Equipment Leasing and Finance Association - Investing Forward

Timothy Appleget CLFP

Director of Technology Services
Tamarack Technology, Inc.

Tim Appleget, CLFP, joined Tamarack in March 2021 after more than two decades in equipment finance with Wells Fargo. In his role as Director of SaaS products, he leads the development and implementation of Tamarack's technology services offerings around data, IoT and workflow automation. Appleget has a deep understanding of enterprise solutions in the industry, built on years of experience leading technology and business operations teams.

Goutham Balaraman PhD

Chief Technology Officer
Crossroads Equipment Lease & Finance LLC

Goutham Balaraman is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Crossroads Equipment Lease & Finance where he directs the different technology functions: product management, application delivery, data & analytics, infrastructure, and information security. He has over 15 years of experience in financial services and has held leadership roles at fintech companies. Goutham holds a Ph.D. in Physics from Georgia Institute of Technology. He resides in Los Angeles, CA with his wife and kids.

Chelsey Barron

Senior Vice President
LEAF Commercial Capital Inc.

Richard Bishop

Director, Financial Services
Precisely Software Inc

Richard Bishop joined CEDAR CX in 2005 as Client Service Delivery Director, overseeing all aspects of ongoing service delivery and partner management with FIS, one of the world’s largest financial services providers.

In 2012, Richard left CEDAR CX to join FIS as a Managing Director, guiding relationships with large financial institutions such as TIAA-CREF, Barclays, Sallie Mae, BB&T, Nationwide, and Ameriprise. In 2015, Richard returned to CEDAR CX to manage the FIS-CEDAR CX partnership and to lead the organization’s sales and business development team within financial services and mortgage. Richard has now joined the Precisely team in the same capacity as his role within CEDAR CX.

Before his first stint at CEDAR CX, Richard worked as a Business Analyst at Hewitt Associates (now Aon) in their Benefits Outsourcing practice. During his tenure at Hewitt, Richard held various roles from quality assurance, configuration and development, and large-scale implementation management for clients such as First Data, Sears-Kmart, UPS, and GlaxoSmithKline.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in music with honors from Louisiana State University.

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.

Danielle Conkling

Head of Sustainability
First Citizens Bank Equipment Finance

Andrew Cotter

EVP, Chief Information Officer
Somerset Capital Group, Ltd.

Andrew Cotter serves as Chief Information Officer for Somerset Capital Group, Ltd. and has been with the organization since 2002. Mr. Cotter is an experienced business leader and technology strategist providing vision and transformational leadership for more than 20 years. Mr. Cotter uses his extensive experience in people leadership, business operations, and technology innovation to partner with the organization. Through this partnership he develops effective plans and strategies to achieve meaningful results as well as enables continuous innovation needed to improve the customer experience required to succeed in the digital age.

Mr. Cotter serves on the board of Fairfield/Westchester Society for Information Management, is active on the ELFA Technology Innovation Working Group, and is the Immediate Past Chair of the ELFA Operations and Technology Committee.

Brendan Cronin

Product Manager
Great American Insurance Group, Specialty Equipment

Tamara Darnow CLFP, CFA

SVP, Institutional Bank Risk Management
KeyBank, N.A.

Tamara currently serves within Key’s Institutional Bank and has a passion for all things risk. During her time with Key, Tamara developed and led the compliance and risk program for Key’s equipment finance business, both in the line of business and as independent risk management, including risk oversight of third parties and code of ethics activities.

Never one to stand still, Tamara holds the Chartered Financial Analyst ® designation and several risk-oriented certifications. She holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and an economics degree from Northwestern University.

Tamara engages in her community, currently serving as the communication director for a local (musical) nonprofit and the training director for the ACFE’s Northern Colorado Area Chapter.
 

Christine Evershed

Project Manager, Transformation Office
John Deere Financial

Andy Fishburn CLFP

Former Senior Vice President of Public Policy

Keraz Gandhi

Head of Presales
Linedata Lending and Leasing

Nathan Gibbons CLFP

Chief Experience Officer
QuickFi

Nate is the Chief Experience Officer and one of the founders of QuickFi - a fintech company that leverages emerging technology to bring dramatic improvement to the business equipment financing process.

Nate began his career at First American Equipment Finance (an RBC Company) where he became Vice President of Operations before being asked to develop and manage the company's learning and professional development strategy. While at First American, Nate received the Chairman’s Award (the company’s highest honor) for excellence in character and leadership.

Nate has become a regular conference speaker nationally and internationally - speaking on topics related to leadership, innovation, professional development, and diversity. He is also a strong advocate for the equipment finance industry. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA), is a member of the ELFA’s Academic Outreach Committee, former Chair of the ELFA’s Political Action Committee, former President of the Board of Directors for the Certified Lease and Finance Professional (CLFP) Foundation, and former Chair of the ELFA’s Emerging Talent Advisory Council.

Nate has an MBA from the University of Rochester -Simon Business School, and a BA in Spanish from the University of Rochester. He resides in Rochester, New York with his wife Keila, their two sons Noah and Micah, and their dog Maximus.

