Marci Slagle’s entry into equipment finance was unexpected, but once she rolled her sleeves up, she found it was the place for her career to flourish. Out of college, she worked briefly as a stockbroker before joining Amembal Capital, where she spent 12 years and created the leasing company’s buy desk. After completing the same task for Tetra and VFI, two other Salt Lake City-based independent lessors, she accepted a job with 36th Street Capital.

When BankFinancial recruited Slagle in Q1/20, offering her the role of president to run its entire leasing and finance group, which includes small ticket, middle-market, corporate government and lessor finance lines of credit programs, she was excited to join a bank that was all-in for independent lessors.

Fast forward two years and Slagle has bolstered BankFinancial’s equipment leasing group through diversification of its capabilities and braced through other challenges to build a national team where cohesion and outreach to the market are her top priorities.

It’s been harder than she initially thought, Slagle admits, citing the Great Resignation throttling an already tight talent market, but she’s managed to add some excellent team members despite the challenges. Slagle plans to assemble an solid team that can build, grow and learn together.

BankFinancial continues to look for strong sales talent, Slagle says, as the bank continues to build out its equipment leasing group, among other newly added departments, throughout 2022.

If the COVID-19 pandemic taught Slagle anything, it was to prepare for the next unforeseeable downturn or the next ‘big event’ to rock our collective worlds. Looking ahead, Slagle is concerned about the state of the economy and inevitability of a recession, ongoing supply chain issues and the lingering specter of COVID-19 and whatever else the universe has to throw at us.

However, instead of fearing what may come, Slagle cites BankFinancial’s previous tenacity and strategy that has delivered the company to this point in time. Keeping a calm head and her feet firmly planted on the ground will help Slagle and her team continue to mitigate risks and to navigate whatever may be hiding beyond the horizon.

“I’m very grateful to have found this industry and to still be in it,” Slagle says. “You get to learn new things every day. Some of my very best friends and colleagues I’ve met in the industry. I’m pleased to still be standing and looking forward.”