David Riggleman,
CEO & Managing Partner,
Delta Financial Group

Early in David Riggleman’s career, he established a home base in Florida, having moved from securities and investment banking with Butcher and Singer to Raymond James. When he was ready for a career shift after arriving in Florida, Riggleman reached out to the connections he made in Philadelphia, who happened to have an office in Clearwater, FL and received an offer that kickstarted his equipment finance career.

In October 2020, Riggleman and his business partner, Adam Woodard, collaborated to pioneer their own company, closing on their first private equity transaction in August 2021. They have since been backed by three financial sponsors: Peak Rock Capital, Oaktree Capital Management and Eagle Point Credit, which all hold minority stakes in their business. Each of the steps Riggleman took submerged him further into the equipment finance space, which he has now been a part of for almost 20 years.

An important aspect of Riggleman’s career in equipment finance is his collaborative leadership style. He emphasizes thinking collectively and sharing ideas in order to form, build upon and execute plans. His approach involves sitting down with his team to discuss the direction they want to go, rather than having one person call the shots. This, Riggleman says, builds team loyalty.

Because Delta Financial Group is still relatively new, Riggleman and his team are following a “crawl, walk, run” strategy to expand their product offering and asset expertise to address market opportunities. Currently, Riggleman is most concerned about the cost of capital and continuing to find capital partners who understand equipment risk and its benefits. However, Delta Financial is benefiting from the higher interest rate environment because, as an FMV shop, the company is not pushing through progressively higher rates to get to the customer.

A personal goal of Riggleman’s is to mentor the next generation of Delta Financial leaders to understand the company’s core values and business strategy. In tandem with mentoring younger employees and preparing Delta Financial for the rapidly-evolving future, Riggleman says the company will continue to invest in technology to upgrade its platform. Riggleman and his team have done an immense amount of work to get Delta Financial to where it is today while upholding their vision of continuous improvement, and they only plan to expand in the future. •