ELFA Convention Recap
By Bruce Kropschot, Senior Managing Director, The Alta Group

The 63rd annual convention of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association was held at the JW Marriott Hotel in downtown Austin, Texas from Sunday, Oct. 27th through Tuesday, Oct. 29th. Sunday’s activities were described in my article in Monday’s Leasing News.

Donna Yanuzzi of 1st Equipment Finance received the Michael J. Fleming Distinguished Service Award

After Sunday’s sporting, community service and social activities, attendees were ready on Monday to participate in informational and educational activities. The day began with the opening general session. ELFA Board Chair Robert Boyer reported on important ELFA activities during the past year, including the hiring of Leigh Lytle as ELFA President and CEO. He reported that the preliminary attendance at the convention was 1,155, the highest attendance in the past 20 years. He also announced the following ELFA awards: Tony Golobic of GreatAmerica Financial Services and Bruce Kropschot of The Alta Group were inducted into the Equipment Finance Hall of Fame and Donna Yanuzzi of 1st Equipment Finance received the Michael J. Fleming Distinguished Service Award.

The keynote speaker at the general session was Peter Zeihan, who identifies himself as a geopolitical strategist. His presentation style was entertaining and provocative. Using a number of graphs, he compared population age demographics of the US with other major countries and projected how the growing number of retired people in these countries will impact their economies and cost of capital. He predicted that China would have a political and economic collapse within 10 years. He expected that the major disruption in China’s economy would require the US to double its industrial growth plans, which will be difficult because of shortages of electricity and labor. He concluded that North Carolina could have the best combination of industrial space, labor force and electricity to take advantage of the need for more industrial capacity. The Arizona to Colorado corridor could also have good industrial growth opportunities, but Texas, which has plenty of space for industrial expansion, will have its industrial growth limited by its inadequate power grid.

Both Monday and Tuesday had four concurrent one-hour issue breakout sessions in the morning and afternoon. These 16 sessions provided all attendees with educational programs that could be valuable in their businesses and were organized in three tracks: Financial & Operational Strategies and Insights, Tech Innovation & Emerging Trends and Policy, Legal & Regulatory. Because more than 1 of the 4 concurrent breakout sessions could be of value to some attendees, recordings of the sessions will soon be available to all registered convention attendees.

There were also short Hub Experience presentations on a variety of topics by ELFA members and others in a corner of the exhibit hall. These talks were during break times during which many attendees visited the exhibit hall.

There were approximately 50 exhibit booths in the exhibit hall. Exhibitors included software providers, insurance providers, portfolio servicing companies, providers of credit information, funding sources and equipment appraisal and remarketing companies. The opening reception, breakfasts and coffee breaks were held in the exhibit hall to maximize the opportunities for exhibitors to discuss their services with other attendees. Exhibitor Randy Haug of LTi Technology Solutions was very pleased with the opportunities for representatives of his company to interact with customers and potential customers. In addition to attendees walking by their booth, LTi met with many attendees who had scheduled meeting times in advance. The exhibit hall was clearly a place where those attendees in need of certain services could obtain helpful information from knowledgeable exhibitors.

The Monday luncheon commenced with a description of the research projects and other activities of the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation and an acknowledgement of those companies and individuals who had contributed to the Foundation during the year. The ELFA also announced its new board of directors and officers on Monday. The new Board Chair is James Cress of Flex Financial, Stryker and the Chair-Elect is Deborah Baker of HP, Inc.

Oscar Munoz (right), former CEO and Chairman of United Airlines and ELFA President Leigh Lytle

The Monday luncheon keynote speaker was Oscar Munoz, former CEO and Chairman of United Airlines. ELFA President Leigh Lytle provided Mr. Munoz with a variety of questions about the airline and his life experiences, which included a heart transplant. His answers were very detailed about his experiences in turning around an airline that was in financial trouble with unhappy employees and had 8 CEOs in the 10 years prior to his joining the company. Particularly interesting were his description of how he obtained employee support and his discussion of how he came from meager beginnings to become the first Latino CEO of a major airline.

As is typical at ELFA conventions, there is no program on Monday night. The evening is kept free for private entertaining and company-sponsored receptions.

ELFA President Leigh Lytle gave her President’s report at the Tuesday morning general session. After nearly 1 year with ELFA, she discussed her agenda to move the association to the next level. As a newcomer to equipment finance, she has become very impressed with the equipment finance industry and its important role in the US economy. In considering the role of ELFA, she will initially focus on advocacy, data research and industry awareness.

The keynote speaker for Tuesday’s general session was Amy Walter, a prominent political analyst who is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of The Cook Political Report and a regular contributor to PBS NewsHour. Her talk centered on the Presidential election, which she viewed as too close to call and the results of which will not be known on election night. She also answered questions submitted by attendees and selected by Andy Fishburn, ELFA Senior VP for Public Policy.

