During the 61st Annual Convention of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA), the association announced its new Board of Directors and Officers who will serve during the next 12 months. Robert Neagle, President and CEO, Finova Capital, LLC, is the new ELFA Board Chair and Robert Boyer, CLFP, President, First Commonwealth Equipment Finance, is now Chair-Elect. The Chair-Elect and new Board members were recommended by ELFA’s Nominating Committee and approved by a vote of the general membership.

“It is my honor to serve as the Board Chair of ELFA and to represent the interests of our member companies, the staff of the association and its Board,” said Neagle. “For more than 60 years our member companies have supported the financing goals of business owners, both small and large, through a host of business cycles. Equipment finance has always been a critical part of our economy and will continue to support businesses of all sizes through these potentially challenging post-pandemic times.”

“As ELFA begins to implement a new long-range strategic plan in the year ahead, we are fortunate to have a member volunteer like Bob Neagle as Chair of our Board of Directors,” said ELFA President and CEO Ralph Petta. “Bob’s industry knowledge and commitment to our association will have a positive impact on both our membership and the equipment finance industry at large.”

Neagle has more than 30 years of senior management experience at leading payment and equipment leasing and financing companies. As President and CEO at Finova Capital, LLC, he brings his vision for how merchant acquirers can serve their merchants’ financing needs. Before launching Finova, Neagle founded and led the merchant finance team at Ascentium Capital. He previously led the First Data Global Leasing unit at First Data (now Fiserv). Prior to that, he served as the senior leader for finance units at Bell Atlantic Capital (now Verizon), as well as AT&T Capital, where he launched a franchise finance business that provided SBA, construction, real estate and enterprise value lending programs.

As a valued member volunteer, Neagle has served on the ELFA Board of Directors since 2016. He currently is a member of the Board’s Executive and Nominating Committees. He also has served as Board Liaison to ELFA’s Small Ticket Business Council Steering Committee (BCSC) and as a member of the Captive and Vendor Finance BCSC. In addition, Neagle has been active with the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation, serving two terms on the Board of Trustees, and as a member of the Foundation’s Finance Committee, Nominating Committee, Research Committee and Editorial Review Board for the Journal of Equipment Lease Financing. He is also a longtime donor to the Foundation.

Neagle earned a Ph.D. from Loyola University Chicago.

2023 ELFA Board of Directors

The newly elected members of the ELFA Board of Directors include:

• David Drury, President, Senior Vice President, Group Head, Fifth Third Bank, National Association
• Brian Eschmann, CLFP, President, Northland Capital Equipment Finance
• Michael Jones, President, Business Capital, CIT
• Brad Peterson, Chief Operating Officer, Channel
• Jayma Sandquist, Chief Marketing Officer, SVP JDF US & CA, John Deere Financial
• Nick Small, VP, Finance Shared Services, Cisco Systems Capital Corporation

The following individuals were elected by the membership to serve as ELFA Vice Chairs: Deborah Baker, Head of Worldwide Leasing and Financing, HP Inc. and James Cress, Vice President & General Manager, Stryker Flex Financial. Daniel Krajewski, Executive Vice President, Equify Financial LLC, will serve as Treasurer.

Ed Rosen, ELFA’s Director of Governance, will serve as Secretary and Ralph Petta, ELFA President and CEO, is an Ex-Officio Officer.

Mike DiCecco, Executive Managing Director of Huntington Asset Finance, is Immediate Past Chair. Other members of the Board are:

• Jon Biorkman, U.S. Managing Director and Head, BMO Equipment Finance, BMO Harris Equipment Finance
• Kathleen Canum, Senior Vice President, Administration, Canon Financial Services, Inc.
• Debra Devassy Babu, Shareholder, Darcy & Devassy PC
• Mark Duncan, EVP and Chief Operating Officer, Mitsubishi HC Capital America
• David Farrell, Managing Director - Head of Capital Markets, Bank of America Global Leasing
• R.J. Grimshaw, President & CEO, UniFi Equipment Finance
• Amy Gross, EVP, Key Government Finance
• Eric Gross, COO, Dext Capital
• Kirk Phillips, President & CEO, Wintrust Commercial Finance
• Ricardo A. Rios, President & CEO, Commercial Equipment Finance, Inc.
• Barry Ripes, SVP, Financial Services Leader, Equifax
• Michael Romanowski, President, Farm Credit Leasing
• David Verkinderen, CLFP, SVP, Office Equipment & Manufacturing Vendor Services, U.S. Bank Equipment Finance
• Robert Wax, Co-President, Kingsbury Wax Bova