The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation (Foundation) announced the officers of its Board of Trustees who will serve in 2018. Board Officers serving are Jeffry Elliott, Senior Managing Director, Huntington Equipment Finance, as Chairman; Scott Thacker, Chief Executive Officer, Ivory Consulting Corporation as Vice Chairman; Vincent Belcastro, Managing Director/Group Head, Corporate Equipment Finance, Santander Bank Equipment Finance, as Treasurer; Ralph Petta, President, Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) as President; and Paul Stilp, VP, Finance and Administration, ELFA, as Secretary. The officer elections were held during the Board of Trustees’ Annual Meeting.

William Verhelle, Member, Harvard Partners LLC, is Immediate Past Chairman and Martha Ahlers, President, United Leasing & Finance, will serve as liaison to the Foundation from ELFA’s Board of Directors.

The new members appointed to the Foundation Board of Trustees include: Donald Link, Vice President and General Manager, Medium & Small Ticket Finance Division, Hitachi Capital America Corp.; Thomas Petersen, Executive Vice President, Wells Fargo Equipment Finance; Nancy Pistorio, President, Madison Capital LLC; and Thomas Ware, Senior Vice President, Analytics and Product Development, PayNet, Inc.

“The 2018 Board brings a wealth of professional expertise and leadership experience to their role as Trustees,” said Jeffry Elliott. “We are grateful for their commitment to serving the Foundation and the equipment finance industry.”

Other 2018 Trustees are:

• Jeffrey Berg, Executive Vice President- North America, DLL
• Katie Emmel, Chief Operating Officer, International Decision Systems
• Eric Hanson, Senior Managing Director, Macquarie Capital Advisors
• Randy Haug, Executive Vice President and Vice Chairman, LeaseTeam, Inc.
• James Johnson, PhD, Professor of Finance, Northern Illinois University
• Bonnie Michael, Vice President, Legal and General Counsel, Volvo Financial Services
• Gordon Scott, Vice President, CDK Financing Solutions
• Kelli Nienaber, Executive Director, Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation

Steven R. LeBarron Award

Outgoing Foundation Research Committee Jeffry Elliott honored Scott Thacker, Chief Executive Officer, Ivory Consulting Corporation, with the Steven R. LeBarron Award for Principled Research during the Foundation’s Annual Research Planning Meeting, which was held along with the Annual Board Meeting. Thacker has been a dedicated leader of numerous research project steering committees, including Big Data, Predictive Analytics, Applied Economics, and the recently-released video on emerging technology. The Steven R. LeBarron Award is presented annually to the Research Committee member who demonstrates the insight, fortitude, and dedication exemplified by LeBarron.