Axis Capital, Inc. (Axis), a subsidiary of Amur Finance Company, announced the promotion of Michael Karman to the newly created position of Chief Commercial Officer. Karman joined Axis Capital in 2014 and most recently served as the company’s President of Eastern Region Sales. Prior to joining Axis, Karman was Senior Vice President at Ascentium Capital, where he oversaw the origination of over $100 million in equipment financing. Previously, Karman also held various executive positions with New York-based Greystone & Co and AT&T Capital.

“Michael is a 30-year industry veteran with an exceptional track record of success, including creating a number of equipment finance companies that exceeded $350 million in origination volume,” said Mostafiz ShahMohammed, Axis’ Chairman and CEO. “His broad array of talents is invaluable for Axis, so of course we are thrilled to leverage more of his expertise in this important new role as we continue to expand the business.”

Last month, Axis announced that the company increased its origination volume from $132.2 million to $213.0 million, representing a 56 percent increase between 2014 and 2015, and was ranked number 7 in the Monitor list for 2015. This new position is designed to bolster the current leadership team as the company executes strategic growth inititives.

Karman said, “I am honored to be appointed to this new position at Axis and eagerly look forward to continuing to focus on building a sustainable and scalable model for business growth.”

In his new role as Chief Commercial Officer, Michael will be responsible for overseeing Axis’ planned expansion of national sales divisions and vendor-based relationships, explore new market opportunities, and contribute to the build-out of an industry-leading transaction management infrastructure.