Signature Bank announced that several new professionals joined both the Bank’s specialty equipment finance subsidiary, Signature Financial LLC, as well as its asset-based lending (ABL) group.

Signature Financial, which has a direct sales team of 30 professionals across the country, named Bobby Briggs, Chris Byrnes, Jamie Halas and William Osmun, Jr., each to the post of vice president - executive sales officer.

Equipment Finance Hires

Briggs has nearly 20 years of experience in the transportation specialty finance industry.  Most recently, he was general manager and sales manager at Southwest International Trucks, Inc., a commercial truck dealership with six locations throughout Texas.  In addition, Briggs also was president and sales manager of commercial truck rentals and leasing in the fleet arena for the company’s truck leasing arm, Southwest Idealease.  Earlier, Briggs worked in sales at Navistar Financial, a subsidiary of Navistar, a leading manufacturer of commercial trucks, buses, defense vehicles and engines, where he handled debt and lease financing for clients located in North Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and New Mexico.  Briggs will be based in Fort Worth.

Byrnes, who possesses two decades of transportation-related finance experience, recently worked as business development manager for Engs Commercial Finance, originating commercial equipment leases and loans, primarily for trucks and trailers, and as vice president at MB Equipment Financial, with a similar focus on commercial equipment leases and loans.  Prior, he was vice president at Bancorp South and GE Capital, serving in commercial equipment finance roles at both companies. He also was a regional sales executive at Navistar Financial, originating commercial equipment leases and loans, servicing fleet and transportation clients.  Byrnes’ office will be in St. Louis.

Halas brings 16 years of experience in finance and underwriting to Signature Financial.  He spent most of his career -- nearly 15 years -- at GE Capital Corp., in roles of increasing responsibility.  Most recently, Halas was senior vice president-sales in corporate finance covering the tri-state area of Connecticut, N.Y. and N.J., handling direct originations of tax, synthetic, capital leases and term loans.  Halas will office out of Bethel, Conn.

Osmun is a seasoned finance expert with a career that spans 40 years.  Most recently, he spent 12 years as vice president and regional manager at Fifth Third Bank in its Equipment Finance Group overseeing all new business development and direct marketing for California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii.  Prior, he spent 16 years at Banc of America Leasing & Capital, LLC, in Los Angeles as vice president and senior leasing specialist.  Osmun will work from an office in Mission Viejo, Calif.

Asset-Based Lending Hires

On the asset-based lending side, three professionals were named to this group, headed by Robert Love, Senior Vice President and Group Director, to fuel future growth.  Each will be based at the Bank’s ABL offices in midtown Manhattan.

John Butera was named business development officer, bringing 25 years of ABL industry expertise to the Bank.  Most recently, Butera was a director at Capital One Leverage Finance in Melville, N.Y. for 12 years, where he focused on growing the ABL portfolio through marketing, underwriting and funding transactions.  Prior, Butera was vice president of ABL syndications at Transamerica Business Capital Corporation of Rye, N.Y. for three years, handling coordinated marketing and underwriting efforts of new senior-secured syndicated ABL transactions.
       
Philip Carfora joins the ABL team as portfolio manager and new business underwriter.  A 35-year industry veteran, Carfora spent the past 18 years at GE Capital, most recently as team leader and senior vice president for asset-based lending in New York City, where he managed a team of professional account managers and underwriters specifically for asset-based transactions.  Earlier, at GE, Carfora held the roles of vice president, account manager and underwriter for asset-based lending. 
            
Tom Morante was named underwriting officer-vice president for the ABL group, a role in which he will underwrite new asset-based lending opportunities and provide additional support in account management and for other risk function activities.  Previously, Morante spent more than 16 years at GE Capital, most recently as vice president – portfolio and underwriting, where he was responsible for underwriting and closing new asset-based lending opportunities and portfolio management of accounts. He also handled related regulatory matters and other risk function activities. 
           
“As we further strengthen and broaden our business capabilities, we are pleased to continue to attract some of the best talent in equipment finance and the ABL arenas.  These professionals seek to join our institution based on our strong reputation for consistently delivering high quality service to our clients.  We welcome our new banking and finance professional colleagues to the Signature Bank network,” said Joseph J. DePaolo, president and chief executive officer at Signature Bank.
            
Walter Rabin, president and chief executive officer at Signature Financial, added:  “With the addition of these four new industry veterans, the sales force for both Signature Financial’s specialty finance subsidiary and Signature Public Funding Corp. has now grown to 30 executive sales officers nationwide, which includes 25 that specialize in equipment finance, two that are dedicated to franchise finance and three focused on our public funding services offering.  On the heels of our four-year anniversary, the strength, breadth and depth of our team continues to give us a strong footprint nationally, as we further identify opportunities to add talent and expand our reach across the various industries we serve.”
            
Love, who previously worked with each of the professionals added to his team thereby enabling him to identify their specific and complementary talents, discussed these appointments:  “The experts who are joining our ABL team bring more than 75 years of combined ABL-related experience to the Bank.  With the addition of these seasoned team members of asset-based lenders, we continue our strategy of responsible growth by improving our front-end origination efforts while strengthening our credit group.”