Edward Cherney

Edward Cherney has made a lifelong career as an entrepreneurial executive. He is currently Chairman of TIP Capital. He has led industry renowned equipment leasing companies such as CMI Corporation, ENCORE, and AT&T Systems Leasing. Edward’s 40-year career has mainly involved directing end-user sales staffs and operations that originated sophisticated, financial-oriented lease transactions. Edward is credited for financing billions in hardware and raising equity in excess of $500 million dollars. He is recognized for his expertise in strategic business planning, profit improvement in turn-around situations and a talent for reading market conditions and taking the appropriate risks to grow the business.

Edward Cherney has made a lifelong career as an entrepreneurial executive. He is currently Chairman of TIP Capital. He has led industry renowned equipment leasing companies such as CMI Corporation, ENCORE, and AT&T Systems Leasing. Edward’s 40-year career has mainly involved directing end-user sales staffs and operations that originated sophisticated, financial-oriented lease transactions. Edward is credited for financing billions in hardware and raising equity in excess of $500 million dollars. He is recognized for his expertise in strategic business planning, profit improvement in turn-around situations and a talent for reading market conditions and taking the appropriate risks to grow the business.

Throughout his professional career, Ed has contributed generously of his leadership, time and resources to numerous community and charitable organizations. He has helped raise millions of dollars for the retirement fund of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Sisters of Monroe, Michigan.

He has been an active supporter of the Detroit Country Day School, by serving as a board member for over 25 years and assisting the school in a wide range of activities. Former organizations include: University of Detroit-Mercy – Trustee Emeritus, Y.M.C.A. – Director, Metro-Board, and Harvard University, New Parent Fund.

After graduating with a degree in Finance from the University of Detroit, Edward then attended the Detroit College of Law. He remained at the leading edge of the leasing profession by actively contributing to the leasing professional associations. Edward is Past Chairman of the Computer Dealers and Lessors Association (C.D.L.A.) and Past Board Member of the Equipment Leasing Association (E.L.A.).

Edward is married to Joanne and the father of five children. His daughter is a graduate of the University of Michigan, two of his sons are graduates of Harvard University and another is a graduate of the University of Virginia and the University of San Diego Law School. His youngest son will be attending college in 2012. Joanne is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University.

by Bob Rinaldi

John C. Deane

John Deane is a founder of The Alta Group and its chief executive officer.

He leads the global consultancy composed of five major practice areas: consulting, merger & acquisitions, legal support services, professional development, and vendor and captive programs.

Prior to co-founding The Alta Group, he served as a principal in the firm of Amembal, Deane & Associates, the world’s leading provider of training, educational and consulting services for the equipment leasing industry. He has been CEO of both Great Western Leasing and BancOne Leasing and has served as the CFO and president of several major financial corporations.

His broad expertise over more than 35 years was fortified by his work as chairman of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) and as a member of the World Leasing Council. Click here for his full bio.

”Grim confidence.” That’s how executives at a recent equipment leasing roundtable characterized attitudes in the industry today. It’s a far cry from how things were in the early 1970s when John C. Deane entered the business.

Deane, who began his career in banking and today is CEO of the global consulting firm, The Alta Group, helped pioneer the equipment leasing and finance business.

“Economic factors today are more significant to our industry than ever,” Deane said in an interview recently for Leasing Avenues. Today the action “is not in product development, but in management and execution,” he said.

When Deane entered equipment leasing, the business was new and entrepreneurial, and the U.S. was in recession. Fifty years later, the industry is mature and the nation is emerging from an even deeper recession. But Deane sees numerous opportunities in new vertical niches, in international expansion (both inbound and outbound), and in trimming costs and improving management.

Although the last decade wrought more negative than positive occurrences for the industry, solid growth occurred mid-way through, Deane said, allowing many companies to survive and prosper. The industry “hasn’t done anything wrong,” he said; “[but] there may have been some ‘overly creative’ structuring in the late 1990s.”

