William Phelan is one of the nation’s leading experts on credit for private businesses and serves as General Manager of PayNet, Inc. an Equifax Company. Phelan has grown PayNet into a major provider of credit assessments on privately held businesses by building one of the largest proprietary databases of commercial loans and leases in the U.S. and Canada. Phelan oversees PayNet’s sales, marketing, analytics and information technology functions across these markets.

In addition, he serves on several boards various industry associations such as the Innovative Lenders Platform Association, The Canadian Finance and Leasing Association, and is a member of the Small Business Council at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He is formerly a board member of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association and the Seventh District Advisory Council on Agriculture, Small Business, and Labor.

His expertise has been quoted by national media outlets in Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Business News, CNBC, FOX Business News and Associated Press.

As the nation’s leading small business credit expert, he regularly speaks at national events including: House Committee on Small Business, United States House of Representatives, Risk Management Association national conferences; National Association of Development Companies Conference; Equipment Leasing and Finance Association industry conferences; the Canadian Finance & Leasing Association, Lendit USA, Lend360 and Synovus Business Banking C&I Forum. He has published articles in the RMA Journal, Journal of Equipment Leasing.

Prior to co-founding PayNet, he managed investments for Trustmark Insurance Company in Lake Forest, IL. He previously worked at Dain Rauscher Securities, Ernst & Young and IBM. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Carleton College, an MBA from Loyola University Graduate School of Business and the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.