NEW YORK … July 13, 2016 … Signature Bank (Nasdaq:SBNY), a New York-based full-service commercial bank, announced today that several new professionals joined both the Bank’s specialty equipment finance subsidiary, Signature Financial LLC, as well as its asset-based lending (ABL) group. Signature Financial, which has a direct sales team of 30 professionals across the country, named Bobby Briggs, Chris Byrnes, Jamie Halas and William Osmun, Jr., each to the post of vice president - executive sales officer.
Briggs has nearly 20 years of experience in the transportation specialty finance industry. Most recently, he was general manager and sales manager at Southwest International Trucks, Inc., a commercial truck dealership with six locations throughout Texas. In addition, Briggs also was president and sales manager of commercial truck rentals and leasing in the fleet arena for the company’s truck leasing arm, Southwest Idealease. Earlier, Briggs worked in sales at Navistar Financial, a subsidiary of Navistar, a leading manufacturer of commercial trucks, buses, defense vehicles and engines, where he handled debt and lease financing for clients located in North Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and New Mexico. Briggs will be based in Fort Worth.
Byrnes, who possesses two decades of transportation-related finance experience, recently worked as business development manager for Engs Commercial Finance, originating commercial equipment leases and loans, primarily for trucks and trailers, and as vice president at MB Equipment Financial, with a similar focus on commercial equipment leases and loans. Prior, he was vice president at Bancorp South and GE Capital, serving in commercial equipment finance roles at both companies. He also was a regional sales executive at Navistar Financial, originating commercial equipment leases and loans, servicing fleet and transportation clients. Byrnes’ office will be in St. Louis.
Halas brings 16 years of experience in finance and underwriting to Signature Financial. He spent most of his career -- nearly 15 years -- at GE Capital Corp., in roles of increasing responsibility. Most recently, Halas was senior vice president-sales in corporate finance covering the tri-state area of Connecticut, N.Y. and N.J., handling direct originations of tax, synthetic, capital leases and term loans. Halas will office out of Bethel, Conn.
Osmun is a seasoned finance expert with a career that spans 40 years. Most recently, he spent 12 years as vice president and regional manager at Fifth Third Bank in its Equipment Finance Group overseeing all new business development and direct marketing for California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii. Prior, he spent 16 years at Banc of America Leasing & Capital, LLC, in Los Angeles as vice president and senior leasing specialist. Osmun will work from an office in Mission Viejo, Calif.
On the asset-based lending side, three professionals were named to this group, headed by Robert Love, Senior Vice President and Group Director, to fuel future growth. Each will be based at the Bank’s ABL offices in midtown Manhattan.
John Butera was named business development officer, bringing 25 years of ABL industry expertise to the Bank. Most recently, Butera was a director at Capital One Leverage Finance in Melville, N.Y. for 12 years, where he focused on growing the ABL portfolio through marketing, underwriting and funding transactions. Prior, Butera was vice president of ABL syndications at Transamerica Business Capital Corporation of Rye, N.Y. for three years, handling coordinated marketing and underwriting efforts of new senior-secured syndicated ABL transactions.
Philip Carfora joins the ABL team as portfolio manager and new business underwriter. A 35-year industry veteran, Carfora spent the past 18 years at GE Capital, most recently as team leader and senior vice president for asset-based lending in New York City, where he managed a team of professional account managers and underwriters specifically for asset-based transactions. Earlier, at GE, Carfora held the roles of vice president, account manager and underwriter for asset-based lending.
Tom Morante was named underwriting officer-vice president for the ABL group, a role in which he will underwrite new asset-based lending opportunities and provide additional support in account management and for other risk function activities. Previously, Morante spent more than 16 years at GE Capital, most recently as vice president – portfolio and underwriting, where he was responsible for underwriting and closing new asset-based lending opportunities and portfolio management of accounts. He also handled related regulatory matters and other risk function activities.
“As we further strengthen and broaden our business capabilities, we are pleased to continue to attract some of the best talent in equipment finance and the ABL arenas. These professionals seek to join our institution based on our strong reputation for consistently delivering high quality service to our clients. We welcome our new banking and finance professional colleagues to the Signature Bank network,” said Joseph J. DePaolo, president and chief executive officer at Signature Bank.
Walter Rabin, president and chief executive officer at Signature Financial, added: “With the addition of these four new industry veterans, the sales force for both Signature Financial’s specialty finance subsidiary and Signature Public Funding Corp. has now grown to 30 executive sales officers nationwide, which includes 25 that specialize in equipment finance, two that are dedicated to franchise finance and three focused on our public funding services offering. On the heels of our four-year anniversary, the strength, breadth and depth of our team continues to give us a strong footprint nationally, as we further identify opportunities to add talent and expand our reach across the various industries we serve.”
Love, who previously worked with each of the professionals added to his team thereby enabling him to identify their specific and complementary talents, discussed these appointments: “The experts who are joining our ABL team bring more than 75 years of combined ABL-related experience to the Bank. With the addition of these seasoned team members of asset-based lenders, we continue our strategy of responsible growth by improving our front-end origination efforts while strengthening our credit group.”
