Equipment Finance Cares (EFC) held an event last week, at Great American Insurance Group’s headquarters in Cincinnati, OH. Over 40 equipment finance professionals attended, representing 26 different organizations.

 “We were excited to kick off EFC’s first event of 2022,” said Jesse Johnson, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for JDR Solutions and founder of Equipment Finance Cares. “Great American Insurance did an amazing job hosting, and we were able to showcase seven charities and foundations affiliated with the equipment finance industry.”

The program offered two industry thought-leading panels. Sean McKenna, Sales Executive at Great American Insurance Group, moderated the Emerging Talent Advisory Council panel which featured, Lexie Dressman, CLFP - Huntington Equipment Finance; William Mennesson, CLFP - AP Equipment Financing’ Steven Holben, CLFP - ENGS Commercial Finance; and Ricky Rios, CLFP - Commercial Equipment Finance Inc. The second panel on best practices was moderated by Johnson and featured Nancy Robles - Eastern Funding; RJ Grimshaw - Unifi Equipment Finance; Bob Rinaldi, CLFP - Rinaldi Advisory Services; Ed Rinaldi - PNC Equipment Finance; and Liz Rinaldi - Leaf Commercial Finance.

 Panel discussions touched on topics such as the great resignation, hiring and maintaining workforce retention, mental health of employees, the new office environment (onsite/hybrid/remote), what the younger generation is looking for in an employer, how to engage the younger workforce, how to incentivize younger talent, and the best ways to recruit and retain younger talent.

The foundations that were showcased during the event were: Operation New Uniform, The Cincinnati Nature Center, The Ridgewood School, Construction Angels, Love Life Now Foundation, Equipment Lease & Finance Foundation, and the Chris Walker Education Fund.  

Attendee Quotes

“The EFC event in Cincinnati was indeed the perfect mix of EF industry education with clear focus on the humanistic side of EF, learning about several successful foundations, and a fun outing at the Reds game.” - Scott Thacker, Ivory Consulting Corporation

“This event provided a great forum to learn, connect and engage with individuals from the industry.” - Chad Sluss, NEFA

“I was grateful to have the opportunity to discuss some of the things that affect individuals in our industry and the foundations that are available to help.” - Aimee Jackson, Great American Insurance Group

The next Equipment Finance Cares event will be on Tuesday, June 21 and will be hosted by Honour Capital at the Midland Hills Country Club in Roseville, MN. If you are interested in hosting, being on a panel or sponsoring a future EFC event reach out to Jesse.Johnson@consultdisrupt.com