Arvest Equipment Finance (AEF) closed more than $161 million in new production in 2018, a record total for the division of Arvest Bank, it announced.

That represents a 52 percent increase in gross production year-over-year.
   
“I am proud of this team accomplishment and excited about our future growth,” AEF President Eric Bunnell said. “John Bradford, AEF Sales Manager, has done an excellent job leading the sales team in this record production. We continue to see strong support from the commercial lenders throughout the bank footprint and increase our presence in their markets.

“The vendor production also continues to grow as we expand our external sales team and work with more dealers to offer financing solutions for their customers.”
   
AEF also increased its total portfolio from $248.6 million to $310.1 million – a 24.7 percent jump – from 2017 to 2018.

Promotions
Additionally, AEF announced promotions for Matt Crawley, John Harders and Josh Smith.

Crawley, a Certified Lease and Finance Professional (CLFP), was named Division Control Manager after serving since 2011 as AEF’s Asset Manager. In his new role, he will oversee the compliance, controls and audits, among other responsibilities.

Harders, CLFP, who has served as an AEF Sales Support Specialist since 2009, was promoted to operations manager. Harders will manage AEF’s bank sales support specialists in his new role.

Smith was promoted from Vendor Sales Support Specialist to Vendor Program Manager. He will oversee AEF’s vendor operations while managing the vendor sales specialists and administrators. Smith, CLFP, has been with AEF since 2015.

“These three managers will help guide and lead our team to continued growth,” Bunnell said. “It is always satisfying when we can promote from within”

AEF has its headquarters in Fort Smith, AR, with locations in Little Rock, AR; Kansas City, MO; and Tulsa, OK, and does business throughout Arvest’s four-state footprint.