When James Cress took over as ELFA Board Chair last October, he vowed to make two priorities the cornerstone of his chairmanship: advocacy and people.
In his telling, advocacy is the most important thing ELFA does as an organization. And, over the past year, the association has scored some major wins. From achieving historic advances in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act—with permanency for interest deducibility and 100% expensing—to putting victory within sight on Section 1071, there’s a lot to celebrate. “I’ve been personally lobbying on these issues for more than a decade now,” Cress explained. “Which makes this all the more gratifying.”
He credits the advances to a focused, yearslong lobbying campaign, increased member participation in ELFA advocacy efforts (with record-breaking turnout at this year’s Capitol Connections fly-in), and a series of strategic investments that he and ELFA president and CEO Leigh Lytle helped direct.
And those investments extend far beyond the association’s advocacy efforts. They cover a range of bets designed to build value and position members for the future, especially by investing in people—Cress’ second priority. Not only has the organization enhanced its education, training, and research capabilities, but it has helped implement equipment lending curriculum in multiple colleges and universities, drastically increased engagement opportunities for diverse earlier-stage career professionals, and doubled its sponsorship of scholarships to high-potential future industry members—several of whom were invited to ELFA’s newly launched Power of People Summit in July. It was here that Cress rolled out the next evolution of ELFA’s workforce initiatives.
“The inaugural Summit was a huge success and our mantra of Attract, Train, Retain will continue to inform how we approach the workforce into the future,” Cress said.
Line of Succession
Now, in less than a month, ELFA will continue the annual tradition of one Board Chair handing the reins to another.
As current Board Vice Chair Deb Baker looks to step into that role, what does she think of the past year?
“The theme was Investing Forward, and it seems to me that’s exactly what we’ve done—whether you’re talking about people, advocacy, technology, or even our events, which are just so much lighter, brighter, and elevated,” said Baker, who is also Head of Global Payment Solutions at HP. “You feel a general sense of uplift and improvement no matter where you look.”
QuickFi Chief Experience Officer Nate Gibbons, who will fill her Vice Chair seat (before taking the torch himself next October), agreed with Baker’s assessment. “James and Leigh helped create a new sense of awareness for what’s possible. As a result, we’ve taken some big swings and created a wave of momentum that’s benefiting our entire industry. The momentum will be critical to Deb and me as we prepare to lead our industry through rapidly changing business, technology, and social paradigms,” Gibbons remarked.
Baker and Gibbons began their involvement with ELFA through the Women’s Council and Emerging Leaders group, respectively, before going on to chair the committees and eventually join the Board. Additionally, Baker helps lead a global technology company while Gibbons is a leader of an embedded lending fintech company. These experiences have shaped both of their perspectives in terms of the future of the workforce, new technological capabilities, and what ELFA needs to do to continue to help its members prepare for an exciting future.
Looking Ahead
In terms of the road ahead, Baker plans to lay out her vision at the Annual Convention on Marco Island. But that didn’t stop her from dropping a few hints. “Moving forward, you can expect an even tighter focus on things like research, education, and the workforce—including expansion of university partnerships, which are so important for getting more qualified talent excited about our industry.” Gibbons agreed. “Our future depends on the extent to which we can dramatically improve the perception and awareness of our industry. Fortunately, I don’t think there has ever been a more exciting time to be in commercial lending and those in academia seem to be coming to the same conclusion,” he said. “So, I’m excited about what we accomplish together.”
ELFA’s incoming leadership team is clearly passionate about removing barriers and creating opportunities for emerging leaders in the industry—and Cress has vowed to support them from his continuing seat on the Board. “Deb is a great leader and she couldn’t ask for a better partner than Nate,” he said.
As for his parting thoughts as Chair, Cress also cautioned to wait for Convention. But he did offer a few thoughts. “It was a real pleasure to be able to work with Leigh in her first full year as CEO. She made a lot of important hires and built a new culture around the association. Our joint goal this year was to move from strategy to execution and put some wins on the board—and we certainly have plenty of those to celebrate,” Cress continued.
“I’m proud of what we accomplished and I know ELFA is going to be in good hands with Deb in the chair. I’m excited to see where she and Leigh take us in the year ahead.”