Career Pathways:: Focusing Your Route to Success

If you could access free-of-charge, five-star educational and professional-development resources any time you want them, you’d probably want to know how, right? If these resources could also be customized to your role and level in the equipment finance industry, we’re thinking you’d want to know even more, so here’s the scoop:  

As an employee of an ELFA-member company, you have complete access to a cradle-to-grave executive leadership development program that can educate and prepare you for management in any area of the industry. Whether you’re new to the business, entering senior management or at any level in between, ELFA has the courses, conferences, webcasts, podcasts, publications and networking opportunities to help you advance step by step through your career and prepare you for leadership. 

Improved Guidance and Navigation

The material in the program is not new, but the framework and organization of the material is. Now called “Career Pathways,” this large and growing compendium of resources is easier to access, understand and use. 

“ELFA has always offered learning experiences covering most facets of the enterprise, such as equipment management, operations and technology, legal, and accounting-treasury,” says Ralph Petta, President and CEO. “And while we’ve never marketed or packaged these offerings as a comprehensive leadership development program, that is in fact what they are. Career Pathways is a major benefit of ELFA membership, and we want to be sure members are aware of this.”

Xiang Ji, Commercial Risk Senior Manager at Toyota Commercial Finance, began attending ELFA events that are now part of Career Pathways five years ago when she began managing people. “Toyota is a huge company, and Commercial Finance alone has about 180 employees,” she relates. “Most of my peers were more experienced than I, so my training needs were unique. I started acquiring knowledge and professional skills through ELFA, getting involved in activities and committees to understand the industry better. One thing built on another, and I’ve been promoted two times since then.”

Ji thinks Career Pathways’ repackaging of material into individual learning tracks for each role is an important improvement. “There’s a tremendous amount of educational information on ELFA’s website, and without a framework, it can be hard to navigate,” she says. “Now all of these tools are in one place where you can see them and follow one path specifically or explore parts of several. The one-pagers for each job type help you stay focused.”

A Career-Long Companion

Chris Maudlin, Senior Vice President and COO of Wintrust Specialty Finance, says the information and developmental opportunities in the program have helped advance him through his entire equipment financing career. “I began working with Dave Normandin 10 years ago at a small bank,” he recalls. “We’d both come from the Independent sector, and this was my first experience in banking. We attended the ELFA Funding Conference together, and it was eye-opening. I was in my early thirties, new to the banking sector, and here were all of these executives from top banks and independents in one place! Just seeing the types of people and organizations in attendance spoke volumes about ELFA.” 

 The following year, Normandin encouraged Maudlin to go to ELFA’s Credit & Collections Conference. He went, and came back energized. “At conferences, you learn from your peers and discuss current issues, and this time I gained a lot of knowledge and came back with loads of notes, phone numbers and new contacts,” says Maudlin. “My confidence was growing with every conference I attended, because I was meeting and learning from people who were at the top of the class!”

At that same conference, Maudlin approached the head of risk at a major bank to ask questions. “He was so willing to speak with me,” Maudlin remembers. “And afterward, when a new risk challenge came up in our organization, I emailed this leader to ask how he had managed similar situations. To my surprise, he set up a call with me and then provided invaluable mentorship and insight into his similar experiences. If I had just called the offices of these men and women and asked to speak with them, I’d probably never have gotten through. But here they were at an ELFA conference, where they were giving back! I was so fortunate.”

Dave Normandin, who is now President & CEO of Wintrust Specialty Finance, remembers Maudlin’s experiences almost as well as Maudlin, because he was Chris’s boss at the time and steered him to ELFA. “Chris has come a long way in his career in a relatively short time, and we both give ELFA a lot of credit for that,” says Normandin. “I believe educating your team is a form of compensation, because it makes them more valuable to you and to themselves for the rest of their careers. The more they learn, the smarter they get, the better they understand the problems they’re trying to solve, and the better they find better solutions. Anyone can work somewhere for 80 hours a week, but without professional development, what value is being added to their knowledge and skills?”

A Manager’s Tool

Mike DiCecco, ELFA Board Chair and Executive Managing Director of Huntington Asset Finance, agrees with Normandin and says Career Pathways is as important to company leaders as to those at other levels. “Until now, I think a lot of our member colleagues had been trying to figure out their own paths, and whatever hit their radar was where they might start,” he says. “Now they can see the whole road ahead. This is a continuum of progressive development opportunities that help advance an equipment leasing professional through the industry and a career. The new organization of the material is helpful to managers, too, as they create career development pathways for their colleagues. Managers at my company are now looking at this with colleagues who’ve asked about their next phase. We see the courses and activities as stepping stones to advancement.” 

