Beth Plane began her career in finance in 1996 at a local bank. She then moved into the equipment finance arena in 1998, at which point she learned the fundamentals of the industry. She is currently the director of operations at JB&B Capital, where she has been a team member since 2010, with a focus on the operational aspects of the business.

At the beginning of Plane’s career with JB&B Capital, the company was managing a portfolio of approximately $3 million in equipment financing, with a primary focus on leasing. During JB&B’s growth period, Plane built, from scratch, a strong operations team; JB&B went from having Plane as its sole operations employee to having a team of more than 20 operations personnel. As someone who is committed to leadership excellence, Plane also established a very strong, positive culture and exceptional work processes for her team.

In keeping with some of JB&B’s core values, Plane has held the line with high quality standards while delivering distinctive customer service. Plane enjoys “finding new ways to make operational procedures more efficient while keeping the company moving forward in the world of constant technology change,” she says.

Plane has identified and successfully implemented new technologies to support JB&B’s growth from a small start-up company to a company growing double digits year after year. She is constantly searching for new ways of streamlining the company’s processes through these technologies, which include Salesforce and Aspire, among others. Plane’s persistence and commitment to success is the key to implementing these large projects, which take months of planning, testing and team coordination. Because of her commitment to excellence, she has been instrumental in assisting other companies in their efforts to integrate and establish new technology.

“JB&B Capital purchased a trailer leasing company from bankruptcy approximately two years ago. The company had poor systems, processes and financial controls. Beth has taken leadership of bringing the company up to JB&B’s standards,” Jack Mills, CEO of JB&B Capital, says. “Today, due to her efforts, the trailer leasing business has excellent work processes and is fully integrated into JB&B. Most importantly, she has led the effort to establish the JB&B culture and standards into the subsidiary.”

Plane’s leadership and knowledge of equipment finance has made her an invaluable part of the JB&B leadership team. She is recognized and respected by the leadership team for her operational knowledge, as well as her knowledge of the collections processes and business development. She is known among her colleagues for having high standards and being willing to speak the truth, even in difficult situations. She is also dedicated to constantly learning and developing new skills, as evidenced by her participation in STRIPES Leadership Program.

Plane’s leadership philosophy is to ensure all associates have a healthy work environment with adequate training, to encourage teamwork while giving positive feedback often and to provide opportunities for development. “After providing those things, the best thing a leader can do is to get out of their way and let them do it,” Plane says.

“I encourage young professionals to be open to listening to others in order to expand their own thoughts and knowledge base. I believe if we listen with positive attitudes and encourage each other to succeed, we will not only become better people, but will also be a powerful force in the workplace.”