Grow With the Flow: Tina Eickhoff Prioritizes Interconnectivity, Innovation and Team Advancement

by Brianna Wilson

Brianna Wilson is managing editor of Monitor.



Tina Eickhoff, U.S. Bank’s new head of equipment finance, sees the industry as a landscape for opportunity. She is approaching her new role with a growth mindset, a passion for giving back and a dedicated team who she acknowledges as key to their ongoing success.

Tina Eickhoff
Head of Equipment Finance
U.S. Bank

Six months ago, Tina Eickhoff took a “leap of faith,” putting her hand in for soon-to-retire Anthony “Tony” Cracchiolo’s role as head of equipment finance for U.S. Bank. Never one to focus on titles, Eickhoff felt she could add tremendous value to the bank by taking over its equipment finance division. Her first step to doing so has been to add expertise to Cracchiolo’s team.

“The couple of roles I added really strengthens the senior leadership team, and I know they will set us up for strong success into the future,” Eickhoff says. “I couldn’t be more proud of the team we have — a lot of talent, tenure and so much experience.”

Grow With the Flow

Today, with a strong team in place, Eickhoff’s priorities are centered around growth. First, she aims to ensure her team can work through any challenges that may take shape through the equipment finance and economic landscape. Her motto, going into her first off-site team meeting in September, was to be interconnected with the rest of the bank and to “grow with the flow.”

“There will always be internal and external factors,” Eickhoff says. She has, for example, a critical eye on regulation (particularly 1071’s impact on the industry), the entrance of private credit into equipment finance, economic impacts and the rate environment. “We’re in an interesting timeframe, industry-wise. There’s lots of change going on.”

Despite these various external factors, Eickhoff’s priority is to focus on the future and not let herself nor her team stray away from their growth initiatives. She believes any challenges in the market can and should be turned into opportunities, or otherwise balanced against opportunities, so the U.S. Bank Equipment Finance team can constantly move forward and foster success for the bank and its clients. “Our mission now is to answer, one, are we up for the challenge? Because it’s not going to be easy,” Eickhoff says. “And, two, how are we going to best drive success and make a difference? These are top-of-mind for me.”

Importantly, Eickhoff wants to ensure the equipment finance division is aligned with the rest of the bank. She aims to constantly empower her team to deliver success for the organization and ensure her team benefits not only the equipment finance business, but U.S. Bank as a whole. “We are an accretive credit product, which is valuable to the overall organization,” Eickhoff says. “We have the opportunity to really grow, add value and have a positive impact on the overall organization, our customers and our shareholders.”

The U.S. Bank Equipment Finance team is laser-focused on better supporting customers’ success, which means being efficient, allowing more flexibility and thinking strategically about how to offer different and unique products. “Client advocacy is ingrained in our DNA,” Eickhoff says. “We need to always adapt and change our client advocacy standpoint, which means adapting to the  changes in the world and industry, as well as to the needs of our customers and clients.”

For Eickhoff, the first step to achieving these efficiencies means ensuring that the U.S. Bank Equipment Finance team is being innovative and implementing AI and automation tools wherever possible to make things easier both internally and for their customer base.

“We’re a product that can lead to other opportunities within the bank and that I’m really excited about,” Eickhoff says. “There’s more value we can bring to our customers and clients beyond equipment finance, which means [the equipment finance division] needs to leverage the whole bank more frequently in our day-to-day.”

Taking Leaps of Faith

Eickhoff is more than prepared to step into a world of innovation and industry challenges, with a long history of taking leaps of faith. Putting her hand in for Cracchiolo’s position, entering the equipment finance space with an accounting and finance background and facing the transition from leading projects to leading people are key examples.

As Eickhoff started to manage teams, she balanced a lack of formal management or leadership training programs with the shift from fellow peer to a leader of her peers. Admittedly, Eickhoff says, it wasn’t always easy; however, taking a step back and evaluating these challenges to pinpoint how she could overcome them helped her realize that collaborating with and learning from others is imperative. “I owe a lot of my success to the leaders I’ve had an opportunity to work with as well as the development and growth opportunities U.S. Bank has provided me over the last 25 years,” Eickhoff says. “Those leaders and development opportunities have influenced, pushed and challenged me to grow and get to where I am today.”

Learning, Growing, Giving Back

Eickhoff’s passions as a leader are adding value, making a difference and giving back. Through her first 23 years in equipment finance, Eickhoff consistently broadened her horizon of the full equipment finance organization. She now has the benefit of seeing the bigger picture in finance because she was given exposure to all areas of the business and played a part in supporting every function: sales, credit, pricing, documentations, customer service, technology, data management, finance, accounting and more.

“Through every one of these opportunities, I realized how important the ability to learn is to your overall growth and success,” Eickhoff says. She aims to share the importance of having such a broad view of the equipment finance landscape, being curious, asking questions, and transformation with her team, encouraging them to keep learning and growing every day to drive success.

In the near future, Eickhoff sees herself playing a bigger role in industry associations, with customers and U.S. Bank’s communities. She also hopes to be an inspiration for other women leaders as the equipment finance industry slowly becomes more diverse. “The industry has been male-dominated for years,” Eickhoff says. “I want to be an example of a strong, successful executive woman leader, specifically in this space and for U.S. Bank.”

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