Glen Hiemstra is the Founder and CEO of Futurist.com. An internationally known expert on creating the preferred future, Glen has advised professional, business, and governmental organizations for two decades and served as a technical advisor for futuristic television programs. He is the author of Turning the Future into Revenue: What Businesses and Individuals Need to Know to Shape Their Future. His website is regularly visited by people from over 120 nations.
2016 FORUMThank you to all who attended the 2016 Small Business Lending Forum. We will be in touch with you when the 2017 forum and golf tournament dates become available.
The Small Business Lending Forum will take place August 15th and 16th, beginning with the forum, held at the Foss Waterway Seaport, on Monday August 15th at 1:00 pm. In settings both formal and informal, these industry leaders will share their unique perspectives and success stories from the small business lending marketplace.
Following the Forum, we invite everyone to cruise the South Sound with us aboard the Emerald Star for cocktails and conversation.
On Tuesday August 16th we will head out to the beautiful Trophy Lake Golf & Casting Club for our annual golf scramble, benefiting the YMCA. Shotgun start is at 8:30 AM, ice cold beverages are on the house and lunch to be served following the tournament. $150 donation, 100% of the proceeds benefit YMCA programs.
Small Business Lending Forum held at the Foss Waterway Seaport
Boat cruise and cocktail reception aboard Waterways Cruises “Emerald Star” casting off from the Foss Waterway Seaport Dock. Yacht to arrive at dock at 4:30 pm.
Annual Golf Tournament to benefit the YMCARegistration at Trophy Lake Golf Club
Shotgun Start – Lunch to follow tournament
ForumThe small business lending marketplace is ever changing. As it experiences the saturation of new lenders, it also sees new products, technologies and innovations which are dramatically changing the the determining factors of success and profitability.
Alternative lenders are fine tuning their strategies. Equipment finance companies are expanding their product offerings. Banks are considering alternative funding avenues and alliances with other funding companies. Private investors and venture capitalists are deploying assets into companies expecting growth and profitability.
Our discussion will focus on these topics, the market itself, new and old challenges we’re facing and how we might best navigate, respond and adapt to this dynamic environment.
Our goal: To provide you with ideas, concepts and an enhanced perspective on how best to optimize your current and future model to maximize capitalization of the small business lending market.
» 1:00pm – 1:10pm – Opening Remarks
Dave Schaefer, CEO, Orion First Financial
» 1:10pm – 2:00pm – Keynote: Lessons from the Future
Glen Hiemstra, Founder and CEO, Futurist.com
» 2:00pm – 2:50pm – Presentation: Technology Initiatives for Small Business Lenders
MODERATOR:
Dave Schaefer, CEO, Orion First
PRESENTERS:
Steve Darsie, Principal, Scoring Solutions
Kristian Dolan, COO and Solution Architect, Tamarack Consulting
Paul Marcoe, CTO, Orion First
» 2:50pm – 3:00pm – Break
» 3:00pm – 3:50pm – Panel Discussion: How Will the Small Business Community Respond to New Regulations?
MODERATOR:
Joe Collins, SVP, Business Development, Orion First
PANELIST:
Andrew Alper, Attorney, Frandzel, Robins, Bloom & Csato, LLC
Chris Enbom, CEO, Allegiant Partners, Inc
Ralph Petta, President and CEO, ELFA
Tom Sullivan, Executive Director, Coalition for Responsible Business Finance
» 3:50pm – 4:15pm – Congressional Update
Congressman Derek Kilmer, D-WA 6th District
» 4:15pm – 4:30pm – Future Initiatives and Closing Remarks
Dave Schaefer, CEO, Orion First Financial
» 4:30pm – Boarding for Emerald Star Boat Cruise
» 5:00pm – 7:00pm – Emerald Star Boat Cruise
Dave is the founder and CEO of Orion First Financial, which provides contract servicing and collection services to alternative lenders, banks and independent financial institutions. Dave is also the founder and CEO of Mintaka Financial, a commercial finance company specializing in serving the needs of small businesses across the United States through an exclusive network of originators that share ownership in Mintaka.
