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Richard Benson
Specialty Finance Group LLC

Richard Benson is a widely published author on securitization and specialty finance, and a sought-after speaker at financing conferences on raising equity for mid-market finance companies. He is also the author of "Benson's Economic and Market Trends", a newsletter highlighting the economy and world events that greatly influence our financial future. Prior to founding the Specialty Finance Group in 1989, Richard acted as a trading desk economist for Chase Manhattan Bank and started in the securitization business in 1983 at Bear Stearns. He helped build the early securitization business at Citibank and E.F. Hutton. Richard graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1970 in the Honors Program in Math, and did his doctoral work in Economics at Harvard University. He is a member of the Harvard Club of New York.

John Boettigheimer
4 Hour Funding/Centra Funding LLC

John Boettigheimer brings 29 years of experience in the leasing industry. He received a degree in Economics and Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1983. In late 1984, he started and developed Pioneer Capital Corporation. In 2004, IFC Credit Corporation purchased Pioneer Capital, at which time John started Centra Financial Corporation as an investment vehicle. In 2008 another corporate entity - Centra Leasing, Inc. was created to handle all leasing activities. In 2014, Centra introduced the equipment financing industry’s first truly all-electronic signing process. 

Chuck Brazier 
TradeRiver USA     

As Vice President of Sales and Marketing for TradeRiver USA, Chuck Brazier is responsible for sales and new business development. With over 30 years experience in the equipment lease and trade finance industries, his broad experience ranges from creating strategic funding alliances to establishing organizational processes and leading organizational restructuring efforts. As a senior officer in both private and public sector corporations, Chuck has led strategic planning, managed diverse businesses, led implementation of vital credit risk policies and overseen funding/syndication policies and booking procedures.  Chuck is a strong advocate for on-going professional engagement within the industry and a strong supporter of professional networking and mentoring.  

Charles (Bud) Callahan, Jr., CLFP, BPB 
National Equipment Leasing, Inc.     
        
Bud Callahan started his career in the automotive industry in 1968, where he achieved the Ford Motor Company’s Grand Master Sales Award five years in a row. He started Ambassador Financial Services a decade later, and then returned to the automotive industry as a new car sales manager, vice president and general manager. In 1998 he joined the leasing industry once again as vice president and general manager of Dellen Financial Corporation, which became National Equipment Leasing, Inc. in 1999 with Bud as president, a role he remains in to this day.
 

Tina Cawthorn, CLFP
Orange Commercial Credit

Tina began in the equipment finance industry in the 1980’s with Colonial Pacific Leasing. In 2000 she accepted a position with Textron Financial’s vendor division in a credit capacity. A few years later she transitioned into Textron’s Asset Based Lending Group, which provided ABL and factoring products. In 2009 she accepted her current position as a Business Development Manager with Orange Commercial Credit, which provides invoice factoring services. TIna has earned her CLFP certification and currently serves on committees in the leasing industry associations.

Timothy Daum
Plan B Capital Group

Since completing his education in Political Science from the University of Calgary, Timothy Daum has started and successfully sold many businesses and for the past ten years has owned Plan B Capital Group, a North American commercial lease finance company. He currently serves as a Director at Large on the NAELB Board of Directors and also serves on the board of the Ottawa Community Loan fund, a non-profit organization that loans monies to small businesses and entrepreneurs to help them accomplish their dreams and drive the economy of Canada’s capital city.

Gary Greene, CLFP
Lease $mart

Gary Greene has been in the lease brokerage business since 1984, working for three other leasing companies before starting Lease $mart in Tucson, AZ in 1988. His business is high-volume, handling primarily small ticket 'application only' transactions, mostly driven by vendor referrals and repeat transactions within his lessee client base. Lease $mart has been a broker member of NAELB since 1996. Gary holds both CLFP and BPB designations, and was previously a member of the NAELB Board of Directors. He operated Lease $mart from the mountains of western Panama in 2013-2014, but is now a resident of Ocala, FL.

Bryan Inman got his start in the equipment leasing industry in 1997 with Premier Lease & Loan Services, a Division of Great American Insurance. He has held various positions in product management, marketing, sales and business development with the primary focus being on strategic development and execution of insurance programs and services for commercial leasing and finance organizations and their originators. These programs manage risk, add value, reduce costs, expedite funding and generate fee income. Bryan is currently serving as Business Development Manager for the Originator Insurance Program and management of the strategic partnership between Great American and instaCOVER, LLC.  Bryan has been involved in various industry panels/roundtables, committees, as well as authoring articles for industry publications. He works closely with the association committees to assist in producing informative sessions, workshops and industry networking events.