Melissa Godish

Vice President, Operations
TD Equipment Finance, Inc.

Joe Graham

Managing Director
FIS

Peter Haug

Product Manager
LTi Technology Solutions

Current Member of the ELFA Operations and Technology Committee, Peter Haug is Product Manager at LTi Technology Solutions – the market-leading platform provider to the equipment finance industry. Since joining LTi in 2009, Peter has enjoyed collaborating with thought-leaders in the industry to understand and solve the critical challenges the industry is facing.

Recently, Peter has presented on technology topics covering innovation and the customer experience.

In his free time, Peter enjoys spending time with his wife and two kids, watching soccer, and learning languages.

Adrian Hebig CLFP

EFD National Sales Director
Stearns Bank N.A.

Adrian Hebig joined the Channel leadership team in 2018 and currently serves as Chief Corporate Development Officer, leading planning & development of Channel’s strategic goals and initiatives, including strategic review, planning, execution & growth of new business units. 

Prior to joining Channel, Hebig served as Senior Vice President, National Sales Manager for the Wells Fargo Equipment Finance vendor services group. Hebig has more than 30 years of commercial finance experience, leading teams in asset-based lending and sales and operations across vendor, healthcare, and bank finance platforms. He began his career at Lyon Financial Services, Inc., subsequently U.S. Bank Equipment Finance, where he held positions as Division General Manager, Senior Vice-President, and Chief Operations Officer. He has also served as Senior Vice President for the commercial healthcare finance group at United Health Group and Optum Bank. 

Kristie Kosobuski CLFP

Vice President Product Management - Portfolio Management
Solifi

Emily Krause CLFP

Director, First Line Risk Managment
First Citizens Bank Equipment Finance

Leigh Lytle

President and CEO
Equipment Leasing & 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.

Greg Montana

Retired, Former Chief Risk Officer
FIS

Greg Montana serves on the Board of the Texas Dow Employees Credit Union (TDECU ) since October, 2023. Greg is a member of the Board Executive Committee and the Chair of the Board Risk Committee.

Greg served as Executive Vice President, Chief Risk and Section 16 Corporate Officer for FIS , the world’s largest fintech service provider for 11 years, from April 2012 until his retirement from FIS in April 2023.

In his group, Greg led over 2,700 employees globally. Over his tenure, Greg and his teams successfully identified, managed, and mitigated FIS’ key risks including cybersecurity, operational, credit, compliance, regulatory, ESG, business continuity, crisis management, third-party and fraud for all of FIS’ three business segments: banking, payments and capital markets.

In addition to leading risk management for the company, Greg launched and grew numerous commercial businesses incubated from internal FIS capabilities developed by Greg’s FIS Risk team for the company. They included cybersecurity as a service, vendor risk management as a service, and a commercial fraud-fusion partnership program with Visa.

Highly experienced in risk management, prior to FIS, Greg spent more than 20 years successfully managing risk at some of the world’s most recognized financial services institutions, including Bank of America, PayPal, Lloyds Banking Group, Deloitte Consulting and JP Morgan Chase.

Committed to the advancement of risk management education, Greg was an adjunct professor of risk management at Flagler College in St. Augustine for seven fall semesters from 2013 - 2019, and received the Risk Management Association’s (RMA’s) Special Service Award in October 2012. He has also authored four articles in the RMA Journal.

In 2019-2022, Greg led the initiation of FIS' ESG program. Under his tenure, FIS received IR Magazine's Award for Best ESG Reporting in 2021 and contributed to Newsweek ranking FIS as one of America's Most Responsible Companies in 2022 . In 2022 Greg also led the Procurement, Global Real Estate and Facilities functions for FIS. In this role, he was responsible for managing and optimizing FIS’ multi-billion-dollar vendor relationships.

Greg is a Certified Chief Information Security Officer (CCISO) and a board member of the Internet Security Alliance and the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) Sheltered Harbor Organization . He holds a Cyber-Risk Oversight Certificate from the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), and in March 2023 authored the incident response section of the NACD Board Handbook on Cyber-Risk Oversight . Greg was also a contributor to the World Economic Forum’s 2021 Insight Report on the Principles for Board Governance of Cyber Risk .

Greg serves on the Board of the United Way of Northeast Florida and was former Vice Chair. He is an active member and former Board Chair of Jacksonville Catholic Charities, and was a 18 year member of the Advisory Board for Metrolina Association for the Blind in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Greg holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and received a BA, cum laude, from Boston College. He received his six sigma Black Belt Certification from Bank of America.

Kelli Nienaber

Executive Director
Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation

Kelli Nienaber is the Executive Director of the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation in Washington, DC. Having been in this role since 2011, she is the primary conduit to the Foundation’s Board of Trustees and volunteer governance committees. She oversees the business and staff of the Foundation, which propels the $1 trillion equipment finance sector—and its people—forward with its industry-specific knowledge, intelligence, and programs. Through free studies, internships, and Guest Lecture opportunities, the Foundation helps industry professionals navigate the changes coming up and make better business and personal career decisions.