Dave is active with the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) currently serving as Vice Chairman of the ELFA Board of Directors and past Chairman of LeasePAC (the industry’s federal political action committee).
Glen Hiemstra is the Founder and CEO of Futurist.com. An internationally expert on creating the preferred future, Glen has advised professional, business, and governmental organizations for two decades and served as a technical advisor for futuristic television programs. He is the author of Turning the Future into Revenue: What Businesses and Individuals Need to Know to Shape Their Future. His website is regularly visited by people from over 120 nations.
Small business lenders must be ahead of their competitors in utilizing technology to acquire and retain customers. A new generation of small business owners are leveraging today’s technology to fulfill their financing needs; and lenders are increasing the use of technology for business development. During this session Orion will provide an overview of its technology initiatives that provide lenders a better view of their portfolio, manage an expanded range of financing, loan and managed service products, and make credit decisions.
Principal, Scoring Solutions
Steve Darsie is a Principal of Scoring Solutions, a company focused on scoring and analytic consulting for the credit industry. Steve has more than 40 years of scoring, consulting, and software experience for lenders in the consumer and small business credit industries in the US, Canada, and the Caribbean. Steve’s broad background in financial services has included risk management, credit scoring, product development, and software systems for all stages of the credit life cycle including targeting, acquisition, account management, collection and recovery activities.
Steve has worked with Orion First Financial since 2010, developing and validating the scorecard system. He is responsible for implementing the scores in Score360, a hosted software application that Orion accesses. He has partnered with Orion in developing the SAIPH scoring system.
Before joining Scoring Solutions, Steve was President of Experian-Scorex Canada where he managed the sales, delivery and servicing of analytic products to Canadian clients. Steve has also led the Experian US analytic and decision support teams.
Steve has an MBA in Corporate Finance from Georgia State University and a BS in Commerce from Washington and Lee University.
COO and Solution Architect, Tamarack Consulting
Kristian Dolan is the co-owner and Solution Architect at Tamarack. Kristian has been working in the software industry for 20 years. He has been focused on providing solutions for the Equipment Finance & Commercial Lending industries for the past 13 years. Before merging with Tamarack, Kristian was the President of E2E Systems which specialized in developing and implementing leasing & lending solutions. Tamarack focusses on understanding your business challenges and goals and leverages technology to help achieve these. They are an objective technology solution provider that focusses on equipment finance and commercial lending.
CTO, Orion First
Paul Marcoe is the Chief Technology Officer with Orion First. Paul is tasked with providing the overall technology vision at Orion and delivering business-aligned IT strategies. Additionally, he oversees all aspects of the IT Security program at Orion First. Paul is also CTO of Orion’s subsidiary, Mintaka Financial, LLC. Paul is an accomplished, results-driven Information Technology Executive with over 20 years of progressive experience within a demanding, fast-paced financial services industry. His specialization includes IT management, developing business-aligned IT strategies, directing application development, network administration, information security, telecommunications, help desk operations and IT project management.
Paul is a graduate of Western Washington University with a degree in Business Management and Information Systems. He also earned the distinction of Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) in 2013.
Small business lenders are challenged with new and potential regulations; the direction of which could be influenced by the upcoming presidential and congressional elections. How will the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the increase in various State licensing of commercial lenders impact small business lending? This panel will discuss new and potential regulations that impact small business owners’ investment in their companies, puts requirements on small business lenders; and opportunities that can prevail over potential threats.
Mr. Collins is the Senior Vice President, Business Development with Orion First Financial, LLC; tasked with identifying, developing, and expanding relationships with servicing clients. His other duties include developing sales and account management strategies. Mr. Collins is a 25-year veteran of the equipment finance industry. Previous positions include various roles at a key association and software provider in the industry. These positions afforded Joe a solid understanding of all aspects within finance companies––bringing value to Orion’s servicing business by adding to its core competency in finance operations.
