Leasepath, a cloud-first Intelligent Workplace Finance Origination (LOS) and Customer Engagement (CRM) platform built for asset finance, expanded its leadership team with the addition of equipment finance industry veteran Michael Baez as vice president of professional services and customer strategy.

Baez has more than three decades of experience and will provide leadership and direction to Leasepath. In this newly created leadership position, Baez will lead the company’s delivery and implementation practices and oversee the development of new customer offerings.

“We are in a period of rapid growth and adding Mike to the leadership team will ensure that we continue to exceed customer expectations at all phases, from design through the hand-off and beyond,” Jeff Bilbrey, CEO of Leasepath, said. “Mike’s unique mix of skills and experience is exactly what we need at Leasepath to help lead us into the next phase of our growth.”

Baez has spent more than 35 years in the financial services industry working across multiple business domains, including equipment finance, commercial and consumer lending, credit and risk administration, payments, private banking, operations and technology.

A resident of New Jersey, Baez served for more than eight years as a director of banking and diversified financials at Capgemini. In this role, he oversaw IT strategy, system selection and digital transformation efforts within the leasing and lending practice. Additionally, he was the managing editor and a contributing author for eight years to the annual ELFA Business Technology Performance Index (BTPI), which is presented jointly by Capgemini and the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association.

Baez began building his expertise with Citigroup, where he held positions of increasing responsibility throughout his 24-year tenure with the company, including time as vice president and senior client manager with CitiCapital. During his career, he has also spent time working with SunGard Financial Services and GE Treasury.

“Businesses today want to implement solutions and changes at a faster pace than ever before,” Baez said. “The Leasepath platform is the best kept secret in equipment finance. Built on the latest technology, Leasepath can deliver on the pace of change that the industry desires so that our customers [can] be competitive not just today but also tomorrow. I am excited to come aboard at a time when Leasepath is poised to change the industry.”

Baez is a member of the ELFA and has served on multiple committees, including the ELFA Equality Steering Committee and the ELFA Technology Working Group. He has also served as executive sponsor for Capgemini’s Hispanic Opportunity and Leadership Achievement (HOLA) employee resource group.