Bill Phelan, CEO of Trust2Connect and PrivateCap, plays a pivotal role in advancing innovation across the equipment finance industry. Alongside Barry Ripes, president and co-founder of PrivateCap, Phelan is helping connect equipment finance originators with institutional investors by communicating the industry’s risk-and-return story, expanding access to capital and partnering with originators to support business growth.

At Trust2Connect, Phelan is working to digitize fragmented data sources used to evaluate lessee applicants. “Business identity is fragmented today from many different sources with confusing data,” Phelan says. “Making sense of multiple sources is the first step to further automate small-ticket transactions.”

Across Trust2Connect and PrivateCap, Phelan is also closely tracking industry volume, which he views as a key metric for helping equipment finance stay competitive with other lending providers.