Wintrust Commercial Finance (WCF) announced the creation of a new business group, Commercial Dealer Services (CDS). CDS will focus on delivering financial products to large franchised truck and trailer dealerships who then provide full-service financing and other ancillary services, including full maintenance leasing and daily rentals, to their customers, primarily for Class 6, 7, and 8 trucking assets.

To execute this initiative, WCF has hired a team of seasoned professionals led by Mike Jones as Senior Vice President and Group Head of Business Development. Joining Jones are Joel Ruf, Vice President of Business Development; Steve Perry, Vice President of Business Development; Jeff Utech, Vice President of Credit; and Maria Sanchez, Senior Operations Analyst.

“We think this team is a natural expansion of our current WCF services,” said Kirk Phillips, President and Chief Executive Officer of Wintrust Commercial Finance. “We’re excited about the group we’ve welcomed to launch this new platform. Under Mike’s leadership, we’re confident the CDS team will expand our product offering by providing capital to OEM transportation dealers to support their lease and rental fleets coupled with exemplary customer service that our clients have come to know and expect.

“Wintrust has been a leader in providing financing solutions to their commercial clients for almost a decade, and it’s exciting to be able to hit the ground running with a new financing partner to our clients,” said Jones. “The group we’re bringing over to launch CDS has worked together for years and has the background and expertise to support the franchised commercial truck & trailer dealerships and full-service leasing companies across the U.S. It’s an exciting time to be joining Wintrust and we look forward to growing CDS together.”

WCF most recently celebrated its ninth anniversary. WCF has originated more than $4.7 billion in new business volume for its customers since its inception. WCF is part of Wintrust Financial Corporation.