Joe is a graduate of Bradley University (BA, History and Education) and received his Masters in Public Administration from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He currently serves on the Service Provider Steering Committee of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA).
Attorney, Frandzel, Robins, Bloom & Csato, LLC
Andrew K. Alper is a Vice President and shareholder with the law firm of Frandzel Robins Bloom & Csato, L.C. in Los Angeles, California. Andrew has the A.V. Rating with Martindale Hubbell and has been representing banks, equipment lessors, funding sources and other financial institutions since 1979. Andrew obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, Magna Cum Laude, from the University of California at Santa Barbara and received his Juris Doctor from Loyola Law School, making the Dean’s List.
Andrew’s practice emphasizes the representation of equipment lessors and funding sources in all aspects of equipment leasing including litigation, documentation, insolvency, and transactional matters. Andrew also lobbied legislators on behalf of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) with respect to the Bankruptcy legislation specifically to codify the result in Claremont Acquisition Corp. He has been on the Board of Directors for the National Equipment Finance Association, Andrew is currently on the ELFA Legal Committee and the ELFA Legal ListServ Subcommittee, formed to give legal assistance for ELFA members involved in the leasing industry. Andrew is also on the subcommittees for automatic renewal legislation and for amicus briefs with ELFA. Andrew was named one of the 25 most influential persons in equipment leasing and finance by the Leasing News in 2015.
CEO, Allegiant Partners, Inc
Chris Enbom is the founder of Allegiant Partners and has been Allegiant’s chief executive from its inception in 1998. Allegiant has purchased over $400 million in receivables for its own book, and specializes in small ticket commercial equipment finance transactions in specific industries. Allegiant will fund approximately 1,500 small ticket transactions in 2016. Mr. Enbom is also CEO of Work Truck Direct, a dealer for specialty medium-duty trucks and wholly-owned subsidiary of Allegiant.
Prior to starting Allegiant, Mr. Enbom was involved in structuring, marketing and closing leases and structured transactions for aircraft, rail and facilities in both Japan and San Francisco.
Mr. Enbom has a B.A. in Political Economy from the University of California, Berkeley. He is an active speaker at industry events and is past President of the National Equipment Finance Association, past Chairman of the Small Ticket Business Counsel of the Equipment Leasing & Finance Association, and is on the Board of BluePath Finance. He is Treasurer of the CLFP Foundation, was on the board and Executive Committee of the ELFA, was Chairman of the industry’s political action committee, LeasePAC, and is active on the President’s Counsel of the Wilderness Society.
President and CEO, ELFA
Ralph Petta is the President and CEO of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA), the premier trade association representing 550+ member organizations in the $1 trillion equipment finance sector. Mr. Petta leads the organization in executing its mission to foster business development, deliver industry information and analysis, provide educational opportunities and advocate for the industry. He is also President of the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation, which is dedicated to inspiring thoughtful innovation and contributing to the betterment of the equipment leasing and finance industry.
Mr. Petta, an authority in the business of equipment finance, has been with the association since 1987. He is often quoted in industry trade publications and is a frequent speaker about the role of equipment finance in the U.S. economy and trends and developments in the equipment finance sector.
Executive Director, Coalition for Responsible Business Finance
Tom Sullivan is an attorney in the government relations practice of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, LLP in Washington, DC. Tom runs the Small Business Coalition for Regulatory Relief (www.SBCRR.org) and represents several clients including the National Federation of Independent Business.
Upon confirmation by the Senate in 2002, Mr. Sullivan served as the highest-ranking government official charged with exclusively advocating the views and needs of small business before government agencies and Congress. As Chief Counsel for Advocacy in the Small Business Administration (SBA), Tom was directly involved in over 100 regulatory and legislative matters.
Upon leaving government, Tom Sullivan was named to the NFIB Small Business Legal Center Advisory Board and he also serves as Chairman of the American Bar Association’s Small Business Regulation Committee. Tom Sullivan went to Boston College and earned his law degree from Suffolk University.
CTO, Orion First
COO and Solution Architect, Tamarack Consulting
Principal, Scoring Solutions