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Pictures
from the Past Pictures from the Past
---1996---
Alan J. Zeppenfeld
Forrest Financial Corporation announced the addition of Alan
J.Zeppenfeld as their new Senior Vice-President of Operations. Zeppenfeld, a former UAEL board member, brings
22 years of leasing experience and long history of UAEL involvement
to the position.” “After finishing my MBA in 1973, I answered an advertisement
in the Cleveland paper and became the Equipment Order Entry Manager
for the Cleveland Branch of Xerox. Things were great then, everyday
was exciting and rewarding, and I was very proud to be a Xeroid. “But there was one thing that was always in the back
of my mind. Our office was on the 6th floor, and on the 7th floor
was US Leasing. The more I talked to the US Leasing people in the
elevator every morning, the more I wondered whether I really wanted
my career to be one floor up. “Life has a habit of forcing or eliminating decisions,
and after becoming Controller in Cleveland, then Region Credit Manager
in Arlington, Virginia my thoughts about leasing were filed somewhere
in the back of my mind. Two years later, I got an opportunity to be
with a new Xerox division in a great city, Atlanta. This was it, I
was where I wanted to be doing what I wanted to do. But, nothing is
constant but change, and two years later, the big X combined it's
two divisions and we had too many people for the number of jobs available.
I really wanted to stay in Atlanta, but the opportunity offered was
in Kansas City, so I packed up the family and off we went to find
Dorothy, Toto and Auntie Em. As was typical then, after two years
it was time to change again, and Xerox moved to headquarters in Rochester,
NY. I went there with a fierce determination to disprove the statement
that "living in Rochester" was an oxymoron. “I hit Rochester full force, and became a very busy
person. At Xerox I was the Manager of Asset Control, in our suburb
I got active in politics, and in my spare time I started restoring
collector cars. The car hobby became a second business and my wife
Diane and I opened AutoZest Gallery, an automotive art and automobilia
boutique. “Xerox started a program called the Partnership Asset
Strategy that sold off the rental machines and revenue streams to
major funders and leasing companies. My second assignment in Rochester
was to manage the operation of that program, and my contact with the
leasing industry resumed. Then in the early 1990's our senior vice
president had thoughts of starting a major administrative outsourcing
business. It seemed only natural that since we were world class in
administration and had ties with the leasing industry that we go into
"leasing administration". We changed the name of my department
to Third Party Leasing Administration and I set out to find some customers.
After getting the first two contracts signed and the services implemented,
senior management was convinced that there was really a business there
and "Xerox Administrative Services" came into being. “Then in 1995, our senior vice president abruptly retired,
his replacement didn't believe in outsourcing as a business opportunity,
and I got introduced to a whole new experience in a big way….downsizing.
Many articles have been written about how Xerox invented and started
great things, and then gave them up. And, the business news and stock
market are clearly showing how a giant can fall, so I won't take up
any more time on Xerox here. “ "Zep" became Director of Leasing for the Retail
Solutions Division of NCR Corporation. At last report, he was pursuing his hobbies in automobile
racing, plus looking for steady employment. He has covered news events for Leasing News, too. |
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