The board of directors of the Certified Lease Professional (CLP) Foundation is proud to announce that Theresa Kabot, CLP is the recipient of the first annual Cindy Spurdle Award of Excellence. Kabot was presented a plaque at the National Equipment Financial Association (NEFA) Funding Symposium in Washington, DC by John Rosenlund, CLP of Portfolio Financial Services, president-elect of NEFA and treasurer of the CLP Foundation and by Reid Raykovich, CLP, executive director of the CLP Foundation.

Spurdle was the first and only executive director of the CLP Foundation since its inception in May 2000 until June 2012. The award was created to acknowledge the CLP who has contributed the most to the industry and best represents the CLP ideals.

“The board’s decision to present the first award to Theresa Kabot, CLP, was most definitely the right decision,” Spurdle said. “Theresa is that special individual and much more. She has given so much of her time and talents to not only promote and introduce the CLP Program to the equipment leasing industry but through her business, K2 Funding, she has worked tirelessly to provide her lessees with the best transactions and funding opportunities she could find to meet their needs. During her two years serving as president of the CLP Foundation, Theresa faced many challenges. She took them head on and turned those challenges into completed projects to grow the Foundation and help to educate other leasing professionals through the CLP Program. She is a perfect example of what the designation Certified Lease Professional stands for.”

The board also announced that John Harders, of Arvest Equipment Finance, is the industry’s latest Certified Lease Professional. The letters “CLP” behind his name is a visible recognition of his experience in the industry and his professional achievement in having passed the CLP Exam. Harders is the fifth at Arvest to become a CLP.