Meet ELFA Board Chair Mike DiCecco

Counting on DiCecco

ELFA’s New Board Chair looks forward to a year of advancing the Association’s agenda on all fronts. 

 When Mike DiCecco commits to doing something, the rest of us can breathe easy. That’s because he enjoys getting things done and tends to come out on top of whatever he attempts—even if the plan changes along the way. That’s good news for ELFA members, whom DiCecco will serve in 2022 as Chair of the Board of Directors. The story of his entrance into the equipment finance industry tells much about who this human dynamo is: 

“About 30 years ago, I signed up for a two-year training program at a bank to become a commercial loan officer,” he recalls. “Then after the first year, I was tapped to join the equipment finance group. This was because my mentor in the training program was part of this group. Interestingly enough, my mentor and several colleagues were part of the group who started Huntington Equipment Finance in 2001. It has been one of my great privileges to work alongside these incredible colleagues for the majority of my career.”

DiCecco has held many positions throughout his career, in credit, sales, sales leadership and business-line leadership. He also served as the commercial bank leader in Huntington’s Northeast Ohio region and led the commercial bank’s specialized lending businesses. Then in 2011, he was named Executive Managing Director of Huntington Asset Finance, which now includes seven businesses and has more than $20 billion in assets under management.

ELFA’s Value, Well-Articulated 

Long before this, however, DiCecco had begun his involvement with ELFA. In fact, he has volunteered and been an advocate for the Association for two decades now. “Being part of ELFA, leveraging all of its valuable tools, building a network of peers and mentors and making lifelong friends has been life-changing,” he says. “It’s added a richness to my career I never would have expected. Every year I’ve been involved, I’ve made new friends, expanded my network and grown from the contacts I’ve made—and so has Huntington Asset Finance.” 

DiCecco first became active by joining ELFA’s Bank Business Council Steering Committee, where he served for three years. In 2015, he was elected to the Board of Directors. He served until 2017 before rejoining the Board in 2018 as a Vice Chair. While on the board, he served as Board Liaison to ELFA’s Emerging Talent Advisory Council, contributing to the Council’s “Emergence” leadership development conference, regional emerging talent networking events and leadership articles and podcasts. “ELFA has prepared me and the leaders I have the honor of working with every day to make our colleagues and customers’ lives better,” he reflects. “This Association truly is like a family.”

It’s a family he has a lot of plans for. Asked about areas he will focus on as Chair, DiCecco first mentions the strengths of ELFA. “Our Association has been so resilient over the years,” he observes. “From the financial crisis of 2008 to the COVID-impacted world of the last couple of years, we have adapted, overcome and thrived with every challenge. I’m looking forward to a year of attending our conferences in person if we’re able, learning along with my peers about new ways to serve our industry and customers through digitization, and leveraging all the tools ELFA provides the industry—including the advocacy work being done on both the federal and state levels to create better outcomes for our members.”

Introducing the new ELFA Knowledge Hub at www.elfaonline.org/KnowledgeHub

Specifically, he plans to continue the Association’s advancement efforts in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. As part of this, he expects to foster growth of the ELFA Women’s Council, Emerging Talent Advisory Council and Equality Committee. DiCecco will also work to provide member companies with better access to data and analytics through ELFA’s newly created Knowledge Hub.  

“You know, many in our industry have continued to invest in their digital customer experience, and ELFA will work to offer more information and education in this area,” he says. “In addition, a lot of our operating models and historical metrics have been interrupted during COVID-19, and it’s times like these that I look to ELFA and its research, such as the Monthly Leasing and Finance Index, the Survey of Equipment Finance Activity and the What’s Hot, What’s Not: Equipment Market Forecast to help me drive our business forward,” DiCecco says.

To that end, DiCecco shot a video for the Knowledge Hub at the ELFA Annual Convention this past October. “I think it was very insightful for the ELFA staff to name the Knowledge Hub as a 2022 project,” he says. “We’ll be identifying data trends based on the new environment we’re working in, and we’ll be connecting all of it in many ways as appropriate for our members.” 

Taken together, these plans constitute a tall order for any dynamic leader. But staying busy is a large part of who DiCecco is. In his community, he serves on the Cuyahoga County Regional Advisory Board for the Boys & Girls Club of Northeast Ohio. He’s also an active fundraiser for cancer research, participating in “Pelotonia,” an annual bike ride to support research at The Ohio State Comprehensive Cancer Center. 

Yet, he somehow finds time to relax with Amy, his wife of more than 30 years, at the couple’s vacation home in Hilton Head, South Carolina. “It’s where we go and say, ‘Ahhhhhhh,’” he confides with a chuckle. “It’s our favorite place, and we go there as often as we can.” Hilton Head is also a destination for the DiCeccos’ three grown children and will likely be visited by their first grandchild, who’s on the way. Meanwhile, he and Amy reside in Cleveland, where they’ve lived for the last 20 years. But if you’re looking for him this year, you should probably call ELFA. Because as DiCecco says, “It’s a one-year position, and I intend to make the most of it.”


 DiCecco facilitated a Q&A session with keynote speaker and U.S. Air Force retired Colonel DeDe Halfhill at the 60th ELFA Annual Convention.