Equipment Leasing and Finance Association - Investing Forward

Kyle Alexandre

VP, State Government Relations
Equipment Leasing & Finance Association

Billy Bagnell

Business Development Officer
LEAF Commercial Capital Inc.

Since 2014, Billy Bagnell has held various cross-functional positions at LEAF Commercial Capital. In his current role as business development officer, his primary focus is on establishing partnerships with equipment manufacturers across myriad industries and working to develop, launch and manage mutually successful relationships.

Lauren Baingo CLFP

Program Manager
DLL

Jason Bartz

VP of Business Development
Vero Technologies

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Victoria Blair

Senior Director, Services Lead
Axios HQ

Mark Blais

Chief Information Officer
Channel

Mark Blais joined Channel in 2019 as Chief Information Officer and is responsible for ensuring all technologies and resources deliver best-in-class industry solutions.  

Prior to joining Channel as CIO, Blais has held senior technology leadership roles within companies including Digi-Key, Target, Veritas/Symantec, Questar, and Lasersonics.  His background leading enterprise development teams offers experience in varied industry verticals including 3D MRI, electronic component distribution, scientific lasers, multi-channel point of sale, and credit.  Blais is also a member of the ELFA Innovation Advisory Council.

Brent Boydston

Ag Center Solutions

David Brydson

Vice President, National Accounts & Business Development
Meridian OneCap Credit Corp.

Daniel Castellini

CEO
Trio Capital Solutions

Dan Castellini is a Senior Vice President of Data Science & Analytics with Marlin Capital Solutions and has been with the organization for 16 years. Dan successfully introduced credit scoring and automated decisioning to Marlin and continues to leverage new technology and techniques to expand data science throughout the entire organization. Dan is passionate about using data to drive business decisions and automation as the organization continues to scale for future growth. Dan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and Accounting from Cedarville University, and an MBA in Finance and Strategic Management from Rutgers University. Dan’s passions include getting outdoors to fish, play golf and spend time at the Jersey shore. He is also an avid Philly sports fan.

James Chester III

Managing Director, FinTech & Financial Services Investment Banking
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Anna Conrad

Impact Leadership Solutions

Brett Davis

CEO
North American Equipment Dealers Association

Andrew Denton

Chief Executive Officer
Alfa

Andrew Denton is CHP Consulting’s Chief Operating Officer. Over 15 years, Andrew has been instrumental to the company’s global strategy and success, and joined the Board of Directors in 2003.

Andrew joined CHP from Schlumberger in 1995 as a consultant, a role which included development in Smalltalk, C, ML and Miranda in addition to expertise in business processes. After various strategic work for Forward Trust, Hill Samuel and Lloyds, he earned his first project management appointment in 1998 at Royscot Trust in Cheltenham, implementing ALFA Systems, CHP’s flagship software platform for the leasing industry. This breakthrough project incorporated CHP’s first internet-based point-of-sale portal.

In 2000, Andrew moved away from project management and permanently into Sales and Marketing. In the subsequent three years he was responsible for a series of key business wins, including CHP’s first European, Australian and US implementations at GE Capital Key Lease, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Textron Financial.

His many achievements led to his promotion to the CHP board, and since then he has overseen the development of ALFA v5, a fully browser-based version of the ALFA platform written entirely in Java, and brought in many more major new clients. Andrew continues to take the business forward and is a keen advocate of modern methods and approaches, such as agile development, Lean Six Sigma and social media.

Andrew is an enthusiastic industry speaker, appearing regularly at conferences and conventions worldwide and contributing frequently to key publications such as Asset Finance Europe, Leasing Life and LeasingWorld.

Debra Devassy Babu

Shareholder
Darcy & Devassy PC

Kristian Dolan CLFP

CEO
Northteq

Kristian has been a technologist in the equipment finance space for almost two decades. Kristian started his career in equipment finance as a software engineer for CapitalStream (System1) out of Seattle, Washington. He started a consulting company E2E Systems in 2005 focusing on building straight through loan origination solutions for the commercial lending industry. They also built loan origination solutions for the mortgage industry. Subsequently, E2E Systems merged with Tamarack Consulting in 2013. Kristian continued to lead the loan origination practice as co-owner at Tamarack until 2020 when Northteq was spun off into a separate entity 100% focused on loan origination technologies and integrating with Fintechs.

