This has already been a big year for Monitor, and June gave us one of its highlights: LeadHER, our inaugural women’s leadership summit, held in Philadelphia. Hundreds of women from across the equipment finance industry spent two and a half days together. The companies that sent them made it clear this was a leadership investment, and the industry noticed. What began with focus groups and surveys became a program built entirely around what those women wanted, and we are proud of what we built. You’ll find the full recap inside this issue.
Following an event like that is no small task, but I couldn’t be more excited about what else is in this Monitor 100. This issue arrives against a backdrop unlike any we’ve covered before.
The numbers themselves tell a story of resilience: the 2026 Monitor 100 companies posted $593.8 billion in net assets and $211.9 billion in new business volume, with broad-based portfolio growth across nearly every segment even as full-time headcount contracted for a second straight year and some segments experienced a lull in originations. But the real story this year is what came next. A war-driven oil shock and a new Federal Reserve chair threw a wrench in plans, and the easing rate cycle so many anticipated has instead become an
extended, uncertain pause. Despite all of this, the group entered 2026 with optimistic forecasts — 86% expect asset and volume growth and 75% plan to grow headcount. We dig into all of it, alongside the AI adoption wave reshaping priorities across banks, independents and captives alike, in this year’s Monitor 100 report.
Of course, the numbers are only part of the picture. This issue’s executive interviews bring you Lara Yocarini of DLL on blending AI capability with the human relationships that have carried the company for 57 years; Anthony Perettine on building Peapack Capital’s culture from the inside out; Eric Miller on the remarkably fast, two-year climb that brought Ansley Park Capital into the ranking; Simon Harrsen on his plan to take CHG Meridian to $1 billion in the U.S.; and Shannon Smith on leading KLC Financial as CEO after spending 18 years
working his way up. We also hear from nine Monitor 100 executives in two articles focused on leadership and how they are navigating today’s market.
In our features, Valerie Gerard of The Alta Group explains why a proposed shift to semiannual SEC reporting is far more than an equity-markets story for equipment finance companies; Lara Tolland of nôrthteq closes out her four-part series on building the operational foundation that agentic AI actually needs to succeed; and Ty Schwamberger returns with The Collector Chronicles to unpack one of the most dangerous phrases in commercial collections: “they’ve always been a good payer.”
From everyone at Monitor, thank you for picking up this issue. We hope you find as much value in the Monitor 100 as we did creating it. We’ll be back soon with our Jul/Aug issue before you know it.