Equipment Leasing and Finance Association - Investing Forward

Tara Berlingo

Senior Human Resources Business Partner
M&T Commercial Equipment Finance

Tara Berlingo, Senior Human Resources Business Partner, supports the Equipment Finance Groups for M&T Bank. She has over 20 years of Human Resources experience in various industries such as manufacturing, communication, and banking. She has supported equipment leasing for the last 10 years. Ms. Berlingo was also a past board member on the Society for Human Resources Western Connecticut Division, serving in the roles of Chair of Student Affairs and Co-Chair of Community Affairs.

Robert Ceribelli

President
Channel

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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.

Joni Kovac

SVP, Human Resources and CHRO
Mitsubishi HC Capital America, Inc.

Jena Morgan CLFP

Fractional COO
360 Equipment Finance, LLC

Jena Morgan, CLFP leads the operations team of KLC Financial, Inc. since 2014. She strives to remove roadblocks from the sales cycle, enhance productivity from its people and to deliver a suburb customer experience. Jena’s vision for ongoing improvement, drive for execution on the deliverables and deep love for helping people get where they want to go, makes her a unique leader.

Jena is a technology visionary who has been able to see the impact technology and data can have on both the customer experience and operational excellence. She is passionate about taking visions from great ideas to people and profit powerhouses. She believes the equipment finance industry can be the leader in technology deployment rather than the follower.

Jena is honored to be on the 2022 CLFP Board of Directors as the NEFA liaison and a member on the planning committee for ELFA Technology and Operations conference. She is an avid advocate of industry organizations and continuing their strong partnership. She is excited to volunteer in these capacities.

Kayla Perlinger CLFP

Vice President, Syndications
AP Equipment Financing

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David Trost CLFP

Director of Product
Northteq

David Trost is a data-driven product leader with over a decade of experience building innovative fintech solutions across lending, risk management, and analytics.

Currently serving as Director of Product at Northteq, he brings deep expertise in building and scaling financial technology products that drive measurable business impact. His experience includes building analytics products used by major financial institutions to manage portfolio performance, and enabling better borrower and vendor experiences by creating highly automated origination solutions. His unique blend of product, lending, and data science expertise allows him to translate complex user requirements into solutions that deliver exceptional outcomes.

David Trost CLFP

Director of Product
Northteq

David Trost is a data-driven product leader with over a decade of experience building innovative fintech solutions across lending, risk management, and analytics.

Currently serving as Director of Product at Northteq, he brings deep expertise in building and scaling financial technology products that drive measurable business impact. His experience includes building analytics products used by major financial institutions to manage portfolio performance, and enabling better borrower and vendor experiences by creating highly automated origination solutions. His unique blend of product, lending, and data science expertise allows him to translate complex user requirements into solutions that deliver exceptional outcomes.