Equipment Leasing and Finance Association - Equipping Business for Success

Robert Boyer CLFP

President
First Commonwealth Equipment Finance

Robert Boyer is currently President of First Commonwealth Equipment Finance, a division of First Commonwealth Bank. Most recently, he was Senior Director and Senior Vice President at TCF Capital Solutions, a division of TCF Bank. Prior to that, he was the President of BB&T Commercial Equipment Capital Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Branch Banking and Trust Company (BB&T), now Truist.

He is the 2024 ELFA Board Chair.

Rob has held a variety of positions throughout his career, including Sales Executive, Syndications Manager, Senior Vice President of Acquisitions and Syndications and Executive Vice President. He has served as Treasurer of the ELFA Board and is a member of its Executive Committee. Previously, he chaired ELFA’s Membership Committee and Small Ticket Business Council Steering Committee. He also has served as a Director for the Certified Leasing and Finance Professional Foundation (CLFP).

Rob has been working in the equipment finance industry since 1995. He holds a bachelor’s degree from LaSalle University and attended the ABA Stonier Graduate School of Banking.

Ian Campbell CLFP

SVP of Operations
Asset Compliant Solutions (ACS)

Ford Clark

Equipment Specialist

Lewis Cohn

Managing Partner
Cohn & Dussi, LLC

Lewis J. Cohn is the Managing Partner at Cohn & Dussi, a fullservice business law firm with offices in Boston and Providence, RI. With Mr. Cohn at the helm, Cohn & Dussi has created a robust network of attorneys all over the U.S., uniquely offering a national solution for our clients — no matter where they do business.

Mr. Cohn chairs the firm’s Financial Services Practice, which includes the Banking, Finance, Equipment Leasing, Secured Lending, Alternative Lending, Factoring, and Creditors’ Rights & Bankruptcy Groups. He represents lenders in all phases of the commercial loan process, bringing a special expertise in the collection, workout, and liquidation of troubled debt. He also represents secured and unsecured lenders, financial institutions, and equipment lessors in a wide range of complex transactions. Working closely with the firm’s Commercial Litigation Group, Mr. Cohn also handles commercial litigation cases for the Financial Services Practice, including injunctions and attachment proceedings.

A recipient of the 2021 Top Lawyers Award from Boston Magazine, Mr. Cohn holds a LL.M. in Taxation from Boston University School of Law and a J.D. from Suffolk University School of Law. He is a member of the Massachusetts and District of Columbia Bars. He is a member of the Equipment Lease and Finance Association (ELFA) and the ELFA Credit & Collection Committee, the National Equipment Finance Association (NEFA) and its Legal Committee, the Lease Enforcement Attorney Network (LEAN), the New York Institute of Credit (NYIC), the Massachusetts Bankers Association and the Northeast Chapter of the Turnaround Management Association (TMA). Mr. Cohn serves on the Boys and Girls Club of New York Accountants & Bankers Committee.

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.

Robert Fagan

Vice President of Customer Service & Collections
Eastern Funding LLC

Andy Fishburn CLFP

Senior Vice President of Public Policy
Equipment Leasing and Finance Association

Andrew Glaab

Attorney
Cohn & Dussi, LLC

Andrew B. Glaab is an associate attorney at Cohn & Dussi and heads up the firm’s In-House Collection Group. Mr. Glaab focuses his practice on civil business litigation, commercial law, contract law including loan documentation, construction law, insurance subrogation, creditor’s bankruptcy, insolvency, workouts, commercial and consumer collections.

He represents various secured and unsecured creditors including international and national lenders, banks, credit unions, factors, merchant cash advance companies, insurers, leasing companies, trade creditors, and debt buyers in the enforcement of their contractual rights.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Glaab practiced both commercial and residential real estate, transactional and personal injury law. He also worked for Massachusetts Dispute Resolution Services (a full-service alternative dispute resolution firm) as an intern to Director Attorney Brian Jerome.

Mr. Glaab holds a B.A. from Kent State University and a J.D. from New England School of Law, where he served as a mentor and a student ambassador. He is admitted to practice in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. In addition, he holds a certification in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Mr. Glaab is an active member of the Massachusetts Bar Association, Essex County Bar Association, and the Greater Lynn Bar Association. He is also a member of the following organizations: the National Equipment Finance Association (NEFA), Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA), Lease Enforcement Attorney Network (LEAN), Alternative Finance Bar Association (AFBA), the Northeast Chapter of the Turnaround Management Association (TMA) and the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI). He has been selected to speak at many of their educational conferences, seminars and events.

Daniel Goderis

Director, Portfolio Management
GreatAmerica Financial Services

Christine Holguin

EVP, Head of Credit
CCA Financial, LLC

Jeff Jensen

Partner
Keybridge Research, LLC

Jeff Jensen is a Vice President at Keybridge, where he serves as an economic and policy advisor for small businesses, industry associations, and government agencies. Jeff has 15 years of experience applying economics, data analytics, and program evaluation techniques to a wide range of public policy issues, including macroeconomic policy, federal regulatory policy, environmental policy, immigration, flood insurance and hazard mitigation, equipment finance, and credit and debit card markets.

Before joining Keybridge, Jeff spent 4 years at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, where he specialized in transportation security and related homeland security issues.

Jeff holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Carleton College and Master’s degrees in Public Policy and Environmental Management from Duke University.

Chris Jung

Director, Americas Credit & Risk Officer
Cisco Systems Capital Corporation

Zahid Kassem

Chief Technology/Product Officer
Kassem Consulting

Leigh Lytle

President and CEO
Equipment Leasing and Finance Association

Leigh Lytle is the President and CEO of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA), the premier trade association representing 575+ member organizations in the $1 trillion equipment finance sector. In her role, Ms. Lytle leads the association in executing its mission and delivering on the value proposition to its members. This includes providing a platform to promote and advocate for the industry, including attracting and developing new and diverse talent; a forum for professional development and training; and a resource that develops information about, and for, the industry. She also serves as the President of the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation (ELFF), which is dedicated to inspiring thoughtful innovation and contributing to the betterment of the equipment leasing and finance industry.

Before joining ELFA, Ms. Lytle served as the Head of North American Policy at Plaid and led education and engagement efforts with regulators and financial institutions. In this role, she advocated for protecting consumers' rights within the digital financial ecosystem and in Washington, D.C. She also served as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Financial Technology Association (FTA), which represents innovative companies shaping the future of finance. The industry trade group champions the power of technology-centered financial services and advocates for the modernization of financial regulation to support inclusion and responsible innovation. Before joining Plaid, Ms. Lytle spent over 15 years in the Federal Reserve Bank system in various executive roles ranging from engagements in monetary and regulatory policy to operations and data analytics oversight.

Scott McCann

Senior Credit Officer
Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc.

Patrick Moore

Director, Credit Strategy Consulting
Equifax

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

Kevin Prykull CLFP

Adjunct Professor in Finance --Duquesne University

Martina Rider Porter

Partner
Hemar, Rousso & Heald, LLP

James St. Clair

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

Jim Tobin

Director Retail Credit, VFS US
Volvo Financial Services

Rob Vickery

SVP - Regional Credit Officer
Huntington Bank Equipment Finance

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.

Adam White

Director, Commercial Risk Solutions
Equifax