Kristian has been actively involved in board, committee, and speaking engagements with the ELFA, NEFA, and the CLFP. Kristian’s passion is identifying 3rd party services FinTech services and enabling them for the equipment finance industry. Kristian has written articles for the industry including “There’s an API for that” (available per request) which has some overlap to this research. As well, Deborah Reuben and Kristian Dolan co-authored the Equipment Finance Software Guide (available per request).

Kristian is the lead researcher in the ELFF study being conducted.

Kristian graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle with degrees in Management Information Systems and Japanese. He lives with his wife and 3 children in Minneapolis, MN.

Jeffry Elliott CLFP

Founder & CEO
Elevex Capital, LLC

Mr. Elliott is President of Huntington Equipment Finance (“HEF”) a division of The Huntington National Bank. Mr. Elliott is responsible for the Business Equipment Solutions Team (“BEST”), which focuses on equipment financing for Huntington’s Regional Banking clients, Huntington Public Capital®, which focuses on lending to the municipal, university, school & hospital (“MUSH”) entities and more recently launched the Renewable Energy Finance group that focuses on solar, wind, battery and other renewable energy generation projects. Additionally, Mr. Elliott is leading the Clean Energy Banking strategic initiative focusing on helping Huntington clients with the energy transition.

Mr. Elliott began his banking career with Security Pacific a Subsidiary of Bank of America in 1993 in the consumer finance division. Prior to Huntington, Mr. Elliott was Vice President with U.S. Bank as Manager of the Indirect Funding Group; he joined Huntington in 2001 as part of the newly established Huntington Equipment Finance Division.

Mr. Elliott specializes in analyzing equipment finance related financial contracts as it relates to wholesale lending activities or merger & acquisition transactions. He is an active participant in the syndication markets, both on the buy and sell side of equipment leasing and loan transactions. Project Finance is another area of focus, primarily in the renewable energy markets working on back leverage term loans, solar sale-leaseback, and tax equity transactions.

Mr. Elliott holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance from the Richard T. Farmer School of Business at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and a Master of Business Administration from the Williams College of Business at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Mr. Elliott is a Certified Lease Finance Professional (“CLFP”) and was formerly an active member of the CLFP Board of Directors. Mr. Elliott was formerly involved with the Mid America Association of Equipment Lessors (“MAEL”), where he served as Vice Chairman/Board of Director. Currently he is Treasurer and a board member of the Equipment Leasing & Finance Association. Mr. Elliott is a former Chairman of the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation and former Chairman of the Research Committee and a member of the Board of Trustees. Mr. Elliott is a current board member of the Association for Governmental Leasing and Finance (“AGLF”). Mr. Elliott is also a retired member of the Ohio High School Athletic Association as a High School Basketball & Football Official.

Mr. Elliott enjoys the pursuit of the culinary arts, wine appreciation and collecting and golf, where he is a member of Avon Oaks Country Club. He resides in Bay Village, Ohio with his wife and two children.

Christopher Enbom CLFP

CEO & Chairman
AP Equipment Financing

Sylvianne Evans CLFP

Documentation Manager
U.S. Bank

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Brent Ferrin

Managing Director
Houlihan Lokey

Mr. Ferrin is in Houlihan Lokey’s Financial Institutions Group where he specializes in advising financial services companies on M&A, capital raising and other corporate finance engagements. He has extensive experience working with specialty finance companies, asset managers, broker-dealers, banks, insurers, and insurance services companies.

