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Andrew G. Mesches, a consultant for The Alta Group, and well-regarded for his accomplished career and extensive knowledge in credit and risk management, shares his thoughts on lessons learned from the Great Recession and assessing risk during this post-recession recovery period.

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(Source: www.monitordaily.com)

The selection for this award is made by the advisory board of Leasing News. Publisher Kit Menkin said Alta consultants on the advisory board refrained from voting to ensure impartiality in determining this year’s winner.

Past Leasing Persons of the Year:

 
2005—Paul Menzel, CLP, ELFA direct presented UAEL
2006—Paul Larkins, ELFA past pres. presented ELFA Management Conf.
2007—Randall Brook, FTC Senior Atty, NorVergence NVLA Conf.
2008—Bob Teichman, CLP, Chairman, Leasing News, NEFA Conf.
2009—Ralph Petta, CAE, presented management conference, ELFA
2010—Curt Ritter, dir. ext. internal communication/media, CIT

The award will be presented to Deane personally at an industry meeting. The date and location will be reported when determined.

Webinar Registration – Cloud Computing >

Financing for cloud computing represents a sizeable opportunity for the nimble as the new market is estimated to grow to $32.3 billion by 2015, according to the Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation which issued “Financing the Cloud—a Market Study.” However, it will require a level of flexibility that goes beyond common financing programs in the marketplace today. Contracts will need to change, portfolios will behave differently, and the risk profile will be unique, said Melisa Carter, a consultant with The Alta Group. She is a panelist in the ELFA webinar on this subject Nov. 2.

Cloud computing is a service that involves offering information technology applications via the Intranet or Internet and may or may not include equipment. It is equipment agnostic said Carter.

She suggested that technology and office leasing companies may be the most comfortable with this entirely new area of business because the financing model could, in part, be structured like the pay-per-copy model used in copy machine financing. The difference is that there is little or no underlying equipment for collateral, Carter explained.

Carter also noted that captives are already preparing for this new area of business as well.
The webinar panel also features two presenters from Key Equipment Finance: Warren Edris, vice president of IT Asset Management and Mic Mount, senior vice president/chief credit officer. Attendees will learn about the differences between private and public clouds, the legal, tax, and accounting considerations, and how financing is likely to be structured.

Webinar Registration – Cloud Computing >

ELFA 50th Anniversary Report >

(www.leasingnews.org/archives/Oct2011/10_24.htm#elfa)

Hugh Swandel, senior managing director of Alta in Canada, finished the grueling Chicago Marathon October 9 on a mission: to raise funds for cancer research in honor of Chris Walker, a veteran of the leasing industry. Leasing News reported that the American Cancer Society recognized Swandel for the most funds raised by an individual at the marathon, a feat made possible by donations from many leasing colleagues. Click here for the full story.

RENO, NEVADA, OCT. 10, 2011—Hugh Swandel, a managing director of The Alta Group, is the newly elected president of the National Equipment Finance Association’s (NEFA) board of directors. The NEFA is a U.S.-based association of equipment finance and leasing professionals. The announcement was made at NEFA’s annual funding conference held in Minneapolis, Minn. in late September.

Swandel heads the Canadian division for Alta, the global consultancy exclusively focused on equipment leasing and finance. He is a trusted advisor on business development, funding, and mergers and acquisition strategy.

Prior to joining The Alta Group, Swandel founded Swandel and Associates. Earlier in his career, he served as president and chief operations officer of Electronic Financial Group (EFG), a Canadian company that built and launched a multi-lending, web-based credit system. Swandel previously worked closely with Bruce Kropschot on mergers and acquisitions in North America and became involved with The Alta Group when Kropschot joined the consultancy.

In his new role as NEFA president, Swandel said he will help the association emerge from the credit crisis era. He also hopes to provide enhanced opportunities for the next generation of leaders while catering to the educational and networking needs of brokers and lessors who make up this community of business professionals.

“What makes NEFA unique,” said Swandel, “is how tight the community of smaller leasing companies and brokers are, and how dedicated they are to building the best companies possible.” Attendance at the last NEFA meeting was up 50 percent, he added.

Swandel has been an active member and board member of NEFA since it was formed from the merger of two regional leasing associations. Prior to that the consolidation, he was active in the UAEL. Swandel is also on the board of the Toronto-based Canadian Finance and Leasing Association, where he earned distinction as “Member of the Year” for his service work in 2006 and again in 2010. Swandel also is a member of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA), based in Washington, D.C., and has extensive contacts throughout North America.

“We are confident Hugh will provide the continuity of leadership and direction this organization needs,” said Gerry Egan, executive director of NEFA. “NEFA remains robust,” Egan added, “and its members are arranging for or providing funding and strategies for business growth, despite uncertainties in the global economy.”

Media Contact:

Susan Carol
540-361-1274
sca@scapr.com

The Alta Group has gained a new consultant, Bob Neptune, a leader in governmental leasing and former president of De Lage Landen Public Finance. Neptune is helping expand Alta’s advisory services for companies involved in state, municipal, and federal leasing, CEO John C. Deane said.

“Governmental leasing is an area of opportunity that companies want to re-enter, but doing so successfully requires knowledge of the domain,” Deane added. “This has been a specialty of Bob’s for decades.”

Neptune said some companies that shed their governmental leasing programs following the economic downturn in 2008 are returning to the market.

“There was a huge slowdown from 2009 to 2010, but companies are starting to get back in,” Neptune explained. “Governmental leasing is a niche business where the portfolios are generally very clean, which makes them easy to service or easily sold.”

Serving in recent years as an industry consultant, Neptune was president of De Lage Landen Public Finance from 2005-2008. There, he helped integrate new products into eight separate business units and, in late 2008, structured and sold one of the largest municipal lease securitizations in recent history. He was president of ORIX Public Finance from 2001-2005 until De Lage Landen took over ORIX’s governmental leasing business. Earlier in his career Neptune held senior executive positions at Transamerica Public Finance, Heller Public Finance, and Chrysler Capital Corp.

He is on the board of directors of the Association for Governmental Leasing & Finance, a former member of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) Public Finance Policy Committee, and former chairman of the Municipal Leasing Industry Committee of the AAEL (now the ELFA).

Neptune is based in Kansas City, Missouri.

About The Alta Group

The Alta Group is the equipment leasing and finance industry’s preeminent global consultancy, offering clients the unique combination of experience, expertise and executable counsel. The more than 80 executives worldwide have held senior management positions in public and private equipment leasing companies, manufacturers, banks and other financial services institutions. The Alta Group’s major practice areas include mergers and acquisitions; vendor and captive finance; legal support services, professional development; and management consulting. The firm is observing its 20th anniversary in 2011. To learn more, please visit www.thealtagroup.com.

MEDIA CONTACT

Susan Carol, APR
Susan Carol Associates
+1 540 361 1274
sca@scapr.com

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Article Source: LJN Equipment Leasing Newsletter