The Equipment Leasing and Finance Association mourns the passing of David H. Fenig, who served as ELFA Vice President of Federal Government Relations for the past eight years. Fenig will be remembered as a valued friend, trusted colleague and accomplished advocate on behalf of the equipment leasing and finance industry.

At ELFA, Fenig directed and managed federal regulatory and legislative programs with the Administration and the U.S. Congress for the equipment leasing and finance industry. He also managed the work of several ELFA governance bodies, including the Federal Tax Committee; the Air, Rail and Marine Subcommittee of the Legal Committee; the Financial Services Regulations Subcommittee of the Legal Committee; the Federal Subcommittee of the Public Sector Finance Committee; the Healthcare Committee; and the Independent Middle Market Business Council Steering Committee. In addition, he served as treasurer for ELFA’s political action committee, LeasePAC.

Fenig worked closely with the White House and Congress during the consideration and enactment of major tax legislation, including the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, which revised the tax treatment of equipment leasing arrangements, and tax economic stimulus legislation, including the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. In the financial services arena, he was actively involved in the consideration of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 and the regulatory programs stemming from that Act including the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility program. In addition, Fenig was engaged in the consideration of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, which revised the bankruptcy treatment afforded equipment lessors.

Prior to joining ELFA, Fenig served as a vice president at the government affairs firms of Van Scoyoc Associates and BKSH & Associates (formerly Black Kelly Scruggs & Healey), where he specialized in the taxation, financial services, international trade and benefits areas for a series of Fortune 100 and international clients. He worked extensively on revisions to the international tax regimes, the federal transportation excise tax program, as well as changes to the Investment Company Act governing private investment funds. He also served for six years in the U.S. Senate as Tax Counsel and Legislative Director to Sen. Spark Matsunaga (D-HI), a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee. During his tenure in the Senate, Fenig played a key role in the consideration and enactment of the Tax Reform Act of 1986.

Fenig received a Bachelor of Arts degree with distinction in government from the University of Virginia and a law degree from the College of William & Mary, where he served as Notes and Comments Editor of the William & Mary Law Review.