Crestmark Equipment Finance (CEF) announced a large number of promotions and new hires to expand the division and support growth.

Chris Emge was promoted to senior vice president, Western Division sales manager from first vice president. He is based in San Rafael, CA, and reports to Tom Rutherford, CEF division president.

Emge came to Crestmark in October 2014 with the company’s acquisition of TIP Capital, where he was regional vice president since 2010. Prior to that, he worked at Merrimak Capital, where he was vice president of sales, and U.S. Bancorp Oliver-Allen Technology Leasing, where he was a senior vice president.

John Crockett was promoted to first vice president, managing director, credit and underwriting from vice president. Based in Bloomfield Hills, MI, he reports to Mark Matheson, executive vice president, chief credit officer.

Crockett joined Crestmark in 2015 as managing director, credit and underwriting for the division. Previously, he managed the credit and collections departments at Macquarie Equipment Finance, where he last served as head of North American operations. He has also held management positions in credit, collections and operations for Dana Commercial Credit, Heller Financial (acquired by GE Capital in 2001) and CIT Systems Leasing (acquired by the Macquarie Group in 2008).

Stacey Farmer was promoted to first vice president, senior counsel. She is based in Bloomfield Hills and reports to James Recker, chief operating officer and general counsel.

Farmer joined Crestmark in October 2014 with the company’s acquisition of TIP Capital, where she was vice president, operations since 2007. Prior to joining TIP Capital, Farmer was in private practice with the law firm of Dickinson Wright.

Jeffrey Emrich was named chief information officer for CEF and first vice president of the bank. He is based in Bloomfield Hills and reports to Recker.

Emrich is rejoining Crestmark from Blue Bridge Financial, where he was vice president of information technology. From 2014 to 2016 he served Crestmark as vice president, information systems manager, a position he secured after Crestmark acquired TIP Capital, where he was chief information officer since 2002. He also held a director of information systems position at Lease Corporation of America.

David (Dave) McCallum was promoted to first vice president, controller, from vice president. He is based in Bloomfield Hills and reports to Jack Talkington, executive vice president and chief financial officer.

McCallum joined Crestmark in October 2014 with the company’s acquisition of TIP Capital, where he was controller since 2004. Previously, he served as auditor for Plante & Moran for 13 years.

James (Jim) Noyes joined Crestmark as first vice president, managing director – asset management and reports to Rutherford. Based in St. Cloud, MN, he joined Crestmark from BBVA Compass Financial, where he served as vice president and director of equipment management and global risk management since 2013. Earlier, he was the business development manager of the remarketing division for Lifespan Technology Asset Management, vice president for Somerset Asset Services and national account manager of commercial finance and leasing for IronPlanet. He has also served as senior vice president for RBS Asset Finance, Greater Bay Capital, Heller Financial and NationsCredit Commercial.

Dean Allman joined Crestmark as regional vice president, national account executive and represents CEF in the West. He is based in San Ramon, CA, and reports to Emge.

Allman joined Crestmark from SunTrust Equipment Finance and Leasing where he served as regional leasing director. Previously, he worked for Cisco Systems Capital, where he was financial solutions manager; Dell Financial Services, where he was account manager and Sun Microsystems, where he was regional leasing manager.

David Dieck joined Crestmark as collections manager and officer of the company. He is based in Bloomfield Hills and reports to Crockett. Dieck’s career includes positions at Lease Corporation of America, where he was financial services supervisor; World Credit, where he was large balance collector and CIS Management Services, where he served as collections specialist.

Laurie Larabell was promoted to vice president, director of tax from assistant vice president, director of tax. She is based in Bloomfield Hills and reports to McCallum.

Larabell joined Crestmark in October 2014 with the company’s acquisition of TIP Capital, where she was director of tax since June 2000. Before that, she was tax manager for AT&T Systems Leasing.

Tyler Leitow was promoted to assistant vice president, senior contract negotiator, from contract negotiator and officer of the bank. He is based in Bloomfield Hills and reports to Recker.

Leitow joined Crestmark in December 2016. Previously, he was an adjunct professor of business law at Washtenaw Community College, program manager and in-house counsel for UniFi Equipment Finance, commercial documentation specialist for Bank of Ann Arbor, an associate for Kane & Co. and served a judicial clerkship for The United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan.

Jodi McNamara was promoted to vice president, lease accounting manager from assistant vice president. She is based in Bloomfield Hills and reports to McCallum.