Since joining Houlihan Lokey, Mr. Ferrin has been involved in M&A transactions, capital markets activities, and financial restructuring engagements, notably advising Creekridge Capital (equipment lessor) on its sale to Hitachi Capital America; Doral Financial on its sale of over $1 billion of Puerto Rico-based performing and non-performing residential and commercial mortgage loans; ORIX Corp. on its $2.6 billion acquisition of a 90% interest in Robeco Group; Newcastle Investment Corp. on its spin-off of residential assets into a separate public REIT; the U.S. Treasury with respect to the management and disposition of its CPP bank investments; Fortress Investment Group LLC on its acquisition of American General Finance Inc.; and advising on the rescue financing/restructurings of CIT Group, Inc. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

Mr. Ferrin graduated summa cum laude from Wake Forest University with a B.S. in Business with a concentration in Finance.

Edward Fitzgerald

Managing Partner
Whitehall Partners Structured Finance LLC

Addison Flumerfelt

Business Development Analyst
Wintrust Commercial Finance

Allyson Gale

Director of Federal Government Relations
Equipment Leasing & Finance Association

Previously, Gale spent nearly eight years working at the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU), now America's Credit Unions. During that time, she served as a legislative lobbyist, membership experience and engagement strategist, and most recently was their Senior Director of Political Affairs, overseeing their political programs, NAFCU/PAC and grassroots efforts. Prior to her time representing the credit union industry, she worked on Capitol Hill for Congressman Ted Poe (TX-02).

David Gandolfo

Patron & Past President
Commercial & Asset Finance Brokers Association of Au

David is a co-founder and past President of the Commercial & Asset Finance Brokers Association Of Australia (CAFBA), and a Director of Quantum Business Finance in Melbourne.

In January 2023, David was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in recognition of his contribution to the financial sector.

Barbara Goodstein

Partner
Mayer Brown LLP

Barbara M. Goodstein is a partner in the Banking & Finance practice of the New York office of Mayer Brown LLP. Barbara's experience consists of commercial and structured financing as well as restructuring of transactions for a wide range of asset types including auto, trade, health care, timeshare and lease receivables, sports franchises, intellectual property, transportation equipment (including aircraft, aircraft engines, railcars and vessels), technology equipment, medical equipment, communications and office equipment, construction equipment, and marine and inter-modal containers. She also has extensive debt workout and restructuring experience primarily representing senior creditors and syndicate groups, bondholders, and secured creditors both in and out of bankruptcy; foreclosures, DIP and exit financing; contested and consensual bankruptcy matters; and other financial and legal restructurings.

Barbara is a featured columnist for The New York Law Journal's Secured Transactions section and a former Regent, and current Fellow of the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers. She previously served as a member of the Board of Editors of Equipment Leasing Newsletter and the Uniform Commercial Code Law Journal. She also previously served on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the ELFA, and is currently a member of the Legal Committee Subcommittee on Air, Rail and Marine. 

Barbara has been recognized as an outstanding lawyer by ELFA, having received ELFA's Legal Committee Edward A. Groobert Excellence in Leasing Award in 2015. She is a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and recently chaired a Task Force for the ABA Committee on Structured Finance and Securitization. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Port Chester-Rye Brook Public Library. 

Barbara received her B.A. from Barnard College and her J.D. from New York University School of Law. 
 

Jon Gordon

Leadership and Culture Expert
Leading Authorities

Jon Gordon's best-selling books and talks have inspired readers and audiences around the world. His principles have been put to the test by numerous Fortune 500 companies, professional and college sports teams, school districts, hospitals, and non-profits. He is the author of 30 books including 17 best sellers and 5 children’s books. His books include the timeless classic The Energy Bus?which has sold over 3 million copies,?The Carpenter?which was a top 5 business book of the year,?Training Camp, The Power of Positive Leadership, The Power of a Positive Team, The Coffee Bean, Stay Positive,?The Garden, Relationship Grit?and his new release The One Truth. Jon and his tips have been featured on The Today Show, CNN, CNBC, The Golf Channel, Fox and Friends and in numerous magazines and newspapers. His clients include The Los Angeles Dodgers, In-N-Out Burger, The Los Angeles Rams, Campbell Soup, Dell, Publix, Southwest Airlines, The Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, The Colorado Rockies, Truist Bank, Clemson Football, Northwestern Mutual, Bayer, West Point Academy and more.

