After 34 years of service to CSI Leasing, Bill Gillula retired from his role as chairman of the board of directors of St. Louis-based CSI Leasing. Current CEO, Steve Hamilton, will assume the role of chairman.

Gillula started his career with Mark Twain Bank in St. Louis, rose to the position of chief financial officer of the bank and was president of Mark Twain Leasing. He joined CSI as CFO in 1984 and subsequently held the roles of chief operating officer, president, CEO and then became chairman in 2016.

Hamilton said, “Bill’s relationship with CSI goes back to its very early days when, as a banker in the 1970s, he made the first loan to the company. When he joined CSI as CFO, he instituted policies and procedures that helped the company profitably grow from about 30 employees in 1984 to over 1,000 today, and to become one of the world’s largest high-tech leasing specialists, with operations in over 25 countries. Without his valuable guidance and judgment, we wouldn’t be in the strong position we are today.”

In 2015, Gillula helped engineer the deal that took CSI from a privately-held company, owned mostly by its employees, to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tokyo Century, a publicly- traded Japanese company.

Gillula said, “I’m proud that we were able to develop CSI into an industry leader with international scope, and that our shareholders, employees, and customers have benefitted from the merger with a great company like Tokyo Century. I’m pleased that as I retire from the board, CSI is enjoying its best year ever with a bright future ahead.”

Tokyo Century announced that Hamilton will assume the role of chairman of the board, director Toshio Kitamura will serve as vice chairman of the board, and Fred O’Neal, CSI’s chief operating officer, will become a board member.

CSI Leasing is an independent equipment leasing and equipment lifecycle services company. Established in 1972, CSI has operations throughout North, Central and South America, Europe and Asia.