The equipment leasing and finance industry is often described as the “one-trillion-dollar industry that no one has ever heard of,” and that’s because, for most members, finding a job in our industry was more of a coincidence than a plan. I’m a good example of that. While I was earning an undergraduate degree in finance and an MBA, equipment financing was never mentioned as a career option. If not for a chance personal connection I made near graduation, my career would have taken a different turn. Many industry members – perhaps you – have a similar story. This is a unique situation considering the magnitude of annual economic output of the equipment leasing and finance industry.
Many people in our industry are retiring, and over the past decade, not enough young people are coming into the industry to address both the retirements and the annual growth.
The Emerging Talent Advisory Council (ETAC) was formed in 2015 to help the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) and the industry solve a specific problem: more senior leaders were retiring than young people – emerging talent – were entering the industry.
ETAC’s mission is to:
- Enable the advancement and development of emerging talent
- Encourage emerging talent to become involved within the industry and association early on in their careers
- Drive diversity, equity and inclusion in the industry
In 2022, ETAC continued to fulfill its mission by accomplishing multiple initiatives, such as organizing and facilitating Emergence2022, hosting a variety of in-person and virtual networking events, and generating a robust library of career development content available to everyone in the People Power section of ELFA’s website.