Edward Gross

Shareholder
Vedder Price P.C.

Edward K. Gross is a Shareholder at Vedder Price and a member of the Global Transportation Finance team.

He established the firm’s Washington, DC office and has over 30 years of experience representing bank-affiliated and large, independent equipment financing companies in all aspects of equipment finance transactions, including documenting, structuring, negotiating, syndicating and enforcing these transactions. Mr. Gross handles all types of equipment finance matters and structures, including single-investor, leveraged financings, true/ tax motivated leases, synthetic leases, TRAC leases, “bundled” and other vendor-originated financings, and domestic and cross-border financings, primarily for transportation equipment, but also for other types of equipment, including: manufacturing and assembly line, construction and drilling, energy-related and other facilities, medical and health-related facilities, high-tech equipment (including “bundled” financings), trucks and trailers, modular units and vessel repair equipment.

Mr. Gross is considered an industry leader in business aircraft and helicopter finance. These transactions vary in structure and include tax and non-tax lease, operating lease and secured loan financing of managed and/or chartered aircraft, fleet aircraft and helicopters operated in various service capacities (e.g., air ambulances, oil and gas service, flight schools, etc.) and engine pools, aircraft operated under fractional and “pay card” arrangements and progress payment, completion and other multi-funding structures. Clients include market-leading aircraft and helicopter financing providers, investors or operating lessors, as well as large publicly or privately held businesses, governmental entities or high-net-worth individual users. Many of these transactions involve foreign registered aircraft.

Many clients rely on Mr. Gross in syndication transactions, including large portfolio purchases, “one-off” sales and assignments, discounting, back-leveraging and participation transactions. He has worked with Vedder Price’s Capital Markets team on securitizations of diverse asset classes. Mr. Gross has prepared lease, loan and syndication forms for many of the most active financing providers in the industry. Working with Vedder Price’s well-regarded bankruptcy and creditors’ rights practice, Mr. Gross has assisted financing providers, including various creditor groups, with workout, restructuring, bankruptcy and enforcement matters.

Mr. Gross has been selected for inclusion in numerous editions of Who's Who Legal’s The International Who's Who of Aviation Lawyers, including the 2014 edition in which Mr. Gross participated in a roundtable discussion. In the 2013 edition of that publication, Mr. Gross is named one of the top 500 aviation lawyers in the world, and is cited as “a go-to lawyer for finance, insolvency and restructuring…well-respected by commercial clients.” In 2016 through 2020, Mr. Gross was ranked Band 1 in Private Aircraft (Global-wide) in Chambers High Net Worth, which recognizes the world’s leading high net worth advisers. In addition, in 2013 Mr. Gross was ranked in Chambers USA in the Nationwide Banking & Finance: Equipment Finance & Leasing category. He was selected by his peers for inclusion in Washington DC Super Lawyers (2007–2020) and The Best Lawyers in America (2007–2021) in the field of Equipment Finance Law. Mr. Gross was elected as Fellow to the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers in 2011, and elected as Regent to the College in 2012. He has been recognized by the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA), receiving the Distinguished Service Award in 2008 and ELFA’s Legal Committee Edward A. Groobert Excellence in Leasing Award in 2011.

A client respondent in Airfinance Journal’s 2011 Guide to Aviation Lawyers mentions, “Vedder Price can turn a deal in a day or two if necessary. Ed Gross is our go to person for time-sensitive matters.” He also recognized among the world’s leading aviation attorneys by in Euromoney’s Expert Guides “Aviation Guide” from 2013 to 2020.

Mr. Gross obtained his B.A. from the University of Maryland and his J.D. from the University of Baltimore School of Law.

