5 Minutes with the Captive & Vendor Finance Chair

WHAT'S HAPPENING in the captive and vendor finance sector of the equipment finance space? Equipment Leasing & Finance magazine caught up with Jayma Sandquist, Chair of the Captive & Vendor Finance Business Council Steering Committee (BCSC), to take the pulse of this sector. Sandquist, Chief Marketing Officer at John Deere Financial, is currently serving her first year as Chair of the committee, which engages financial services organizations providing sales-assisted financing, vendor- and manufacturer support activities, either on a third-party or captive basis.

How did you get involved with the Captive & Vendor Finance BCSC?

 I started to engage with the Captive & Vendor Finance BCSC as a colleague from Deere rolled off the BCSC and recommended my participation. After being involved for the last year, I was asked to chair the BCSC. I’m super excited for the opportunity to continue to engage with this great team of professionals. 

From your perspective serving on the committee, what issues are businesses in the captive and vendor finance sector focused on this year?

As we kicked off 2021 in January, the first order of business was to understand what the members want to get out of the council. If we can tackle one meaty topic at each of our monthly meetings that hits on the most important items for our members, we will be successful. 

There are several themes that emerged that we will plan to take on and each of these topics will be exciting discussions for us to engage in:

• COVID-19: We want to connect with one another about the ongoing implications of the pandemic—to our customers, our workforce and our plans for returning to normalcy.
• Talent: What is the face of our work force of the future; how do we attract the best talent; and what role do diversity, equity and inclusion play in recruiting and retention?
• Value: For the Captives in the group, how do we measure value for the parent; for the Vendor finance companies, how do we sell the value of incentive finance?
• Managed Solutions: What will the market demand in use-based business models look like—everything as a service—and how will we manage risk and support  customer needs?
• Technology: How will digitalization and technology change our business? What role will AI and machine learning play in equipment leasing and finance?
• Benchmarking: What are the right KPI’s to manage our companies, capabilities and success?

2021 should be very exciting!