Young professionals are joining our firms. See how they're getting involved. The Next Generation of Equipment Finance BY SUSAN L. HODGES T morphed into action when the association’s Board of Direc-tors voted to form a focus group on emerging talent. The goal: to obtain feedback on programming that would reach and serve a broader group of industry employees still early in their careers. “The idea was not to limit this group strictly by age or years of service, but we did target people from a broad range of responsibilities within the industry,” says Jud Snyder, Board member. To begin, each member of ELFA’s Executive Committee named one high-potential employee from their firm. “That group has now grown to about 16 people and become the Emerging Talent Advisory Council, or ETAC,” says Snyder, who serves as Board Liaison. Drawn from service providers, captives, independents and banks, the Council has begun to work on projects its members believe are worthwhile. Among them: regional networking education events that would be easy to attend and require just one night away. “We have a great group of people as charter members of the Council,” says Snyder. “They’re really high-energy and they do things differently from the way most of us are used to.” To get acquainted with a few of these rising stars, read on. 24 JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2015 EQUIPMENT LEASING & FINANCE MAGAZINE WO YEARS AGO, talk around ELFA about young professionals