John Grosso

Senior Vice President, US/CA and Chief Marketing Officer
John Deere Financial

Ethan Heilig

Director, Strategic Initiatives
Equipment Leasing & Finance Association

Chris Hemler

Managing Director
Hovde Group, LLC

Miles Herman

Chief Executive Officer
LEAF Commercial Capital Inc.

James Jackson

Co-CEO and Merger & Acquisition Advisory Practice Leader
The Alta Group LLC

Scott Kiley

ELFA Instructor

Scott Kiley currently works as the Trainer for the On-Site version of ELFA's Principles of Equipment Leasing and Finance Workshop. He retired in 2024 as a Senior Vice President from Fifth Third after a 25 year career in Capital Markets. During his tenure, he purchased over $6 billion in equipment leases and loans primarily from other Bank Lessors. Ended his 5/3 career as Group Head of Capital Markets for 4 years. Prior to joining Fifth Third, he worked for 6 years at GE Capital as both a Sales Manager and a Sales Originator, and prior to that was a Leasing Originator at GTE Leasing Corp. Scott has been an active member of the ELFA serving many years on the National Funding Conference Planning Committee including being Chair of that Committee for several years. He also served on the Financial Institutions Business Council and was instrumental in putting together the ELFA Guest Lecture Program that is now being presented to College students around the country. Scott earned his B.S. Degree in Finance from Indiana University and his MBA in Finance from Butler University.

Daniel Kipper

Executive Director of Product Development & Mobility
Hyundai Auto Lease Offering, LLC

David Lee

CEO
North Mill Equipment Finance

Mr. Lee has over 30 years of executive financial services experience as an investment banker, private equity investor, lender and operating executive. He has served as the Chairman and CEO of NMEF since December 2016 and previously was the CEO of Colford Capital Holdings, the former parent company of NMEF and its asset-based lending affiliate, North Mill Capital, from 2012 until the sale of NMEF to Wafra Capital Partners in August 2018. Previously, Mr. Lee served as President of D.B. Zwirn & Co., a $6.5 billion AUM alternative asset manager and successfully navigated that firm through the 2008 financial crisis and eventual merger integration into Fortress Investment Group. He was the Founding Managing Partner of Saturn Venture Partners and a Partner with the private equity firm of Sandler Capital. For the first half of his career, Mr. Lee was an investment banker, most recently serving as a Managing Director at Lazard, where he advised on M&A transactions valued in excess of $50 billion. Mr. Lee graduated magna cum laude from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1986.

Joe Leonard CLFP

CEO
Oakmont Capital Services

Dominic Liberatore CLFP

Deputy General Counsel
DLL

Dominic A. Liberatore is the Deputy General Counsel for DLL, a global provider of leasing and business finance solutions, including vendor finance.



Mr. Liberatore has been practicing law for 38 years focusing on leasing and asset based lending, and has served in a variety of senior in-house legal positions with DLL, IOS Capital, Inc. (the captive finance subsidiary of IKON Office Solutions, Inc.), Copelco Financial Services Group, Inc. and the FDIC. Prior to going in-house, Mr. Liberatore was an associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York City and Wolf Block in Philadelphia. Mr. Liberatore is a past chairman of the ELFA Legal Committee, current ELFA Subcommittee Coordinator and a past chairman of the Subcommittee on Leasing of the Uniform Commercial Code Committee of the ABA Business Law Section. Mr. Liberatore is also a member of the Editorial Review Board for the Journal of Equipment Lease Financing.



Mr. Liberatore holds a J.D. from Vanderbilt University and a B.A. from the University of Buffalo.

Kyin Lok

President and CEO
Dext Capital

Mark Loken

Vice President
CoBank Farm Credit Leasing

Mark Loken is Vice President, Credit for CoBank - Farm Credit Leasing. Mr. Loken is responsible for Credit, Portfolio, and Asset Management functions at Farm Credit Leasing. He has over 20 years of equipment finance experience in various roles, including credit underwriting, sales, asset management and portfolio. Prior to joining Farm Credit Leasing in March 2016, Mr. Loken spent two years at Cisco Capital and fourteen years at TCF Equipment Finance. He received a bachelor's degree in Finance and Economics from the University of Wisconsin - Whitewater and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of St. Thomas.

