Key Equipment Finance announced Gina Ringgenberg has joined the company as vice president and leasing manager for the company’s federal team.

Ringgenberg’s role is unique in that it marks the first time the federal group has hired a professional from the banking environment and will invest in a year of training to help her develop into a member of the federal sales team. Through this customized training program, Ringgenberg will build her foundational federal skills through rotational training from the company’s Colorado headquarters before moving to Reston, VA, where she will be based.

“Like the equipment finance industry overall, the federal finance market has a limited pool of skilled sales professionals. We recognize that in order for us to plan for future growth and sustainability, we need to find a way to develop our internal talent into solutions-based sales professionals,” said Art Hyman, senior vice president and manager of Key Government Finance. “Gina has an outstanding track record for project management and client service and will make an excellent addition to the Key Government Finance sales team.”

Ringgenberg joined KeyCorp in 2003 and has held several roles with increasing responsibility within the company over the past 13 years, including serving as associate vice president of KeyBanc Capital Markets and, most recently, vice president of strategic partner management. Prior to joining KeyCorp, she held several key roles with National City Corporation, KPMG and InfoEngineering.

The move supports the Emerging Talent initiative of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association, a program spearheaded by Key Equipment Finance President Adam Warner during his time as the ELFA’s chairman of the board of directors in 2014. The goal of the Emerging Talent initiative is to help attract younger and emerging talent to the equipment finance industry.

“Our industry is focused on young and emerging leaders. In order to sustain our companies and our industry, we have to find creative ways to attract new people with new ideas to careers in equipment leasing and finance,” Warner said. “We hope this innovative model of building an equipment leasing professional from the ‘ground up’ will repeat itself to grow our team of skilled sales professionals to keep up with the growing demands of federal finance.”