Wintrust Commercial Finance (WCF) promoted Ryan Berlage to senior vice president – credit manager. In this role, Berlage will provide additional management oversight over WCF’s credit, funding, and portfolio management activities. Berlage has more than 15 years of experience underwriting and funding transactions in the mid to large-ticket equipment finance market.

“Ryan’s promotion is an important step in building out WCF’s credit department,” said WCF Chief Credit Officer Paul Hallauer. “In addition to providing additional management oversight, Ryan will be responsible for training junior analysts and driving WCF’s commitment to bring younger professionals into the industry.  Ryan has demonstrated strong underwriting and documentation skills necessary to manage activities that are critical to WCF’s continued success.”

Berlage has a B.A. in finance from the University of Nebraska and has more than 15 years of business experience in the commercial finance industry. Before joining Wintrust he was senior vice president – Risk with Nations Equipment Finance and senior risk analyst with GE Commercial Finance. His prior experience included underwriting and documenting a diverse set of collateral types.