Tim Mahedy

CEO & Chief Economist
Access/Marco

Eric Miller

President and Chief Executive Officer
Ansley Park Capital

Kimberly Montgomery

Senior Vice President, Healthcare Originations Leader
EverBank Vendor Equipment Finance

Hugo Morrissey

Director-ABS Banking
Bank of America Global Leasing

Kim Mounger CLFP

VP Business Development
Orion First Financial, LLC

My professional experience includes business development roles at both direct lender and service provider companies. As a sales professional, I have been active in the industry for over a decade, attending industry events, growing my professional network and developing the connections needed to drive growth in small business lending. I am tasked with developing and expanding relationships with servicing clients at Orion First.
I earned a BA degree from Washington State University and reside in Gig Harbor with my family.

Brittany Ogden

Attorney, Partner
Quarles & Brady LLP

Turner Parlin

Head of US Business Development
Alfa

William Phelan

CEO
Trust2Connect

Robert Preville

CEO
APPROVE

Robert is a serial entrepreneur and investor, having founded and led several high growth companies in the B2B arena. Prior to KWIPPED, Robert founded and sold GlobalTestSupply.com, a world-class provider of test and measurement equipment that ranked #800 on the INC 5000 fastest growing companies list. Prior to that, he was the founding employee and Vice President of Sales for MFG.com, the leading online manufacturing marketplace and a portfolio company of Jeff Bezos's Bezos Expeditions. Robert started his career at EDS (now Siemens), is co-owner of the Greater Wilmington Business Journal, is an active angel investor via IMAF Cape Fear in Wilmington, NC and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Ryan Ragland

VP of Enterprise Solutions- Americas
Valiant

Ryan Ragland is VP of Enterprise Solutions at Valiant, leading strategic initiatives that transform how equipment finance is delivered in the channel. His work focuses on consumerizing the B2B lending experience through embedded finance, intelligent automation, and connected systems that help the industry move faster, smarter, and with greater collaboration.

Vanessa Roberts CLFP

Director of Customer Success
Solifi

Kevin Ronan

Managing Director – Group Head - Capital Equipment Finance and Sixty-First Commercial Finance
First Citizens Bank – Capital Equipment Finance

Kyla Scanlon

Leadership and Culture Expert
Leading Authorities

Kyla Scanlon is an economic commentator and content creator who helps educate and shape financial conversation for her nearly 900k dedicated and interactive followers. Her smart and thoughtful content simplifies the complex and reimagines economics as an accessible topic for the next generation.  

Kyla uses her multiplatform approach to cover the economic news of the day, tariffs, AI, the value of college education, and Gen Z’s place in the economy. In the last few months, Kyla was listed as named to Barron’s 100 Most Influential Women in Finance and interviewed on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Ezra Klein Show.

Kyla’s first book In This Economy? How Money and Markets Really Work is currently on the New York Times bestseller list. In the book, she coined the term, vibecession, used to describe the disconnect between robust economic data and a dark outlook.  Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent borrowed it in a Meet the Press appearance.

Raised in Kentucky, Kyla majored in finance, economics, and data analytics at Western Kentucky University.  After summers of trading options and selling Hyundais, Kyla realized there was a space to help people understand finance and budgets so during the pandemic, she took to a whiteboard and social media to create skits and metaphors to explain the markets and the economy.

Kyla is currently working on her second book and has contributed to the New York Times, Financial Times, New York Magazine, Bloomberg, and the Wall Street Journal along with many other major publications. 

Moorari Shah

Partner
Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLC

Moorari K. Shah is Partner in the Orange County and San Francisco offices of Sheppard Mullin. He represents banks, equipment finance companies, fintechs, mortgage companies, auto lenders, and other non-bank financial institutions in transactional, licensing, regulatory compliance, and government enforcement matters covering mergers and acquisitions, consumer and commercial lending and leasing, and supervisory examinations and enforcement actions involving state and federal agencies.