It’s important to note that while the collection of learning assets at ELFA has a long history, the tools in the collection have increased significantly in just the last few years. “New opportunities for growth and member engagement can be found in the Women’s Council and Emerging Talent Advisory Council, and an inaugural Equality Forum will take place this fall as part of ELFA’s focus on diversity,” Petta observes. “The Association’s new Knowledge Hub has also become a premier source of business intelligence on the industry in one centralized location, and our podcasts and webinars feature conversations and interviews with equipment finance leaders,” he says, adding, “Layer all of these tools into our longstanding conferences and education and training offerings, such as our online and in-person ‘Principles of Leasing,’ ‘Fundamentals of Equipment Leasing and Finance,’ and ‘Understanding the Master Lease Agreement,’ then organize them into specific career roadmaps, and this is Career Pathways.” 

“ELFA’s program is not simply instructors with materials,” adds Maudlin. “ELFA has the people you want to meet in the roles you aspire to achieve in your career, and you have opportunities to meet and network with them. It’s always been important for me to have access to people who are experts in their fields, and that’s what ELFA is great for. Personal interaction is a big part of professional growth.” 

ELFA endorses one outside education program, the Certified Leasing & Financial Professional program taught by the CLFP Foundation. “We’re firmly behind the CLFP program for people seeking a certification saying they’ve been exposed to a body of knowledge that helps them advance in their careers,” says Petta.

“What distinguishes ELFA is its focus on belonging to and involvement in the broader equipment finance community. Not only does the Association offer events, classes and opportunities to learn substantively what it takes to be a leader in our industry, members actually rub shoulders with people in the discipline.”

Maudlin is in full agreement. “It’s one thing to learn about a topic, it’s another to be able to start building relationships and a contact list you’ll use throughout your career,”  he says.

Internal Value through Outside Learning

DiCecco says what ELFA has done with Career Pathways creates broader and richer conversations. “When we describe it here at ELFA, we say that this is a leadership tool, a management tool and a tool for career development,” he says. “But I think a big piece of the magic happens when people can clearly see all that’s available to them and then choose where they want to go.”

To that end, DiCecco emphasizes that Career Pathways should not be mistaken for training. “Too often people think of training as something you do only when you’re starting your career, and this is much, much more than that,” he says. “This program is not so much a rebranding or repackaging as it is a revelation of all the professional development and leadership tools we’re pulling together.” 

Ji talks about the value of learning and networking outside your organization. “Every company has its own corporate culture and management style, and understanding them is an important part of your job,” she says. “But when you go to ELFA events, you’re exposed to diversity of thought and culture—and you can’t get that from your own company. Each person at an ELFA event represents a company that is successful for a reason, and your involvement helps you understand the industry better. ELFA is about building relationships externally and internally. I think that’s the most important thing I’ve gotten from my journey.”

Normandin can relate. “Sometimes you can get so focused on solving a task that you no longer understand why you’re doing it,” he notes. “Bringing in new voices, new angles and new ways to do things can heighten your awareness and enhance your performance. The best minds in the business are there in ELFA, so you’d be crazy not to learn from them to get better at what you do.”

If there’s a footnote to add concerning Career Pathways, Petta has this one: “To be clear, ELFA-member companies pay annual dues and in exchange, receive access to all that Career Pathways has to offer—including attendance at events at a member discount.  This is part of the value proposition we offer all ELFA members. You simply will not find that anywhere else.”

Meanwhile at Wintrust Specialty Finance, Maudlin is transitioning from his position in credit and collections to his new post as COO. You can detect enthusiasm when he says, “Because I’m comfortable meeting people and putting myself out there, I had asked how I could participate on ELFA’s Credit & Collections Committee, and after a few years, I was fortunate enough to be invited to join. Every year I served brought more experience and satisfaction in giving back through serving on that committee.” Then he chuckles and says, “This year, I’m going to the Operations & Technology Conference for the first time—and you can bet I’m going to take the same approach!”

Why I’m Excited About Career Pathways

Members speak out about ELFA’s new leadership development roadmap.