Equipment Finance Cares held an event last week at Great American Insurance Group’s headquarters in Cincinnati. More than 40 equipment finance professionals representing 26 different organizations attended the event.

“We were excited to kick off EFC’s first event of 2022,” Jesse Johnson, vice president of sales and marketing for JDR Solutions and founder of Equipment Finance Cares, said. “Great American Insurance did an amazing job hosting, and we were able to showcase seven charities and foundations affiliated with the equipment finance industry.”

The program offered two industry thought leadership panels. First, Sean McKenna, a sales executive at Great American Insurance Group, moderated the Emerging Talent Advisory Council panel, which featured, Lexie Dressman of Huntington Equipment Finance, William Mennesson of AP Equipment Financing, Steven Holben of ENGS Commercial Finance and Ricky Rios of Commercial Equipment Finance. The second panel on best practices was moderated by Jesse Johnson and featured Nancy Robles of Eastern Funding, RJ Grimshaw of Unifi Equipment Finance, Bob Rinaldi of Rinaldi Advisory Services, Ed Rinaldi of PNC Equipment Finance and Liz Rinaldi of LEAF Commercial Capital.

The panel discussions touched on topics such as the Great Resignation, hiring and maintaining workforce retention, mental health of employees, the new office environment (onsite/hybrid/remote), what the younger generation is looking for in an employer, how to engage the younger workforce, how to incentivize younger talent and the best ways to recruit and retain younger talent.

The foundations showcased during the event included Operation New Uniform, the Cincinnati Nature Center, the Ridgewood School, Construction Angels, the Love Life Now Foundation, the Equipment Lease & Finance Foundation and the Chris Walker Education Fund.

“The EFC event in Cincinnati was indeed the perfect mix of EF industry education with clear focus on the humanistic side of EF, learning about several successful foundations and a fun outing at the Reds game,” Scott Thacker of Ivory Consulting said.

“This event provided a great forum to learn, connect and engage with individuals from the industry,” Chad Sluss of the National Equipment Finance Association said.
“I was grateful to have the opportunity to discuss some of the things that affect individuals in our industry and the foundations that are available to help,” Aimee Jackson of Great American Insurance Group said.

The next Equipment Finance Cares event will be on June 21 and be hosted by Honour Capital at the Midland Hills Country Club in Roseville, MN.