Meet the New ELFA Board Chair

Bob Neagle on Strengthening the Beacon that Guides ELFA Members

If you meet Robert “Bob” Neagle at a networking event, finding a conversation topic likely won’t be an issue. The new ELFA Board Chair not only has more than 30 years of senior management experience in the equipment finance industry. He also is an amateur food critic and golfer who earned a Ph.D. in 18th century English literature. So, he is just as comfortable chatting about sauces, or golf, or the works of Jonathan Swift as he is about current industry conditions.

Neagle’s extensive career experience includes roles at leading industry companies. He is currently President and CEO of Finova Capital, LLC, which he founded in July 2021. Prior to launching his latest venture, he led his previous business, Ascentium Capital Merchant Finance, for more than five years. He has also held leadership positions at the First Data Global Leasing unit at First Data (now Fiserv) and finance units at Bell Atlantic Capital (now Verizon), among others. While at AT&T Capital, he launched a franchise finance business that provided U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), construction, real estate and enterprise value lending programs. As a longtime association volunteer, Neagle has served on the ELFA Board of Directors since 2016. 

Working with a committed ELFA staff and board

Now, Neagle brings his multifaceted background to lead ELFA. He says he’s ready to continue the tradition of excellence created by the leaders before him. “The association has a long history of helping members respond to peaks and valleys in the economy,” he says. So, while members may face lingering pandemic disruption, higher interest rates and other challenges, ELFA is an important resource. After all, the association has helped members weather the Great Recession and periods of inflation and high interest rates in the past, he says.

To give members the support they need, ELFA has a number of existing initiatives designed to help strengthen the organization and the industry as a whole. Neagle plans to maintain the strong momentum of these programs—including the new Knowledge Hub center for business intelligence and the Career Pathways leadership development program—by relying on the skills and experience of a great Board of Directors. After all, notes Neagle, “The Board is made of up of members who volunteer to have an impact on the association.”  

The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation is also prepared to make a difference, says Neagle. Specifically, he points to the Foundation’s Industry Future Council, which predicts trends, as well as Foundation research, which helps members understand current and future market conditions that may affect their businesses. “Looking back over what the Foundation has done over the past 10 years, it’s all been connected to the evolving state of the world,” he says.

Another one of Neagle’s priorities is to support and expand initiatives designed to attract a broader, diverse pipeline of talent to the industry. He favors building upon current success and momentum to engage women, underrepresented candidates and emerging talent in the early stages of their careers. “I think there’s an opportunity for the association to support younger people, and more diverse people, with meaningful and affordable training,” he says. “The Board has spent time discussing career development initiatives linked to that end that we plan to put in play.” 

Some of the efforts that Neagle mentions align with his background as a college professor and his love of education. He notes that the Board likes the idea of making ELFA events more affordable for and accessible to young people. In addition, he points to the development of digital options as an opportunity to expand training access and help more people develop their careers in equipment leasing and financing. 

Neagle hosting a Q&A session with keynote speaker Peter Zeihan at the ELFA Annual Convention.

Remembering a legend

When Neagle reflects on his unlikely entry into the industry and his longtime involvement with ELFA, he thinks of his mentor, Equipment Finance Hall of Fame member and former Chair Bob Stubbs, who passed away in January 2020. Neagle started working for Stubbs’s company as “a grunt,” he says. After he read the company newsletter, Neagle went to the accounting department and found out how much the firm was paying a New York City agency to produce it. He wrote to Stubbs and offered to write it for half the price.

From that point on, Stubbs became a mentor to Neagle. When Stubbs sold his company to Bell Atlantic (now Verizon), Stubbs entrusted Neagle with training roughly 600 salespeople. “That’s how I learned the business, by putting together a training manual and then delivering it,” he recalls. Eventually, he saw how lucrative sales positions could be and gravitated to that side of the business. 

Creating a legacy 

More recently, Neagle’s work has had a concentration in the small business sector where relationships are crucial, he says. “In my 30 years in equipment financing I have seen how important relationships are,” he says. “In the payments industry, you end up having even more meaningful personal relationships with clients. I have had numerous clients for more than 15 years in this space. You get to help, grow with them and enjoy the journey,” he says. 

Neagle with fellow Board member and former ELFA Women’s Council Chair Deb Baker at the ELFA Annual Convention.

Neagle is also devoted to his family, which includes his wife Marilyn, four children, 11 grandchildren and two more grandchildren on the way. The family vacations together often, enjoying hiking and boating, and sometimes enjoying the benefits of their patriarch’s cooking classes. “I am quick to point out that while I enjoy food and cooking classes, Marilyn will tell you truthfully that I don’t cook as much as I should,” he says. 

Two of Neagle’s sons are U.S. Marines. At a Basic School graduation ceremony that Neagle attended, a colonel with decades of experience addressed the crowd by saying, “You probably wonder what we do here at the Basic School at Quantico…. We make leaders who inspire me.” That comment resonated with Neagle, and he hopes to do the same in his company and in the association, by drawing young leaders into the industry. Perhaps one of them will turn out to be the next Bob Stubbs, making a difference in an association and industry that have been so good to him. 

“Imagine some guy with a PhD in 18th century literature coming into an equipment financing business and being around caring people who coached me, encouraged me and challenged me,” he muses. “They were there to help when I stumbled and explain why I tripped. It was a remarkable, absolutely remarkable experience.” And now, Neagle wants to do the same thing for the next generation of ELFA members.

Neagle advocating for the equipment finance industry at Capitol Connections with former ELFA Board Chairs Dave Schaefer and Adam Warner.