Prior to the Foundation, Kelli’s career was focused in the government relations/political arena. She has successfully managed political involvement and grassroots campaigns, as well as developed and executed federal and state legislative strategy in corporate and trade association organizations. She began her professional career in the public sector working for former U.S. Senator Kit Bond (R-MO) both in his Washington, DC office and in her home state of Missouri.

Kelli holds a B.A. in political science from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She is an active volunteer serving on non-profit Boards in her community. Kelli and her husband Brian reside in Alexandria, VA with their four children.

Steve Nippak

Senior Vice President, North American Sales
Odessa

Bryan Parfitt

Senior Solution Architect
Northteq

Michael Rogers

Columnist, MSNBC's The Practical Futurist, Futurist-in-Residence of The New York Times
Leading Authorities

• Award-winning journalist and novelist with over thirty years of professional speaking experience
• Former vice president of the Washington Post's new media division
• Co-founder of Outside magazine and former writer for Rolling Stone
• Dynamic speaker helping businesses think about the future and the effect of technology their organization

Shari Schmidt

Vice President, Commercial Segment Risk Manager
Huntington Equipment Finance

Heather Staverman

Director, Meetings and Exhibits
Equipment Leasing & Finance Association

Tawnya Stone CLFP

Vice President, Strategic Technology
GreatAmerica Financial Services

Tawnya Stone, Vice President, Strategic Technology, is responsible for the overall strategic direction, oversight and implementation of customer-facing tools and products across various GreatAmerica business units. She works in close collaboration with business unit and functional leadership and external technology partners. Tawnya joined GreatAmerica in 2011 as an IT Project Manager and eventually evolved into subsequent roles that blended technology and customer facing activities. Prior to joining GreatAmerica she worked for Philips Electronics and Verizon Communications in the Washington DC metro area.

Tawnya was the previous President of the Managed Print Services Association (MPSA) and Executive Council member of CompTIA’s Technology Lifecycle Services (TLS) Community and past Chair of CompTIA’s Managed Print Services (MPS) Community. She was recognized by ENX as Difference Maker in 2016 and 2018. Tawnya also is a member the Technology Innovation working group and Chair of the Operations and Technology committee within the ELFA.

Shelly Tauer CLFP

SVP, Head of EF Product Management & Strategic Initiatives
U.S. Bank

Shelly has been with U.S. Bank for 30 years.  She began her career as an underwriter in 1994 with Lyon Financial, a small ticket leasing company that was later acquired by U.S. Bank in September 2000.  She has held a variety of positions all within U.S. Bank Equipment Finance including Special Projects, Collections Management, Sales, Operations Manager, Customer Integration and Support Manager, Project Manager, Security Manager and System Technology Manager.  She continues to oversee the Security and System Technology teams with added responsibilities as of 2022 to include Project Management, Professional Development and Training, Modeling and Analytics and EF Applications teams. She is currently a member of the ELFA's (Equipment Leasing Finance Association) Research Committee and the Operations and Technology Planning Committee and earned her CLFP (Certified Leasing Finance Professional) Certification in 2018.

Shelly and her husband, Bill, have 3 grown children Abby (husband Josh), Lexi and Jake along with 2 grandchildren, Grayson (3) and Saelah (1).  They are avid local and MN sports fans and cherish time with their grandchildren as well as family and friends enjoying water sports, pontoon rides and campfires at their lake home on Lake Shetek.

Sarah Tezuka

Product Manager
Solifi

With over 25 years of experience in equipment finance and secured lending, Sarah Tezuka is currently a Product Manager at Solifi; a leading global organization that's dedicated to delivering a solid financial technology foundation for equipment, working capital, wholesale, and automotive finance firms. She excels at creating client-centric solutions, managing product lifecycles, and delivering product vision and strategy. She also leads Solifi's Equipment Finance User group and serves on the ELFA Ops & Tech Committee.

Motofumi Tohda CLFP

Vice President / Information Systems
Tokyo Century (USA) Inc.

Brian Tri

Chief Credit Officer
Channel

Jason Turner

Chief Investment Strategist
Great Lakes Advisors, a Wintrust Wealth Management Company

Jason Turner is the Chief Investment Strategist of Great Lakes Advisors. He is a member of the firm’s investment committee, authors market and economic commentary, regularly presents in the media and to professional conferences, and works with client portfolio managers to support institutional and private clients. As the Head of Multi-Asset Strategy, he is responsible for portfolio strategy, asset allocation, and for overseeing the firm’s manager due diligence and selection efforts. He is also a member of the firm’s Operating Committee and Management Committee.

Prior to joining Great Lakes in 2009, Jason served in various roles for Skyline Asset Management and Aon Hewitt Investment Consulting.

Education and Professional Credentials

• Industry Start: 2001
• North Central College, BA
• Kellstadt Graduate School of Business, MBA
• Yale School of Management- EDHEC Risk Institute, Certificate in Risk and Investment Management
• FINRA Series 7 and 63 registrations