FOUNDATION NEWS By Michelle Fevola Industry Future Council Convenes Generates Future Perspectives and Insights from Business Leaders E ARLIER THIS YEAR the Foundation brought together leaders from across the country to examine the trends, challenges and opportunities impacting the future of the equipment leasing and fi nance industry at the annual Industry Future Council (IFC) meeting. Industry leaders gathered to deliberate future industry issues, challenges and opportunities at the 2015 Industry Future Council meeting. Futurists challenged participants of di-verse business councils, companies and ages to consider impactful scenarios that may af-fect the industry in 2030. Th ese industry lead-ers brainstormed an extensive list of future issues, opportunities and challenges for their businesses and the industry as a whole. Th ey honed in on fi ve themes: big data, tax reform and government regulation, cybersecurity, robotics and other industry disruptors. Par-ticipants then divided into groups to delib-erate these issues under the archetypes of growth, collapse, constraint and transformation in order to expand their outlook on what may be and how to take advantage of opportunities and meet future challenges. Th e discussions and insights from the IFC meeting will be consolidated into the 2015 In-dustry Future Council report, available for download in the Foundation’s online library at store.leasefoundation.org . In case you missed it, the Foundation announced the re-lease of two new publications in February, adding to the wealth of research available on the equipment leasing and fi nance industry. Th e Foundation-Key-52 bridge February 2015 U.S. Equipment & Soft ware Investment Momentum Moni-tor projects strong investment activity for transportation equipment, including aircraft and trucking. The recently released Winter 2015 issue of the Journal of Equipment Lease Financing features the following articles: ● “Th e Eff ect of Borrower Information Sharing on Delinquencies: Evidence from the U.S. Lending Market,” by Andrew Sutherland of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business; ● “Use of Social Media by Cap-tive Finance Companies,” by James M. Johnson, Ph.D., of Northern Illinois University, and Susan Carol of Susan Carol Associates (SCA); and ● “The Future of Financing Advanced Energy-Efficient Building Equipment,” by Kerry Cebul and Natalie Volpe of Cleantech Group. Th e Journal also provides a perfect opportunity to publish your work in the most widely used and cited periodical in the industry. Download free copies of the Journal from the Foun-dation’s online library. Two studies new to the Foundation’s col-lection are Th e Impact of Alternative Finance on the Equipment Leasing and Finance Indus-try: Maximizing Opportunities and Manag-ing Th reats and Digital Documents: Financ-ing Paperless Transactions. Th ese and other Foundation publications and programs would not be possible with-out the support of our generous contributors. Consider contributing to the future of your business and the industry. For more infor-mation, please visit www.leasefoundation. org/Giving . ■ Michelle Fevola is Manager, Foundation Programs. MARCH/APRIL 2015 EQUIPMENT LEASING & FINANCE MAGAZINE