Briggs resides in Fort Worth, Texas and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in business administration from Texas Tech University. He is a member of the Texas Trucking Association (TXTA) and the Associated General Contractors of Texas (AGC).
Byrnes lives in Ofallon, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from University of Illinois and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Keller Graduate School of Management in CITY. He is a member of the Association for Capital growth, Springfield Area Motor Carriers, Missouri Trucking Association, Illinois Trucking Association and Ducks Unlimited.
Halas, a resident of Bethel, Conn., earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in business administration from SCHOOL. He is a member of the Hundred Club of Connecticut, a charitable, non-profit, tax exempt organization, which provides financial assistance to families of police officers, correction officers and firefighters who have died in the line of duty.
Osmun, of Mission Viejo, Calif., earned three degrees from his alma mater, Syracuse University: Bachelor of Science, Business Administration; Bachelor of Science, School of Journalism; and, Masters of Science, Marketing/Advertising. Butera of Huntington, N.Y., earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the College of Business Administration at St. John’s University in Queens, N.Y. He is a member of the Turnaround Management Association and the Commercial Finance Association.
Carfora, of Pelham, N.Y., holds a Bachelor’s of Business Administration degree in accounting from Pace University and is vice president of fundraising for the Pelham Civic Association, a non-profit organization in his community and member of the Commercial Finance Association.
Morante, of Wayne, N.J., earned a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Bentley College in Waltham, Mass. and is a member of the Commercial Finance Association.
About Signature Financial and Signature Bank
Signature Financial, LLC is a specialty finance subsidiary of Signature Bank, dedicated to equipment finance and leasing, transportation financing, franchise finance and commercial marine finance. Signature Financial operates from 29 locations throughout the country.
Signature Bank, member FDIC, is a New York-based full-service commercial bank with 29 private client offices throughout the New York metropolitan area, including those in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Westchester, Long Island, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island and Connecticut. The Bank’s growing network of private client banking teams serves the needs of privately owned businesses, their owners and senior managers. Signature Bank offers a wide variety of business and personal banking products and services. Its specialty finance subsidiary, Signature Financial, LLC, provides equipment finance and leasing. Signature Securities Group Corporation, a wholly owned Bank subsidiary, is a licensed broker-dealer, investment adviser and member FINRA/SIPC, offering investment, brokerage, asset management and insurance products and services. Since commencing operations in May 2001, the Bank has grown to $34.90 billion in assets, $25.04 billion in loans, $28.11 billion in deposits, $3.37 billion in equity capital and $5.20 billion in other assets under management as of March 31, 2016. Signature Bank's Tier 1 and risk-based capital ratios are significantly above the levels required to be considered well capitalized. Signature Bank ranked sixth on Forbes’ Best and Worst Banks in America 2016 list and third on leading trade journal Bank Director’s 2015 Bank Performance Scorecard for banks with assets between $5 and $50 billion. For more information, please visit www.signatureny.com.
This press release and oral statements made from time to time by our representatives contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are subject to risks and uncertainties. You should not place undue reliance on those statements because they are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties relating to our operations and business environment, all of which are difficult to predict and may be beyond our control. Forward-looking statements include information concerning our future results, interest rates and the interest rate environment, loan and deposit growth, loan performance, operations, new private client teams and other hires, new office openings and business strategy. These statements often include words such as "may," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," “potential,” “opportunity,” “could,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “will,” would,” "plan," "estimate" or other similar expressions. As you consider forward-looking statements, you should understand that these statements are not guarantees of performance or results. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements and can change as a result of many possible events or factors, not all of which are known to us or in our control. These factors include but are not limited to: (i) prevailing economic conditions; (ii) changes in interest rates, loan demand, real estate values and competition, any of which can materially affect origination levels and gain on sale results in our business, as well as other aspects of our financial performance, including earnings on interest-bearing assets; (iii) the level of defaults, losses and prepayments on loans made by us, whether held in portfolio or sold in the whole loan secondary markets, which can materially affect charge-off levels and required credit loss reserve levels; (iv) changes in monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. Government, including policies of the U.S. Treasury and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; (v) changes in the banking and other financial services regulatory environment and (vi) competition for qualified personnel and desirable office locations. Although we believe that these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, beliefs and expectations, if a change occurs or our beliefs, assumptions and expectations were incorrect, our business, financial condition, liquidity or results of operations may vary materially from those expressed in our forward-looking statements. Additional risks are described in our quarterly and annual reports filed with the FDIC. You should keep in mind that any forward-looking statements made by Signature Bank speak only as of the date on which they were made. New risks and uncertainties come up from time to time, and we cannot predict these events or how they may affect the Bank. Signature Bank has no duty to, and does not intend to, update or revise the forward-looking statements after the date on which they are made. In light of these risks and uncertainties, you should keep in mind that any forward-looking statement made in this release or elsewhere might not reflect actual results. # # #