McNamara joined Crestmark in October 2014 with the company’s acquisition of TIP Capital, where she was an accountant since 2003. Previously, she worked for ComTech Capital and Rave Financial Services.

Kelly Neubecker was promoted to vice president, counsel, from assistant vice president, senior contract negotiator. In this role, she will be responsible for all syndications transactions and will manage the syndications administration team, while continuing to assist with documentation of CEF-originated transactions. She will also continue to oversee the division’s collection, litigation and bankruptcy matters. She is based in Bloomfield Hills and reports to Recker.

Neubecker joined Crestmark with the company’s 2014 acquisition of TIP Capital, where she was employed since 2007. Earlier in her career, she was an assistant general counsel with a real estate investment and management company.

Geoff Peters, CEF division vice president, syndications was promoted to first vice president of the bank. He is based in Bloomfield Hills and reports to Rutherford.

Peters joined Crestmark in 2014 with the company’s acquisition of TIP Capital, where he was chief credit officer and vice president, syndications since 2003. Prior to TIP Capital, his career includes positions at Varilease as assistant director, syndications; AT&T Systems Leasing as credit manager and U.S. Leasing/Ford Motor Credit Company as supervisor of administration, municipal finance.

Rebecca (Becci) Prehn is a manager of sales/operations and officer for CEF and was promoted to officer of the bank. She is based in Bloomfield Hills and reports to Crockett. Prehn has been a member of the CEF team since 2007.

Stephen Provo was promoted to assistant vice president, asset management and portfolio analyst/pricing in the Bloomfield Hills office. He joined Crestmark in 2016. Prior to that, he served as assistant vice president at Huntington Technology Finance and in various positions at Americorp Financial, Lease Corporation of America, CIT, AT&T Systems Leasing and in the U.S. Navy.

Mary Rasmussen joined Crestmark as a contract negotiator in January and was promoted to director of operations, assistant vice president. She is based in Bloomfield Hills and reports to Farmer.

Previously, Rasmussen served as senior manager, sales facilitator and vice president for Macquarie Equipment Finance, which acquired CIT Systems Leasing in 2008. During her 13-year tenure with CIT Systems Leasing, her roles included assistant vice president, lease operations; manager, contracts and funding; and contract negotiator analyst. Before entering the equipment leasing industry, she worked as a paralegal for the law firms of Dickinson Wright and Abbott Nicholson.

Marc Segal joined Crestmark as regional vice president, business development and represents CEF in the East. Based in Stowe, VT, he reports to Arick Levine, Eastern Division sales manager.

Segal came to Crestmark from Killick Aerospace, where he served as managing director – corporate development. Previously, he worked for Northfield Capital, where he was managing director; Integrated Funding Solutions, where he was managing director and Adheva, where he was executive vice president. His career began at BTM Capital, where he served for 18 years in roles that included managing director of the aviation division and vice president, senior marketing officer.

Chris Shaheen was promoted to assistant vice president, asset management from remarketing manager at Crestmark. Prior to joining Crestmark, he was an auditor at Plante Moran. He is a registered certified public accountant with expertise in financial reporting, asset management and remarketing.

Richard Sorgenfrei was promoted to tax manager and assistant vice president from senior tax accountant. He is based in Bloomfield Hills and reports to Larabell. Since 2007, Sorgenfrei had worked at TIP Capital, which was acquired by Crestmark in 2014.

Debbie Thomas joined Crestmark as assistant vice president, senior credit analyst and is based in Bloomfield Hills. She reports to Crockett.

Thomas came to Crestmark from Huntington Technology Finance, where she served for 25 years in roles that included portfolio manager, team leader, senior credit manager and contract negotiator/analyst. Previously, she worked for Comerica Bank, where she served as commercial loan analyst and also legal assistant II.

Robert Williams joined Crestmark as regional vice president, national account executive. He is based in Ladera Ranch, CA, and reports to Emge.

Williams came to Crestmark from First National Capital, where he served as an account executive. Previously, he worked for American Power Conversion, where he was a team lead service coordinator.

“We are proud to have such strong performers on our Crestmark team. Their experience and understanding of the leasing industry are a great asset to our division,” Rutherford said. “The team reflects our expertise and our strategy to continue to grow Crestmark’s Equipment Finance Division. I’m pleased to recognize our staff and congratulate them on a job well done.”