Mr. Shah received his J.D. from Boston University School of Law (cum laude) and his B.A. from Duke University. He is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP) and a certified Six Sigma Black Belt.

Leighton Smith

Chief Strategy Office
GreatAmerica Financial Services

Nathaniel Smith

VP of Finance
Trans Lease, Inc.

Benjamin Speed

Vice President - Global Structured Finance & Private Credit
Johnson Controls Capital

Ben is the global leader of JC Capital, the captive finance and private credit lender of Johnson Controls International.

JC Capital secures infrastructure and real estate projects for Johnson Controls by offering creative financing solutions for companies and governments around the world. As a direct lender, JC Capital’s senior, subordinate, and mezzanine loans offer construction and long-term financing.

Ben joined Johnson Controls in 2010. Under his leadership of JC Capital, the company launched innovative financing programs, opened operations in 12 countries, and funded over $5 billion of infrastructure projects. Ben’s global team manages all aspects of the lending business, including originations, portfolio management, operations, and financial reporting.

Ben has over 24 years of experience in project finance, asset-based lending, investment banking, and infrastructure development. Prior to joining Johnson Controls, he held several positions in banking, project finance, and project development.

Ben graduated from George Washington University with an MBA degree and from Emory University with a BA degree.

He and his wife, Amanda, live in Milwaukee and have three children.

Kelby Spring

VP, Financial Services
Equifax

Kelby Spring is currently the Vice President and Financial Services Leader at Equifax, where he has been driving strategic initiatives since 2023. With over six years at Equifax, Kelby has held several key positions, including Commercial Solutions Director and Associate Director at PayNet, a subsidiary of Equifax. His leadership focuses on enhancing financial solutions for commercial clients, leveraging data and analytics to fuel growth.

Prior to joining Equifax, Kelby held various roles in business development and sales at Five Bridges Advisors. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Oberlin College, where he also minored in History and played varsity baseball. Kelby remains active in the finance industry, serving on the Emerging Talent Advisory Council for the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association.

William Stephenson

CEO
PEAC Solutions

Steve Taplin

Managing Director
Lendscape

Dan Thompson

Risk Leader
Kapitus

Mark Tomaselli

President and CTO
QuickFi

As President and CTO of Innovation Finance, Mark is responsible for all aspects of product development, QuickFi Platform strategy, and QuickFi mobile app engineering.

Prior to joining Innovation Finance, Mark served as CIO at First American Equipment Finance. He guided the company's technology vision, strategy and execution. Mark is a recognized leader in creating exceptional client experience through the use of progressive technology.

Mark has held senior management positions with Fortune 500 companies, including Sun Microsystems and Frontier Communications. Mark’s insights are sought in both finance and technology. He frequently presents to organizations like Box, Salesforce, Okta, and the ELFA. Mark holds a BS in Information Technology and is an active Box Digital Advisory Board member.

Patricia Voorhees

Director
The Alta Group LLC

Stephen Whelan

Partner
Blank Rome LLP

As a partner in three different law firms for 44 years, Steve Whelan practices law in the New York office of Blank Rome LLP, where he concentrates his practice on lease financings, securitization, energy finance and secured lending. He is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, has been a member of the ELFA Board of Directors and Legal Committee, Chair of the American Bar Association Subcommittee on Leasing, and a Visiting Lecturer on constitutional law at Princeton University.

Steve is co-author of the ABA Annual Survey on Developments in the Law of Leases. He has authored four books on U.C.C. Article 2A and the “Securitization” chapters in the Matthew Bender & Co. treatises on Commercial Finance and Equipment Leasing. From 2019 to 2022, he was an appointed observer to the ALI-ULC Subcommittee on Bundled Transactions.

Bruce Winter CLFP

Chief Operating Officer
Peapack Capital Corporation

Nahid Zamir CPA

Head of Operations & Transformation
Meridian OneCap Credit Corp.