she was responsible for underwriting and closings of commercial loans and leases. Rosenberg also held roles with LaSalle National Leasing Corporation, Morgan Stanley, and Ernst & Young LLP earlier in her career. She had earned and held both the CPA and ABV accreditations, both of which are no longer active.

She earned a B.A. in Business Accounting from Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Kris Snow

Kristine (Kris) A. Snow has more than two decades of commercial leasing and finance experience. In 2009, she joined Cisco Systems Capital Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cisco Systems, Inc. As President, she leads the company's global captive finance and certified remanufactured equipment businesses. Kris previously served as President of Global Vendor Finance at CIT Group.

Kris is currently serving as the Chairman of the Board at ELFA. During her tenure, Kris has been an active participant serving on the Board of Directors from 2008-2011 and returned to the Board in 2017. In addition to her current position on the Board, she is a member of ELFA's Executive, Nominating and Personnel Committees. Previously, she served as Chair of the Captive and Vendor Finance Business Council Steering Committee. She has also served as a participant in the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation's Industry Future Council and a contributor to previous “State of the Equipment Finance Industry” reports.

Outside of ELFA, Kris has been involved in numerous civic and community organizations. She serves on the Gonzaga University Board of Trustees and is Board Member Emeritus for St. Mary's College School of Economics and Business Administration. She was honored by the Computer Reseller News 2019 Women of the Channel list, received the Silicon Valley Business Journal's Women of Influence award, and the YWCA Tribute to Women Award for the Silicon Valley.

Kris holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Gonzaga University and a Master of Business Administration from St. Mary's College of California.

James St. Clair

Director of Legal and Loss Recovery
Crossroads Equipment Lease & Finance LLC

Scott Thacker CPA, CLFP

Chief Executive Officer
Ivory Consulting Corporation

Thomas Ware

President
Tom Ware Advisory Services, LLC

Now an independent analytics, risk, and credit scoring consultant, Tom Ware was for 18 years Senior Vice President of Analytics & Product Development at PayNet, which was acquired by Equifax in 2019. In that role he was responsible for the development of PayNet’s MasterScore and probability of default models, which have been used by hundreds of lenders to help decision millions of commercial loan and lease applications worth over $300 billion. He was also responsible for creating loss forecasting models, peer lender performance benchmarking and Strategic Business Reviews, and for developing a wide variety of research about commercial lending that appeared regularly at ELFA conferences as well as in the Wall Street Journal, American Banker, RMA Journal, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, Crain’s, Bloomberg, Reuters, AP, CNBC, ABC News, Congressional Testimony, and the published papers of two Federal Reserve Governors.

Prior to PayNet, Tom had 17 years’ experience as a lender with banks and finance companies, including as General Manager of a billion-dollar division of J.I. Case/CNH Capital, and as Chief Credit Officer & Senior Vice President, Operations of Rockford Industries, a NASDAQ-traded finance company that was acquired by American Express. Tom began working with commercial credit scoring in the mid-1990s, when he was responsible for bring scoring to a mid-sized bank, and within a few years developed scores that were auto-decisioning 40% of applications under $100,000. Previously he founded Sequa Credit Corporation, later acquired by Hypercom. Tom began his career with a Boston management consulting firm that became the New England office of Oliver Wyman.

Tom is Chairman of the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation’s Research Committee, and is a member of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees and its Executive Committee. He is a long-time member of the ELFA’s Credit & Collection’s Committee, and previously served on ELFA’s Small Ticket Business Council, and on the Board of Governors of RMA’s Washington D.C. & Maryland chapter. He is a frequent contributor to Equipment Leasing Today and the Monitor, where he published, as a three-part series of articles, “The 12 Secrets of Commercial Credit Scoring.” The ELFA selected him as the 2021 recipient of the Michael J. Fleming Distinguished Service Award, for contributions to the Association and the industry. Tom graduated with Distinction in Mathematical Economics from Dartmouth College, and has an MBA from Harvard Business School.