David Marsh has an extensive and diverse background in business and finance.  He holds a B.S. in mathematics and economics and a M.S. in management information services. He has taught business and economic classes at Central Community College and has held adjunct teaching positions at UNK and Tabor College. He was the manager of accounting for the Vertical Turbine Pump Division of Ingersoll Rand and his banking career spans 20 years, where he held positions of Vice-President, Executive Vice-President and President at four different institutions. He has had exposure to commercial, agriculture, FSA and SBA lending. He also holds his Series 6 & 66 securities licenses. He founded AmericALease.com, an equipment lease finance company and became member of NAELB in 1996. Additionally he has been the Director of DSF LLC, a captive manufacturing equipment finance company for the past 13 years.

Ms. Miller serves as Co-Founder for Marketing Design Mix with creative design, development and management of all direct and digital marketing clients. Ms. Miller brings over 16 years of marketing and management experience with companies such as CG Commercial Finance, Regents Capital, AAA, Ancestry.com, and as Creative Director for Hewlett-Packard Company. Ms. Miller is the author of 3 books with Random House and has 34 appearances to date on national television. Ms Miller holds an MBA with Marketing emphasis, Bachelors in Graphic Design, and both CLFP and Financial Markets certifications. Her business partner, husband and best friend for over 32 years, John Miller call Southern California home along with their 3 sons, 3 cats, 1 dog and 1 parrot (as well as finches, bluebirds, towees, doves, bluejays, squirrels, hawks and owls in their backyard; just not all at once).

ABC Leasing & Financing

Gerry Oestreich entered the equipment leasing business in 1979. He opened a new office for Beneficial Commercial Corp, who had just purchased Parliament Leasing and worked for them until opening his own brokerage. In the 1990’s he became one of the founding members of the NAELB and later served as president of the Board of Directors. He sold his business to First Niagara in 2004 but later started ABC Leasing & Financing, which he currently runs out of his home in New York. Gerry recently brought his son Gregory into the business and is passing on his knowledge to the next generation.

Chris Park, CLFP
Dakota Financial

Chris Park has been with Dakota Financial since 2004. He started as a Credit Analyst, and after 13+ years has worked his way up to become Head Babysitter. Chris enjoys spending time with his wife, 2 children and their bulldog Lil Lo. In his free time, he enjoys practicing Brazilian jiu jitsu. As you can see from the size of his waistline, he does not have that much free time to pursue his hobbies.

Adam Peterson
Channel Partners Capital

Adam Peterson is a Board Member and co-founder of Channel Partners. He serves as Head of Sales for Channel and oversees the external and internal sales efforts of the company including managing and training account executives, developing and responding to partner referral program requests, developing new products and driving the database marketing activities. Under his sales direction, the business has written over 4,000 loans for over $250 million.  

Ted Reynolds
TEAM Funding Solutions

Ted Reynolds has been active in the equipment leasing industry since 1987. He is the founder of TEAM Funding Solutions, which started in 1992. Ted’s company owns and manages a multi-million dollar portfolio of equipment lease contracts. TEAM’s unique niche fulfills equipment financing for brand new businesses and weaker credit business owners throughout the United States. Ted has been a serial business owner for his entire life. He started a furniture business while in college in 1977, owned a real estate company and health club, and worked 3 years as a business broker which turned into multiple years of lending his own money to business owners for their business equipment leasing needs. He is also a veteran of The Alternative Board, a business coaching organization.

Pete Sawyer, CLFP
Sun South Equipment Leasing

Pete Sawyer, CLFP and President of Sun South Equipment Leasing, Inc., has been in the finance industry for 30 years, the last 25 in equipment leasing. Pete began his career in accounting and collections and becoming a commercial lender with a community bank. Pete entered the equipment leasing industry in 1990. He is a past president of the NAELB.

Jeff Schubert
RapidAdvance

Jeff Schubert is the Director of Strategic Partnerships for RapidAdvance and he concentrates his efforts supporting equipment leasing brokers and lessors with a variety of working capital products for their customers. Jeff has been in the equipment leasing industry for over 30 years and owned his own leasing company (American Bank Leasing) for 10 years. He has also held management and business development positions with Engs Commercial Finance, Element Financial Corp., Bulldog Asset Management, CitiCapital, Lease Plan USA and Eastman Kodak Credit Corporation.

Lisa Whitehead, CLFP
First Foundation Bank

Lisa is a 30 year industry veteran, working on both the Broker/Third Party Originator (TPO) and Funder sides. Her current role is to work with TPOs, the primary growth engine for First Foundation Bank’s Equipment Finance Department, as well as FFB’s Private Baking Officers to grow and service the equipment finance and leasing needs of their customers and prospects. Prior to taking on this role, Lisa served as Operations Manager for Pacifica Capital in San Juan Capistrano where she was responsible for credit, documentation and funding, was a Documentation & Funding Director as well as holding several other customer service, loan processing and credit positions within the commercial finance industry. Lisa graduated from California State University, Fullerton with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications/Public Relations.