Deane practiced equipment leasing and finance from 1971 to 1992 and then started The Alta Group. Soon afterward, the consultancy produced Perfect Storms, a research paper written for the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation that is still downloaded today. “It was a deep dive into what went wrong in some well-known equipment leasing companies,” Deane said.

In the video linked to this article, Deane talks about his entry into equipment leasing and the satisfaction the business has provided over the years. He also discusses high points of his career, one being his role as chairman of the ELFA.

John Deane’s Biography >>

by Bob Rinaldi

Sudhir R. Amembal

Mr. Amembal, chairman and CEO of Amembal & Associates as well the CEO and editor of Global Leasing Resource (GLR), is interviewed about his experience as an educator and entrepreneur featuring his global perspective. This pioneer, like others interviewed here, remains extremely active in the industry and has recently launched both the GLR and the World Leasing News.

Sudhir P. Amembal is Chairman and CEO of Amembal & Associates as well the CEO and Editor of Global Leasing Resource. He began his professional career in lease education, consulting and publications by co-founding Amembal & Isom in 1978, the first entity in the world to serve the global leasing industry.

Entities under his stewardship became the world’s most highly respected training and consulting firms in the field of equipment leasing. These entities have trained over 70,000 leasing professionals throughout the world. Mr. Amembal has conducted technical presentations on leasing in over 75 countries.

As a government advisor, Mr. Amembal has spearheaded lease consultancy engagements conducted on behalf of over 20 governments including China, Indonesia, Korea and Nigeria. These engagements required him to review the overall leasing industry in each country and devise strategic recommendations to facilitate the growth of the industry. His most recent assignment was to assist in the introduction of operating leases into Bangladesh.

He has co-authored 16 books on leasing and has appeared as a keynote speaker at numerous domestic and international conferences. He has addressed conventions held by all four of the global regional associations – African Leasing Association, Asialease, Leaseurope, and the Latin American Leasing Association. He has chaired each of the annual World Leasing Conventions from 1993 to date. He will chair the forthcoming World Leasing Convention to be held in Cairo, June 7 & 8, 2011.

Mr. Amembal is the publisher of an online global magazine, WorldLeasingnNews.com and he serves as an advisor to Sigma Consultancy, a global provider of lease management software. He recently launched World Leasing News – Global Resource Guide & Directory, a unique product/service that seeks to revolutionize the dissemination of critical information to the leasing industry.

For a period of five years from 1997 to 2002, Mr. Amembal was Chairman of Amembal Capital Corporation, a middle market leasing company. Prior to 1978, he was a member of the faculty at the College of Business, University of Utah, prior to which he worked with Ernst & Young in New York City.

He has a B.Com from the University of Bombay, an MBA from the University of Utah and is a CPA qualified to practice in New York.

by Bob Rinaldi

James Renner

Jim Renner, a consultant with The Alta Group, has extensive expertise helping financial institutions succeed in equipment leasing and finance markets. Prior to joining the global consultancy in January, 2011, he was president of Wells Fargo Equipment Finance and its forerunner, Norwest Equipment Finance for 15 years, before retiring. Jim led the growth of its leasing portfolio from $530 million to $7.5 billion, establishing Wells Fargo as one of the largest bank leasing companies in North America. Jim was president of First Bank System Leasing prior to joining Norwest.

His career began in the credit training program of Irving Trust Company in New York City right out of college. He later returned to Minnesota and joined First Bank of Minneapolis, where he was a commercial lender in the real estate department before starting its leasing operation.

Still based in Minneapolis, Jim is well known for his leadership in the equipment leasing and finance industry. He has been active in the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) for more than 25 years, serving on committees and as a director, vice chairman, and chairman in previous years. He also has been a trustee, chairman, and national development chairman of the ELFA Foundation, which honored him with a special recognition award in 2005.

Jim graduated from the University of Minnesota with a bachelor of arts degree in economics.

by Bob Rinaldi