Women's Leadership Forum : ELFA

Women's Leadership Forum

April 20, 2020 - April 21, 2020

The Palmer House Hilton
Chicago, IL

Leadership Development for Women at All Stages of an Equipment Finance Career.

Program Highlights
The ELFA Women’s Leadership Forum will feature dynamic speakers and offer time for attendee interaction and networking with other industry leaders. You’ll leave this event with valuable insights and powerful tools to enhance your career.

Grow your leadership skills
Improve your professional performance
Build relationships and make new connections

Who Should Attend?
This event is open to anyone who would like to attend. There are no registration restrictions for the Women’s Leadership Forum this year. ELFA is offering member and nonmember pricing in order to accommodate all who are interested in this fantastic event!

Sponsorship Opportunities
Sponsorships provide invaluable exposure for your company. Contact Steve Wafalosky at 440-247-1060 or stevew@larichadv.com if you are interested in supporting the ELFA Women’s Leadership Forum.

Registration Fees

Price Description	Amount
ELFA Members	$775.00
Non Member Attendee	$1500.00
Speaker/Panelist - ELFA Member	$495.00
Speaker/Panelist - ELFA Non Member	$495.00
Women's Council Members	$495.00

View cancellation and other policies

Download Conference Agenda

Available Functions

Monday - April 20
8:30 am - 10:30 am
	PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOP: Ignite Your Tomorrow - Technology, Trends & the Future of You
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
	Dine Around - Community Table Dinner Group
Tuesday - April 21
6:15 am - 7:15 am
	Yoga Class	$25.00

Speakers

Martha Ahlers

President
United Leasing & Finance

Martha Ahlers is President of United Leasing & Finance. She has over 20 years of commercial leasing experience and started with the company in 1996. Ms. Ahlers holds a Bachelor's Degree in Economics from the University of Illinois. She is involved in numerous civic and community organizations including the Ronald McDonald House Charities, Evansville Executive Forum, Tri State MS Association Board, and Carver Community Daycare. She has previously served on the Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation Board of Directors, and is currently Chair-elect of the 2019 Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) Board of Directors.

Deborah Baker

Head of Worldwide Leasing and Financing
HP Inc.

Deborah Lilley Baker is the Senior Director of Global Portfolio Services for Cisco Systems Capital. Cisco Capital is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cisco Systems, specializing in providing innovative financing for Cisco solutions worldwide. Cisco Capital provides flexible and competitive financing for the acquisition of Cisco technologies designed to support business goals and technology needs. Deb’s organization is responsible for the operational support of a global lease and loan portfolio. Deb supports the Americas, EMEAR and APJC regional teams responsible for end to end support of all financing offerings as well and the Global Engagement Management Team and Global Learning and Development.

Deb is a finance veteran with over 20 years in the captive finance industry. Prior to joining Cisco Capital in 2011, Deb spent 10 years with Hewlett-Packard Financial Services at their headquarters location in New Jersey supporting both end user and internal financing products as the Central Region Director of Operations. Prior to Hewlett-Packard Financial Services, Deb held a variety of roles with CIT (formerly AT&T Capital), including roles in Business Development, Sales and Operations.

Deb holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and her MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, NJ. In 2012, Deb relocated to Chapel Hill, NC with her husband and son. She enjoys cooking, bicycling, travel and spending time with her family.

Maureen Carr

Managing Director
Pacific Western Bank

Jennifer Fanz

Country Sales Manager, US Healthcare
DLL

Jennifer Fanz, Country Sales Manager - Healthcare, for DLL, is an experienced sales leader with demonstrated success in the financial services industry. She is well versed in sales, strategic planning, business development, sales management and general management.

Jennifer earned her Bachelor of Science degree with a focus in Management from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey-Camden, and she has been part of the DLL team since April 2000. Jennifer is an active member of Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA), with service on the Emerging Talent Advisory Council and Women's Council. Jennifer is also the DLL US (Wayne, PA) Chapter Lead for N.O.W., the Network of Women.

Xiang Ji

Commercial Risk Manager
Toyota Industries Commercial Finance, Inc.

Julie Pray

VP Operations
Midland Equipment Finance

Deborah Reuben, CLFP

President
Reuben Creative, LLC

Award-winning consultant, Deborah Reuben, CLFP is President of Reuben Creative, LLC, a consulting firm specializing in strategic process and technology consulting for lending and leasing. She has a broad equipment finance industry and professional background in both financial services (Wells Fargo and TCF) and the software industry (HCL and Linedata Capitalstream).

Author of The Certified Lease & Finance Professionals' Handbook Sixth Edition, she pens many articles on technology and innovation topics. She contributes to studies and publications and frequently speaks at events inside and outside of the industry. She serves on the ELFA Board of Directors, the Monitor Editorial Board, and chairs the ELFA Tech Innovation Working Group. She is the 2019 recipient of ELFA's Michael J. Fleming Distinguished Service Award as well as the CLFP Foundation's Cindy Spurdle Award of Excellence.

With a keen eye for future technology trends, she brings forward-thinking insights and original ideas to help companies gain efficiencies and design roadmaps for the future. She consults with teams who want to see the bigger picture, explore the art of the possible, and build momentum for transformative change. Learn more at deborahreuben.com.

Alan Sikora, CLFP

CEO
First American Equipment Finance

Alan Sikora is the CEO of First American Equipment Finance, a wholly-owned subsidiary of City National Bank, an RBC Company. Alan joined First American in 2002 and has held various roles of increasing responsibility in credit, operations, sales and sales leadership. Alan holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Rochester. He completed his MBA at the University of Rochester's Simon School of Business with concentrations in Finance and Entrepreneurship. He holds a Certified Leasing & Finance Professional designation and sits on the advisory board for the Rochester Institute of Technology’s business school. Alan has been active in the ELFA since 2002, was elected to the Financial Institutions Business Council Steering Committee in 2013 and became Chair of the committee in 2014. Alan currently serves as a member of the ELFA Board of Directors.

