LEADERSHIP 2017 The ELFA Nominating Committee has named the following individuals to stand for election by the ELFA membership. If elected, all nominees will begin their term of service at the conclusion of the ELFA Annual Convention, Oct. 23–25 in Palm Desert, California. Each ELFA member company may cast one vote for each nominee. On Aug. 12, voting materials and instructions will be emailed to each member company’s key contact, who may then vote via confi dential electronic ballot on the ELFA website. The voting will conclude Oct. 5 at 5 p.m. ET. David Schaefer Chairman-Elect Schaefer is the founder and CEO of Orion First, which provides full service commercial loan and lease portfolio management, scoring and decisioning products, commercial collection services and strategic advisory to the small business commercial lending industry. He is also the founder and CEO of Mintaka Financial, a commercial fi nance company specializing in serving the needs of small businesses across the United States through an exclusive network of originators that share ownership in Mintaka. Schaefer is active with ELFA. He currently serves as Vice Chairman of the ELFA Board of Directors and past Chairman of LeasePAC, the industry’s federal political action committee. Larry Smilie Vice Chairman Smilie is a Managing Director for Global Leasing at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. In this role, Smilie is responsible for Corporate, Commercial and Business Leasing Originations, Syndications, Global Investor Relationships, Global Portfolio Trading & Acquisitions, Indirect Originations, Structuring & Transaction Management and Investment Management. Smilie received a Bachelor’s Degree in Business from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from San Francisco State University. He served previously as a Director on the ELFA Board from 2010 to 2014. James Cress Director Cress is the Vice President and General Manager of Stryker Flex Financial, the captive fi nance arm of Stryker. He joined the company in 2008 and is responsible for its equipment fi nance operations in the United States, Europe and Canada. Prior to joining Stryker, he was Senior Vice President and Vendor Business Unit Director for eight years at National City Commercial Capital in Cincinnati. There he managed operations for multiple vendor markets including healthcare, offi ce equipment, technology and manufacturing. He also spent several years at US Bank as a Vice President in Small Business Banking. Cress has been an active member of ELFA since 2000. He served consecutive terms on the Captive and Vendor Finance Business Council Steering Committee. He has also been a participant in Capitol Connections for the last fi ve years and is an ELFA Guest Lecturer at Michigan State University. He has a B.S. in Economics and an M.S. in Executive Leadership and Organizational Change from Northern Kentucky University. 2017 OFFICERS ➥ 14 Anthony Cracchiolo William Stephenson David Schaefer Jud Snyder Chairman Immediate Past Chairman Chairman-Elect Vice Chairman JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2016 EQUIPMENT LEASING & FINANCE MAGAZINE