The convention concluded with a closing reception and dinner on Tuesday night at an attractive outdoor event venue a short bus ride from the convention hotel. Upon arriving, attendees were greeted with margaritas and other libations. Typical of Austin’s well known music scene, a band played throughout the evening. The meal was a very tasty Texas barbeque buffet. After 3 busy days, attendees were happy to have a relaxing time socializing with friends and business relationships.

ELFA conventions always have good programs and are very well planned. Thus, it is not surprising that some attendees have already put on their calendars the 64th annual convention at the JW Marriott in Marco Island, Florida from Oct. 26-28, 2025.

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Chesswood Group Limited Files BK
It Looks like the End of Chesswood Group
and Their Canada and United States Companies
By Christopher Menkin, Editor

Re: Chesswoood Group Limited, et. al.
Debtors in a Foreign Proceeding 
Chapter 15
Case No. 24-12454  (2354 (CTG)
(Joint Administration Requested)

Chesswood - Combined Agenda  Notice of First Day Hearing.pdf

*Included in this report is Chesswood's Press Release, the same day of filing BK. Their view of what has and is happening. It is long.

FTI Consulting Canada Inc. / Chesswood Group Limited

On October 29, 2024, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Commercial List) (the "Court") issued an order (the "Initial Order") commencing proceedings under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-36, as amended (the "CCAA") in respect of Chesswood Group Limited, Case Funding Inc., Chesswood Holdings Ltd., Chesswood US Acquisitionco Ltd., Pawnee Leasing Corporation, Lease-Win Limited, Windset Capital Corporation, Tandem Finance, Inc., Chesswood Capital Management Inc., Chesswood Capital Management USA Inc., Rifco National Auto Finance Corporation, Rifco Inc., Waypoint Investment Partners Inc. and 1000390232 Ontario Inc. (collectively, the "CCAA Parties").

The Initial Order granted, among other things, an initial stay of proceedings in favour of the CCAA Parties until and including November 8, 2024, which may be extended by further order of the Court from time to time. FTI Consulting Canada Inc. is the Court-appointed monitor (the "Monitor") of the CCAA Parties.

A hearing to consider certain additional relief in respect of the CCAA Proceedings is scheduled for November 7, 2024 (the "Comeback Hearing").

For additional information, please contact the Monitor using the contact information below:
Local Number: 1-416-649-8103
Toll Free Number: 1-833-440-8545
Email: chesswood@fticonsulting.com

Source:
http://cfcanada.fticonsulting.com/chesswood

It should be noted: on October 11, 2024, investor Shane McCormick launched a shareholder class action, which the law firm McCarthy Tétrault accepted service for Chesswood Group.  Information about the shareholder class action can be viewed at this link, https://bergermontague.ca/cases/chesswood-group-limited/. 

Full Chesswood Press Release: PDF

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New Hires/Promotions in the Leasing Business
and Related Industries

Joel Baker, CPA, was announced as Chief Financial Officer, SLIM Capital, Beverly Hills, California. He joined the company August, 2024. Shervin Rashti, CEO, said, "In the role of CFO, Joel will oversee all financial operations, forecasting, and financial reporting.  He will work closely with the executive team to drive financial strategy, optimize processes, and support the company's long-term growth initiatives." Previously, Joel Baker CPA, was Vice President of Finance, MC2 Finance, working remote (April, 2020, August, 2024). Full Bio:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelbakercpa/recent-activity/all/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelbakercpa/

Jessica Doolittle was hired as Funding Coordinator, Elite, powered by Channel.  Previously, she was at OTR Solutions, starting as Account Coordinator, July, 2021, promoted Senior Account Coordinator, July, 2022.  Full Bio:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-doolittle-104a55102/details/experience/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-doolittle-104a55102/

Jerry Mathew was hired as Vice President, Equipment Finance, Senior Accounts Manger, Summit Funding Group, Mason, Ohio. He is located in El Dorado Hills, California. Previously, he was Vice President, Equipment Finance, Wintrust Commercial Finance (March, 2024 - September, 2024) Full Bio:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerrycmathew/details/experience/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerrycmathew/

Beau Seitz was hired as Renewal Team Lead, Elite, powered by Channel, Utah, working remote.  He is located in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Previously, he was at Lendio, starting July, 2019, as Funding and Renewal Sales Representative, promoted Manager of Renewals Department (July, 2019 – October, 2024); Account Manager, CNAC (January, 2018 - July, 2019).
https://www.linkedin.com/in/beau-seitz-2786bb247/

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Leasing and Finance Industry Help Wanted
Positions with Attractive Income & Benefits

When It's Time to Move On
By Ken Lubin, Managing Partners, ZRG Partners

Know when to cut the cord. It happens in business, sports, your current job, and anything else that involves leadership. Once you start going down the road of hope versus certainty, you must be willing to get out.

