The Equipment Leasing and Finance Association selected Joseph P. Sebik, director of tax at Siemens Financial Services, to receive the 2017 Michael J. Fleming Distinguished Service Award. The award honors individuals who have made significant contributions to the association and the equipment finance industry. Sebik will be formally recognized during a ceremony at the 56th ELFA Annual Convention in Orlando, FL, in October.

Sebik has been a major contributor to the ELFA’s advocacy and outreach efforts concerning lease accounting and financial reporting for more than a decade. He has served as an active member of the financial accounting committee for the past 13 years, helping to analyze issues related to the lease accounting project and other critical accounting matters. He has also helped educate members about the implications of these issues, facilitating web seminars on lease accounting and leading presentations at the ELFA Lease and Finance Accountants Conference on accounting, tax and other critical topics.

In addition, Sebik has played an instrumental role in ELFA’s federal advocacy efforts, with a special focus since 2014 in the area of tax reform. For the past three years he has served as chairman of the federal tax committee, helping to analyze and monitor legislative and regulatory tax issues and their impact on the equipment finance industry. In anticipation of tax reform discussions during the 115th Congress, he has led an effort to model the effect of potential tax reform plans on the industry.

Sebik also has written extensively on industry issues. He has published articles in the association’s Equipment Leasing & Finance magazine and Washington Report e-newsletter and the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation’s Journal of Equipment Lease Financing on topics ranging from accounting to tax reform to alternative energy. He also has authored numerous reference portfolios on accounting policy and practice and the economics of equipment finance for Bloomberg BNA, and brought Bloomberg BNA and ELFA together to cooperate on joint webinars.

Before joining Siemens Financial Services, Sebik worked for Price Waterhouse, IBM Credit, Chase Equipment Leasing, Citicorp Global Equipment Finance and JPMorgan’s Tax Oriented Investment Group. Sebik has been a CPA in New York for more than 35 years.

“We are delighted to present this honor to Joe in appreciation of his outstanding contributions to ELFA and the equipment finance industry,” said Ralph Petta, ELFA president and CEO. “I’ve known Joe personally for a number of years. His dedicated volunteer spirit and leadership, especially in the areas of financial accounting and reporting, federal advocacy and professional development, have had a positive impact on the ELFA membership and the industry as a whole.”

“I am humbled by the honor presented to me by ELFA and by the recognition of my peers in the leasing industry,” Sebik said. “The service and efforts I am being honored for would not have been possible if not for the active engagement and support of the ELFA membership, the members of both the financial accounting committee and the federal tax committee and, lastly, the very supportive ELFA staff. I would also urge other members to volunteer their service to keep the ELFA the great association that it is.”