The Certified Lease & Finance Professional (CLFP) Foundation announced 19 new commercial equipment finance professionals who recently passed the eight-hour online exam. The majority of the new CLFPs are from the two most recent Academies for Lease & Finance Professionals (ALFP) hosted by First Foundation Bank and Arvest Equipment Finance. The new CLFPs are:

• Assal Asgarinejad, funding manager, Partners Capital Group.
• Andrew Berkovitz, senior account manager, Taycor Financial
• Kersten Brown, documentation administrator, Western Equipment Finance
• Paul Coupland, vice president of Sales, Partners Capital Group.
• Farid (Freddy) Jalilvand, lease coordinator, Providence Capital Funding.
• Matthew Langdon, vice president, Business Development, Stanton Leasing.
• Garrett Reetz, AVP Equipment Finance credit manager, First Foundation Bank
• Tom Shin, credit officer II, Hanmi Bank
• Drew Christopher, assistant vice president, Sales, First American Equipment Finance
• Kirsten Schoenborn, sales analyst, First American Equipment Finance
• Derek Anniston, director of operations, American Leasing & Financial
• Emily Blair, senior account manager, NCMIC Finance.
• Richard Dierks, equipment finance specialist, Arvest Equipment Finance
• Allen Glynn, business development, KLC Financial.
• Mike Miller, business development manager, NCMIC Finance.
• Melissa Pagliai, regional sales manager, DLL
• Charles Reed-Dustin, director of sales, American Leasing & Financial
• Joshua Smith, sales support specialist, Arvest Equipment Finance
• Joel Johnson, vice president, First American Equipment

“In an industry with so many variables, choices and ever-changing regulations, it is important to be knowledgeable and credible in order to best serve customers. The CLFP designation is widely regarded as the highest level of certification among my peers and I am honored to join such an elite group of professionals,” Dierks said.

The CLFP designation is the only certification for the equipment finance industry and there are currently 573 active Certified Lease & Finance Professionals and Associates in the U.S., Canada and Australia.