I see it with deals that I negotiate and with interpersonal relationships. Once they start hoping that that person will come back to them or that deal may close if we do this, it’s too late. You must be proactive versus worrying about it after the fact; it should have been done six months ago.

The most important decision a leader can make is understanding when to get out. You don't want to be the person who always "buys high, sells low.” You want to be the person who "buys low, sells high." You don't want to be on the downward trajectory. Your career is more important than the job you have now.

Ken Lubin
Managing Director
ZRG Partners, LLC
Americas I EMEA I Asia Pacific
klubin@zrgpartners.com
C: 508-733-4789
https://www.linkedin.com/in/klubin

 

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SBA 7(a) Small Dollar Lending Increases 33%
From SBA's 2024 Capital Report

The most dramatic trend in SBA capital programs was the accelerating growth in smallest 7(a) loans backed by SBA. In FY 2024, SBA backed over 38,000 7(a) loans under $150,000, for a total of $2.7 billion. Those totals reflect a doubling of these smallest-sized loans since 2020 and a one-third increase over FY 2023 alone.

The 7(a) loan size category of $150,000-$500,000 also saw outsize growth, rising to 18,100 in FY2024, a 16% increase over 2023.

The growth in 7(a) loans under $150,000 is significant because of the steady downward trend in under-$150,000 loans that preceded the growth. Fiscal Year 2021 marked the fifth consecutive year in which the smallest 7(a) loans declined from the prior year.

Lack of access to small loans had increasingly put small businesses under stress, forcing them to turn to credit cards or high-interest online or brick and-mortar express lending options marked by high interest rates and low repayment. The trend reversal was supported by several key policy changes implemented by SBA that targeted and incentivized small dollar lending, the most significant of which became effective in August 2023.

Access the Report Here:
https://colemanreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Capital-Impact-Report-2024_Final.pdf

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Don Cosenza will be covering for Leasing News
Brokers Expo, New York City, November 6, 2024

Watch at Home
by Fernando Croce, Leasing News Movie Reviewer

New streaming releases offer irrepressible humor (“Babes”), vibrant animation (“Chicken for Linda!”), sensitive drama (“His Three Daughters”), vicious cleverness (“Strange Darling”), and thoughtful suspense (“Woman of the Hour”).

Babes (Amazon Prime, Hulu): Friendship is a funny thing in this snappy, raunchy comedy starring and co-written by Illana Glazer (“Broad City”). Glazer plays Eden, a yoga teacher and single New Yorker who feels that her childhood best friend, Dawn (Michelle Buteau), no longer has time for her since she started a family. Eden’s carefree ways take a sharp turn, however, after she has a one-night stand with an actor (Stephan James) and becomes pregnant. Suddenly facing the new responsibilities of impending motherhood, she turns to Dawn for advice and support. With anxieties and demands going through the room, it’s a time to put their sisterhood to the test. Marking the directorial debut of Pamela Adlon (TV’s “Better Things”), the movie is buoyed by the peppery chemistry between the stars.

Chicken for Linda! (Amazon Prime, Apple TV Plus): A simple promise becomes a most challenging mission in this delightful animated feature from France. Paulette (voiced by Clotilde Hesme) is a widowed mother living with her eight-year-old daughter, Linda (Melinée Leclerc). When she unfairly punishes the little girl, Paulette asks her forgiveness by promising to cook her favorite dish—chicken with peppers, a food Linda connects to memories of her beloved father. With Paulette’s lack of culinary skills compounded by a general strike, however, that’s something easier said than done. Determined, she travels across the city in search of a chicken, going from helpless shopkeepers to stubborn farmers resulting in escalating pandemonium. Directed by Chiara Malta and Sebastien Laudenbach, this is a vibrant mélange of humor and emotion. With subtitles.

His Three Daughters (Netflix): Grief and grace mingle in this intimate drama about family relations during difficult times, from talented director Azazel Jacobs (“Terri”). Set in an apartment in New York’s Lower East Side, it follows the mixed emotions of three different women as they gather over a few days to prepare for the death of their father. The eldest, Katie (Carrie Coons), tries to shoulder the responsibilities of the situation, her uptight bossiness contrasting with the calm quietude of Christina (Elizabeth Olsen), who’s recently become a mom. Both are at odds with half-sister Rachel (Natasha Lyonne), the frustrated stoner who’s been caring for the dying patriarch. Though unfolding in restricted spaces, the film avoids staginess thanks to the sensitivity of Jacobs’ handling, and to the nuanced performances of Coons, Olsen and Lyonne.

