Dexter Van Dango is a pen name for a real person who is a senior executive with more than 25 years of experience in the equipment leasing industry. A self-described portly, middle-aged, graying, balding leasing guy in the twilight of a mediocre career, Van Dango will provide occasional insight from the front lines via Monitor.

Ian Koplin is Editor for Monitor, ABFJournal, DealMaker and Commercial Factor magazines.

Jeff Barron is Managing Director, Head of Leasing National Sales for The Bancorp Commercial Fleet Leasing with 30 years of commercial fleet leasing experience.

Kenneth P. Weinberg is a Partner of Rimon, P.C. and practices in the area of commercial finance, focusing on equipment leasing, equipment finance and renewable energy project finance. He has penned Dispatches from the Trenches since 2002.

Patrick Gaskins, Senior Vice President Fleet Solutions at Corcentric Fleet Solutions, oversees both sales and operations for fleet offerings. Gaskins has grown the fleet services area by implementing an asset management database and a data-driven approach to providing clients with visibility into all areas of their fleet spend. He joined Corcentric in 2010, bringing over 30 years of experience as a financial services professional in the transportation industry.

Paul J. Menzel is a vice chairman of The Alta Group. He has deep knowledge of the independent and bank small-ticket leasing sectors and is a proponent of life-long learning and leadership development. Menzel spent decades managing small-ticket leasing portfolio operations in Santa Barbara, CA, starting his career in 1975 with Puritan Leasing Company. He led this entity through three subsequent acquisitions. Last year, Menzel retired from his position as CEO of Financial Pacific Leasing, an Umpqua Bank company, after successfully implementing a succession plan. He is a past ELFA board member and chaired the association’s code of fair business practices and small-ticket business council committees.

Paul Vecker is president and CEO of Macrolease.

Phil Neuffer is senior editor of ABF Journal.

Rita E. Garwood is editor in chief of Monitor.

Robert Preville is the co-founder and CEO of KWIPPED, a tech firm that develops solutions for B2B equipment sales. Preville is a serial entrepreneur and investor, having founded and led several companies in the B2B arena. Prior to KWIPPED, Preville founded and sold GlobalTestSupply.com, a provider of test and measurement equipment that ranked No. 800 on the Inc. 5000 fastest growing companies list. Prior to that, he was the founding employee and vice president of sales for MFG.com, an online manufacturing marketplace and a portfolio company of Jeff Bezos’s Bezos Expeditions.

Scott Nelson is the president and chief digital officer of Tamarack Technology. He is an expert in technology strategy and development including AI and automation as well as an industry expert in equipment finance. Nelson leads the company’s efforts to expand its impact on the industry through innovation using new technologies and digital transformation strategies. In his dual role at Tamarack, Nelson is responsible for the company’s vision and strategic planning as well as business operations across professional services and Tamarack’s suite of AI products. He has more than 30 years of strategic technology development, deployment and design thinking experience working with both entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 companies.