About 100 top leaders from ELFA member companies convened at a series of best practices roundtables in Chicago on April 23. The roundtables, held immediately preceding the National Funding Conference, brought together leaders of bank, captive and vendor finance, and independent companies to discuss the issues they are facing and to learn from one another how each is addressing the issues. Members of the respective Business Council Steering Committee planned the programs.

The roundtables kicked off with a joint general session led by ELFA staff. President/CEO Woody Sutton welcomed the group, Andy Fishburn, VP of Federal Government Relations, presented a federal public policy update, and Chief Operating Officer Ralph Petta shared the latest news on the lease accounting project. Then, Bill Phelan and Tom Ware of Paynet shared industry lending data.

Joint general session

After the joint session, the participants split into three roundtables to address key issues of concern.

Bank Roundtable

Bank roundtable

More than 30 executives from ELFA-member bank leasing companies participated in this roundtable, sponsored by PayNet. Facilitated by Charles Wendel, President of FIC, the roundtable focused on the following issues:

• Lease accounting
• What are independents seeing from their customers and how does that impact the funding they will need? (Panel discussion led by Kiran Kapur of GSG Financial and Jim Recker of TIP Capital)
• New entrants in the market
• Compensation
• Best practices in vetting potential new customers

Captive and Vendor Finance Roundtable

Captive and Vendor Finance Roundtable

Individuals representing more than 20 captive and vendor finance companies participated in this roundtable, sponsored by the Alta Group and facilitated by former ELFA Chairman Joe Lane. The roundtable featured lively discussions among the participants on the following topics:

• Between vendor finance and captives, what are common issues (such as regulatory and accounting) and where may there be differences?
• Is there an evolution of “true captives” as customers seek more multi-brand solutions?
• Is there an evolution from pure equipment leasing to service contracts and “bundling”?
• Regulatory requirements have put pressure on “sales treatment,” which has put pressure on captive financing. How has this affected the playing field between Captives and Vendors?
• What are the “drivers” of the business, and what are the metrics for measuring success?
• How are companies addressing the “graying of the industry”, and the resulting need to stimulate interest among new talent?
• How is technology affecting the way captives and vendors conduct business?
• What new trends or developments have appeared that might change the way you are doing business? How are you responding?

Independent Roundtable

Independent Roundtable

More than 25 executives from independent finance participated in this roundtable, sponsored by Genpact and facilitated by David Mirsky, Chair of the Independent Middle Market BCSC. The key topic areas discuss included:

• Best practices in recruiting, hiring and retention, led by Larry Hartmann of ZRG Partners
• Panel discussion with bank leasing executives, led by Brian Griffin of MB Financial and Jeffry Elliot of Huntington Bank
• Best Practices in Innovation and Technology, led by Michael Donnary of Capgemini.

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