Strange Darling (Amazon Prime, Apple TV): Writer-director JT Mollner pumps gleeful energy into this twisty suspense thriller, whose clever nastiness has been compared to the films of Joel and Ethan Coen and Quentin Tarantino. Divided into six chapters but told out of order, the story chronicles a chase in rural Oregon involving two people, “the Lady” (Willa Fitzgerald) and “the Demon” (Kyle Gallner). They meet at a bar and head to a motel, but things take a shocking turn when their role-playing games involving serial killers become gruesomely close to reality. Shot to evoke the heyday of gritty horror, Mollner’s film keeps viewers on their toes by continuously dashing expectations and upping the intensity. Bonus points for casting Barbara Hershey and Ed Begley Jr. in welcome supporting roles.

Woman of the Hour (Netflix): Oscar-nominated actress Anna Kendrick makes an impressive directorial debut with this chilling true-crime thriller, set in the late 1970s. A serial killer posing as a photographer to lure unsuspecting women, Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto) leaves  a trail of bodies as he moves around the country. Cheryl Bradshaw (Kendrick) is an aspiring actress who hopes that an appearance in the popular TV show “The Dating Game” will boost her chances of getting a break. That’s where the two characters cross paths, with Alcala as one of the three bachelors vying for a date with the contestant. Their encounter gives a stranger-than-fiction center to the film’s provocative study of misogyny, which offers skillful suspense, dark humor, and a thoughtful exploration of feminine dread and masculine violence.

Fernando Croce is a nationally recognized film reviewer and has been contributing to Leasing News since 2008. His reviews appear each Friday.

News Briefs

Apple sells $46 billion worth of iPhones
    the summer as AI helps end slump
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/business/apple-sells-46-billion-worth-of-iphones-over-the-summer-as-ai-helps-end-sl/

Boeing Reaches New Deal With Union
    in Hopes of Ending Strike
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/31/business/boeing-strike-union-deal.html

Inflation Is Basically Back to Normal.
    Why Do Voters Still Feel Blah?
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/31/business/economy/inflation-prices-economy.html

Amazon Reports Record $15.3 Billion Profit
    Retail Business Showed Resiliency, Plus the Cloud
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/31/business/amazon-q3-earnings.html

Fast food is in flux, but America’s
    still lovin’ it= McDonald's Retained Top Spot
https://sherwood.news/business/mcdonalds-americas-largest-fast-food-chain-which-fastest-growing/

One Big Thing: Billionaires flex historic power
    Never Seen Like this Before
https://www.axios.com/2024/10/31/billionaires-election-spending-trump-musk-bezos

Ford stops manufacturing electric F-150 pickups
    for six weeks as demand sags
https://nypost.com/2024/10/31/business/ford-puts-six-week-pause-on-manufacturing-electric-f-150-pickups/

Robert Half Honored by Fortune and Forbes
    for Empowering Women in the Workplace
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/robert-half-honored-by-fortune-and-forbes-for-empowering-women-in-the-workplace-302293521.html

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The Little Sins We Commit at Work
    —and the Bosses Who Are Cracking Down
https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/the-little-sins-we-commit-at-workand-the-bosses-who-are-cracking-down-74929770?st=HifZm5&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

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Sports Briefs---

John Fisher pledges $1 billion to construction
    of A’s stadium in Las Vegas
https://apnews.com/article/athletics-as-stadium-vegas-fisher-0c8240d5e0d555d52f4505ea1e8ecea3

49ers spend $2.4M on political attack ads to
retain control of Santa Clara City Council
https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/49ers/article/49ers-spend-2-4m-new-political-ads-keep-control-19867114.php

Watch: Drone video over West Sac ballpark
shows renovations ahead of A’s debut
https://www.sacbee.com/sports/mlb/article294800814.html

Bob Costas retiring from baseball  
play-by-play after 42 years
Bob Costas retiring from baseball play-by-play after 42 years
https://apnews.com/article/bob-costas-retires-baseball-1ce422d7c087c3fc162f4a535fa1f7f0

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California News Briefs---

San Jose Affordable Senior housing project
  advance with property deal
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/10/31/san-jose-home-affordable-senior-build-property-real-estate-develop/

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Gimme that Wine

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJnQoi8DSE8

Mendocino Winegrowers Names Winegrower
  of the Year - Bob Gibson to Receive Award
https://www.winebusiness.com/search/?sort=document-date&q=Mendocino%20Winegrowers

Biggest US Wine Distributor Slashes Staff
Due to Wine Sales
https://www.wine-searcher.com/m/2024/10/biggest-us-wine-distributor-slashes-staff

Texas Billionaire Jay Adair's Buying Spree Nets
Five VWE Wineries in Napa and Sonoma for $85 Million
https://www.winebusiness.com/news/article/294263

This winery’s view was a Napa Valley secret for 50 years
New floating tasting decks might change that
https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/wine/article/rutherford-hill-winery-tasting-decks-19831620.php