Leading the Charge — DLL’s Stephenson Takes on Renewable Assets

by Kelly Wolfgang Sep/Oct 2014
As new CEO and chairman of the executive board, De Lage Landen’s Bill Stephenson brings 27 years of experience and a true understanding of what it means to partner with globally and culturally diverse clients. In the coming months, he looks to move the company into new segments while leading the industry in renewable asset management solutions.

Though Bill Stephenson, CEO and chairman of the executive board at De Lage Landen, has a list of accomplishments that would impress even the industry’s greatest, it is not his background in finance and leasing, his experience helping to build a company from the ground up, or even the fact that he is the first non-Dutch national to lead business boasting a 36-country footprint for which he is most proud. It’s the chance to be part of a company that makes a global impact in a lasting way.

Customer-Centric Focus

But don’t get him wrong. “Being named the CEO of De Lage Landen is a huge accomplishment,” Stephenson says. “There’s no doubt about that. I was really honored and personally humbled by the appointment. A lot of people say, ‘You’re the first non-Dutch CEO, that’s a big deal,’ but I don’t see it that way. I’m part of a diverse international organization that puts its customers at the center of everything it does. I have always emphasized understanding the needs of each of our clients and that commitment was recognized with my nomination.”

To Stephenson, the customer-centric focus is something he has honed since his beginnings in the industry. “My first job out of college was working for a national family-owned equipment company that used financing to sell its products,” he says. “It was really the foundation for my appreciation of the customer, and notably, the integral role financing plays in the acquisition of equipment. When I received an opportunity a few years later to join Masterlease, it was something that really excited me because I understood the importance of financing as a way to close equipment sales and really help customers acquire necessary assets to realize their long-term ambitions for growth.”

Masterlease was purchased by Tokai, the Japanese bank, providing Stephenson his first foray into international business. When the company was acquired in 1999 by the Dutch farmers’ bank, Rabobank, Stephenson was already well into his career in equipment finance.
Hands-On Experience

The 27-year history and knowledge base of sales and vendor finance he accumulated has allowed Stephenson to emerge as a leader in the equipment finance industry. “I brought a considerable amount of understanding of our customers’ sales process to the table,” he says. “We didn’t take a financial approach to our markets — we took a sales and marketing angle that dissected how we could create value for the customers we do business with. We distilled that down to really understanding the point of sale, where the transaction between our vendor partners and their customers occurred, how the sales process took place, and how we could utilize financing and other tools to help a sales rep close transactions.”

And in what he calls a major differentiator between De Lage Landen and other companies in the industry, “We bring in people, not necessarily with a finance background, but with experience in the vertical markets we serve,” he says. “For example, if we wanted to hire a forklift specialist for our company, we would go into the market and find someone that actually sold forklifts or worked for a forklift manufacturer because we believe understanding the segment is far more important than comprehending the financing of the asset. And that is the philosophy we continue to build our verticals on.”

Stephenson says his experience within De Lage Landen encompasses not only leading the company’s vendor finance channels, but also includes hands-on management of strategic marketing, asset management and commercial finance. This provides a broader perspective upon which to build a rounded view of what each member of the team achieves daily. “When you start with a small entrepreneurial organization and see it evolve to where it is today, you’ve had your hands in many components of the business,” he says. “You gain experience with the strategies of entering new verticals and have the opportunity to innovate, try, succeed and fail. That insight is invaluable from a global perspective, and having been involved in many of the verticals we’re in today really allows me to provide the vision and strategy necessary to continue to create value for our customers and allow them to differentiate themselves in the marketplace.”

True Teamwork Approach

But without the talented team he has assembled, Stephenson’s experience and unique ability to innovate would have no room to grow in today’s environment. “During the recent economic crisis, a lot of companies had the opportunity to validate what was working for them and what wasn’t,” Stephenson says. “There were many parts of the world suffering economically and some of our competitors and vendor partners struggled to maintain relevance. Through the support of our shareholder Rabobank, the team at De Lage Landen came together to realize that our global value proposition and strategy remained strong. This validation resulted in our greatest growth period, which occurred in the worst economic crisis in a century.”

