CIT Group announced that CIT Capital Equipment Finance made several key appointments designed to further build a best-in-class originations team focused on creating tailored capital equipment financing solutions for middle-market companies.

“I am very pleased to announce the appointment of these industry leaders to CIT Capital Equipment Finance,” said Eric Miller, Group Head and Managing Director, CIT Capital Equipment Finance. “In addition to the deep industry relationships and market expertise these seasoned veterans bring to our team, the elevation of several key members and further expansion of our group will enable us to build a best-in-class originations team committed to meeting the capital equipment financing needs of the middle market. These strategic appointments will expand our direct originations platform and allow us to offer large ticket equipment financing solutions across the entire United States and deliver strong value to our customers.”

The key origination appointments include:

• Steve Bander, Director: Bander is responsible for originations for the Midwest region of the U.S. Prior to joining CIT, he held positions of increasing responsibility at U.S. Leasing Corporation, Heller Financial, Lendx, Merrill Lynch Capital, GE Capital Corporation and Huntington Equipment Finance.
• Jason Fronheiser, Director: Fronheiser is responsible for originations for the Southwest region of the U.S. Prior to joining CIT, he held positions of increasing responsibility at Fifth Third Bank and GE Capital Corporation where he focused on business development and relationship management and providing equipment finance and working capital solutions to middle market and large companies.
• Brandon L. Hannaman, Director: Hannaman is responsible for originations for the Western region of the U.S. He previously served as Senior Vice President at GE Capital Corporation where he covered Northern California and Hawaii specializing in leases and loans for middle market companies. Hannaman has additional financing experience in corporate aircraft, real estate and corporate lending.
• Michael Tornichia, Director: Tornichia is responsible for originating large ticket equipment leasing and lending relationships, as well as project finance-related activities within the Northeast region of the U.S. He previously served as Senior Vice President at GE Capital Corporation and held positions of increasing responsibility at Bank of America and Nations Equipment Finance.
• Edward Ciccone, Director: Ciccone joins CIT as Director and Head of Underwriting for Capital Equipment Finance. Previously, Ciccone was with GE Capital Corporation for 23 years, where his experience included equipment financing, corporate aircraft financing, franchise finance, cash flow lending and credit rating methodologies. He also retains 15+ years of experience in leadership roles, the vast majority of which involved leading and developing credit/underwriting teams.
• Scott Schumacher, Vice President: Schumacher is responsible for Asset Management reporting to Kelly Lane, who was recently promoted to Director and Head of Asset Management. Schumacher previously served as Vice President at SunTrust Equipment Finance, where he performed Asset Management duties as well as Key Equipment Finance in Superior, Colorado. He has experience in a wide variety of equipment including rail, transportation and intermodal assets. Schumacher is currently based in Atlanta, but will be relocating to Dallas, Texas.

In addition, Kevin Ronan was appointed Director, Buy-Desk to originate transactions through financial intermediaries. He will work with Rob Seltzer, who was recently named National Sales Manager. Ronan has more than 25 years of experience in the equipment finance industry and has held various sales leadership roles at GE Capital and RBS Citizens Asset Finance. He received his BA from Pace University.

CIT Capital Equipment Finance is a leading provider of equipment financing solutions for middle-market companies in a wide range of industries. CIT Equipment Finance specializes in providing equipment loans and leases for transactions ranging in size from $5 million to approximately $100 million and more.