Michelle Speranza

SVP, Chief Marketing Officer
LEAF Commercial Capital Inc.

Scott Thacker, CPA, CLFP

Chief Executive Officer
Ivory Consulting Corporation

Mr. Thacker is the CEO of Ivory Consulting, the software and consulting company that has helped define the modern equipment finance industry with SuperTRUMP, the proven solution for modeling and pricing equipment leases and loans. Scott is the Vice Chairman of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation, and a member of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association’s Financial Accounting Committee.

He was previously a member of the Board of Directors of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association and of the Association’s Operations and Technology Committee for five years, three of them as Chair, as well as the co-director of the Foundation’s Research Committee.

Throughout his more than 30-year international career, Scott has helped transform businesses through product and service innovations, new business initiatives, M&A activities, and financial transactions.

Prior to joining Ivory Consulting, Scott was a partner at Accenture and founding member of the management consulting group focused on providing solutions to the North American equipment leasing and asset finance industry. Previously, he was instrumental in creating Oracle’s now widely used Oracle Lease and Finance Management software application, and with American Airlines, where he was involved in executing aircraft, equipment and real estate leases as well as other financial transactions. Scott was a founding member of both AMR Consulting Group, an affiliate of American Airlines, and AT&T Solutions, a division of AT&T.

Scott received an M.B.A. in Finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Accounting from the Wake Forest University. He is a CPA and CLFP.

Jill York

President, Head of Equipment Finance & Leasing Solutions
Fifth Third Bank

Nahid Zamir

SVP, Sales Operations
CIT

Sponsors

Forum Location

The 2020 ELFA Women’s Leadership Forum will be held at the Hilton Palmer House in Chicago, located at 17 E Monroe St, Chicago, IL in the popular theatre and financial district of Chicago and near Millennium Park.

Hotel Information

A block of rooms is being held for attendees of the 2020 Women’s Leadership Forum at the Hilton Palmer House. A special conference rate of $269 plus tax, single/double occupancy, is offered to attendees. Check in time is 3:00pm, and check-out time is 11:00am. Please call Reservations at (312) 726-7500, provide your arrival and departure dates and mention ELFA Room Block in order to receive the ELFA group rate.

Online Hotel Reservations

You may reserve your hotel room online through the customized reservations link at: https://book.passkey.com/e/49931689.

Make Hotel Reservations by Sunday, March 29, 2020! Reservations after this date are based on availability and may be at a higher rate. If you would also like to attend a Best Pracices Roundtable or the 32nd Annual National Funding Conference, you will need to make separate reservations and contact our personal hotel contact, Yadira Quintanilla at Yadira.Quintanilla@hilton.com for assistance.

Getting There

The Hilton Palmer House is located in the popular theatre and financial district of Chicagoland. Approximately 18 miles from Chicago-O’Hare International Airport, 11 miles from Chicago Midway Airport.

If renting a car, the Hilton Palmer House has valet parking and self-parking from $47 per day.

Visiting by Metro - When taking public transportation from O'Hare International Airport, take the Blue Line train to Monroe/Dearborn stop. Take Monroe east to the hotel. The Palmer House is on the south side of the street. From Midway Airport, take the Orange Line from Midway to downtown. Get off at the Adams/Wabash stop. The Palmer House is located on the west side of Wabash Avenue.

For additional transportation information, please visit the hotel website at Hilton Palmer House Transport.

The Palmer House Hilton
17 East Monroe Street
Chicago, IL 60603

Get directions

If you would like information on exhibiting at this conference, please contact Steve Wafalosky at stevew@larichadv.com or 440.247.1060.

If you would like information on exhibiting at this conference, please contact Steve Wafalosky at stevew@larichadv.com or 440.247.1060.

If you would like information on exhibiting at this conference, please contact Steve Wafalosky at stevew@larichadv.com or 440.247.1060.

If you would like information on exhibiting at this conference, please contact Steve Wafalosky at stevew@larichadv.com or 440.247.1060.

If you would like information on exhibiting at this conference, please contact Steve Wafalosky at stevew@larichadv.com or 440.247.1060.

If you would like information on exhibiting at this conference, please contact Steve Wafalosky at stevew@larichadv.com or 440.247.1060.

If you would like information on exhibiting at this conference, please contact Steve Wafalosky at stevew@larichadv.com or 440.247.1060.

If you would like information on exhibiting at this conference, please contact Steve Wafalosky at stevew@larichadv.com or 440.247.1060.

If you would like information on exhibiting at this conference, please contact Steve Wafalosky at stevew@larichadv.com or 440.247.1060.

If you would like information on exhibiting at this conference, please contact Steve Wafalosky at stevew@larichadv.com or 440.247.1060.

If you would like information on exhibiting at this conference, please contact Steve Wafalosky at stevew@larichadv.com or 440.247.1060.

If you would like information on exhibiting at this conference, please contact Steve Wafalosky at stevew@larichadv.com or 440.247.1060.

If you would like information on exhibiting at this conference, please contact Steve Wafalosky at stevew@larichadv.com or 440.247.1060.

If you would like information on exhibiting at this conference, please contact Steve Wafalosky at stevew@larichadv.com or 440.247.1060.

If you would like information on exhibiting at this conference, please contact Steve Wafalosky at stevew@larichadv.com or 440.247.1060.

Equipment Leasing and Finance Association - Equiping Business for Success