In one example of the team’s ingenuity, Stephenson recalls a specific situation in which a manufacturer had equipment that was coming off lease. “A certain amount of resources our client needed became scarce and more expensive,” he says. “But we found a way to take those products off lease and reuse a lot of the resources by reintroducing them into new manufacturing, allowing the vendor to maintain a competitive price offering.” By integrating the entire team into the planning process, Stephenson says, the client was able to survive the economic downturn.

“A team approach is at the core of De Lage Landen because we do not have a hierarchal structure, but rather a global, networked organization,” he explains. “When looking at our management board, we all have inherent responsibilities in a matrix organization. No one individual can truly be successful on their own. It requires constant collaboration and a common vision,” he says. “A hierarchy is easy. One person leads with his or her direction and vision. But our approach is far more collaborative. We recognize that no one person has all the answers. We have healthy debate among a group of individuals with international and cultural diversity and believe that after identifying a problem and discussing it as a team, the solution is far superior.”

With a true team, Stephenson is moving the company into the future. “De Lage Landen is looking to go above and beyond financing assets,” he says. “We’re a financial solutions partner and work to arrive at a full-service approach. But as the markets continue to lack robust growth, our customers, manufacturer partners and vendors find it more and more difficult to grow their balance sheets and enter new markets. As a result, we’re seeing more and more requests for additional solutions. You will begin to see an evolution of our industry as it moves in that direction in the years ahead.”

Embracing New Markets

And in planning for that move, Stephenson and his team are working hard to embrace new markets in the future. “For example, some of the most arable land is available in Africa, from a manufacturing and agricultural perspective,” he says. “De Lage Landen will play a major role in assisting to feed future generations and providing access to clean technology and renewable energy.” In addition, Stephenson plans further development in countries where DLL recently opened offices, such as Turkey and India. “Those are major growth markets for us and we will continue to move and dedicate committed resources there,” he says. “The world’s population is expected to reach 9 billion people by the year 2030. Resources will be scarce, so we are investing heavily in the aftermarket of the assets we finance. We have a responsibility to ensure that those assets are reused and utilized to their fullest extent. As a result, we are working with our manufacturer partners to create life cycle asset management tools that not just refurbish and resell equipment, but truly use resources in new ways.”

For De Lage Landen, the global embrace of new markets is not something revolutionary. Stephenson says the integration of culture is something inherent to the company values and something he consistently works to expand. “Being an international company is what makes DLL unique,” he says. “When you sit back and really focus on the similarities of different cultures and the value you’re trying to create rather than the differences, you have a high probability of success. So many companies try to take a home-based approach and sell it across the globe, but our approach is different. We don’t go into a country and tell our clients how to do business. We go in and work with local experts and authorities to integrate the local knowledge, culture and way of doing business into the products we offer. At the end of the day, the result is one of cooperation, collaboration and respect.”

Partnership Focus

This approach to partnership is not only what makes De Lage Landen succeed, but also what keeps it moving forward into new markets with a growing list of clients. “Our partnership focus allows us to understand the true needs, not just the wants, of a client,” Stephenson says. “We create a plan together and we work in conjunction to discover the right solutions. That comes from our industry specialization and segmentation. We’re not in every market — in fact, we’re limited to a select number of industries. But what we do, we do well. We strive to know as much as possible about our markets, utilization of the products and the aftermarket as well as our manufacturers, which brings about a great level of trust.” He continues, “We are in 36 countries and have 5,500 perspectives and we respect every single one of them.”

With that mindset, Stephenson says that as CEO, he plans to dedicate himself to changing the industry for the better in the future. “The leasing and finance industry is very resilient,” he says. “It’s flexible and is able to survive the test of time. It’s an industry that is not only unique, but really creates value in the economy and brings new, innovative solutions. In order for the leasing industry to remain viable it must continue to challenge the status quo, because if you’re not failing, you’re not trying, and with that you won’t succeed. Some of the greatest growth for our industry has occurred in the most difficult of economic times because we’re not just providing money and we’re not just providing loans. We’re creating solutions for our manufacturer partners that go above and beyond financing an asset. At DLL, I expect that we will continue to grow in our markets because our value proposition remains a way for our customers to differentiate themselves.”

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