Verdant Commercial Capital expanded its team by hiring five new members, including Aimee Bell, Audrey Wanless and Derek Onkalo, who joined the company’s automotive repair equipment financing unit within its industrial vertical.

Bell joined Verdant as a vice president and relationship manager. Bell has spent more than 20 years in the equipment finance industry and has worked with companies such as Lease Corporation of America and Popular Equipment Finance.

Wanless also joined as a vice president and relationship manager. With 35 years of experience in the automotive equipment financing industry, Wanless joined Verdant from prior roles at Lease Corporation of America and GreatAmerica Leasing.

Onkalo joined Verdant as an associate relationship manager. Onkalo devoted the last five years to working with dealers to support customers’ equipment finance needs while supporting an automotive team at Lease Corporation of America.

In addition to these hires, Verdant also added Jaime McCarley as vice president and relationship manager in manufacturing and Chris McKnight as a vice president a relationship manager.

McCarley specializes in large original equipment manufacturers and dealers. A 20-year industry veteran, McCarley developed an affinity for equipment finance after working in commercial banking. Most recently, McCarley worked at ENGS/Mitsubishi HC Capital.

McKnight will represent Verdant in Synovus Equipment Leasing, a partnership between Verdant and Synovus Bank that offers equipment financing for Synovus commercial customers. McKnight has worked in the equipment finance industry for 20 years, most recently at Huntington National Bank.

“We proudly welcome these five industry veterans who will deepen Verdant’s subject matter expertise in their specific verticals,” Brian Lowe, chief commercial officer of Verdant Commercial Capital, said. “Aimee, Audrey, Derek, Jaime and Chris will provide unparalleled service to our vendor partners and their customers.”

With the addition of these new team members, Verdant now has 94 associates in five offices in the U.S.