Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing Company (“SMFL”) announced it will open its U.S. business in New York  on October 1, 2014. With a starting staff of 25 professionals and housed in the world’s 16th largest bank, SMFL has its’ sights set on the U.S. construction, transportation and information technology sectors, as well as U.S. based clients of parent companies - Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Sumitomo Corporation.

In related press releases, SMFL announced the following key hires:

William (“Bill”) Mattocks has been hired as Senior Vice President, Director of Program Management. In this role, Bill will be responsible for developing deep vendor relationships with program partners in both the construction and transportation segments and for managing a team of five (5) Regional Sales & Marketing Managers. Bill comes to SMFL from Bank of the West where he served in a similar role. Bill has more than 23 years of experience in the equipment leasing and finance industry with increasing levels of responsibility at Transamerica Commercial Finance, CIT Group, Astec Financial Services, JCB Finance and Bank of the West. Bill will be headquartered out of Savannah, GA.
 
Thomas J. Pagnotti has been hired as Vice President and Northeast Region Sales Manager for construction and transportation leasing and finance. Tom comes to SMFL from Susquehanna Commercial Finance. Tom’s career in the industry spans 28 years including working for Furnival Machinery Company (a Komatsu dealership), Ingersoll-Rand Finance, Citi Capital Commercial Corporation, De Lage Landen Financial Services, Co-Activ Capital Partners, and Penn Jersey Machinery (a Volvo Construction Equipment dealer). Tom will be located in the New York branch office. His territory includes ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ, DE, MD, VA and WV.
 
Timothy Woodcock has been hired as Vice President and Midwest Region Sales Manager for construction and transportation leasing and finance. Tim comes to SMFL from Webster Capital Finance. Tim’s career in the industry spans 25 years with increasing levels of responsibility at Komatsu Financial, Concord Commercial, The CIT Group, Capital One Equipment Finance, and Connext Financial. Tim will be located out of St. Charles, IL. His territory includes ND, SD, NE, MN, IA, MO, WI, IL, MI, IN, and OH.

Jeffrey Scott Whitcomb of Batavia, IL has been hired as Senior Vice President and Executive Director at Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing. Mr. Whitcomb is a veteran of 16 years in the equipment leasing and finance industry. Mr. Whitcomb started his career as one of three founders at Captive Capital Corporation – one of the first web platforms for managing multi-lender vendor finance programs. He then led business development for the C&I team at De Lage Landen Financial Services. Finally, Mr. Whitcomb helped lead continued growth at People’s Capital and Leasing Corporation as they expanded their construction and transportation portfolios coming out of the financial crisis. Most recently, Mr. Whitcomb led the development of one of the nation’s largest providers of Compressed Natural Gas (“CNG”) for the trucking industry. ampCNG completed projects for Pepsico Frito-Lay, Dairy Farmers of America, and Subaru of Indiana Automotive. While there, his team created innovative lease programs for the larger and more costly CNG fueled class 8 tractors.
 
SMFL will be entering the construction and transportation segments just as industry growth kicks into high gear. The business has an initial team of 25 people and will grow to 85 over a three year period. The business will focus primarily on vendor originated business and will participate in syndications and portfolio acquisitions.