CEO & President
CRAIG S. WEINEWUTH
Mr. Weinewuth is a principal and shareholder of ENGS Commercial Finance Co. Prior to Engs, Mr. Weinewuth co-founded MeriCap Credit in 2005, where he was president and CEO of this private equity backed commercial equipment finance company, and led this company to a market leader in truck, trailer and construction equipment finance. Prior to MeriCap, Mr. Weinewuth was the GM for American Express Business Finance until its sale to Key Bank in 2005. American Express Business Finance was a $1.8 billion nationally recognized commercial finance company with annual originations of over $850 million in the primary segments of healthcare, office products, IT, franchise, commercial vehicle, and commercial & industrial.
Mr. Weinewuth has been in the commercial finance and leasing industry since the early 1990’s, holding a wide range of positions from corporate counsel to a variety of executive and general manager experience with two Fortune 100 companies to principal and co-founder of Capital Alliance Financial Services, LLC, a de novo commercial equipment finance company which was acquired by First Sierra, which itself was subsequently acquired by American Express in 2001. Mr. Weinewuth holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting & finance from the University of Wisconsin School of Business and Juris Doctor from DePaul University School of Law.
EVP, Chief Marketing Officer
JAMES B. FREUND
Mr. Freund is a principal and shareholder of ENGS Commercial Finance Co. and is responsible for the company’s Sales, Originations and Marketing. Prior to ENGS, Mr. Freund co-founded MeriCap Credit in 2005, where he served as Executive Vice President Sales, Marketing and Asset Management responsibilities of this private equity backed commercial equipment finance company. Mr. Freund led the originations for this company into a market leader in Truck, Trailer and Construction equipment finance.
Prior to MeriCap, Mr. Freund served as Senior Vice President/Director for American Express Business Finance, where he led the growth of the Commercial Vehicle and the Commercial and Industrial Equipment segments into market leaders. Mr. Freund started his commercial finance career in 1988 with Transamerica Commercial Finance Corp., where he held the title of Senior Legal Counsel responsible for the legal affairs of the company’s largest business segment.
Mr. Freund became principal and co-found of Capital Alliance Financial Services, LLC, a de novo commercial equipment finance company which was acquired by First Sierra which itself was subsequently acquired by American Express in 2001. Mr. Freund earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Marquette University School of Business, a Juris Doctor from The John Marshall Law School and a Masters in Business Administration from Loyola University Quinlan School of Business (Chicago).
Chief Financial Officer
JOHN M. VANDE MOORE
Mr. Vande Moore is the Chief Financial Officer of ENGS Commercial Finance where he is responsible for overall financial management of the company, its financial reporting and multiple corporate functions including Accounting, Capital Markets, Treasury, Information Technology and Human Resources.
Mr. Vande Moore has extensive operational and financial experience in commercial lending and equipment finance. He was formerly CFO and Co-founder of several private equity backed equipment finance organizations. Prior to that he was the CFO for Comdisco’s $5 billion technology equipment finance division.
Previously, Mr. Vande Moore held positions at Brunswick Corporation’s Life Fitness division. He began his finance career at GE Capital’s Corporate Finance Group.
Mr. Vande Moore holds a Bachelors degree in Finance from the University of Wisconsin Madison and Master of Accountancy degree from DePaul University. He is a registered CPA in Illinois. Mr. Vande Moore is married with two children and lives in the Chicagoland area.
Chief Risk Officer
JOHN C. CARROLL
Prior to joining ENGS, Mr. Carroll spent 15 years at Citibank managing credit risk and strategy for an array of domestic and international loan portfolios, including partnerships with many of the best known and largest names in the US commerce and transportation space. In addition to his large corporate relationships, Mr. Carroll also managed dealer-based portfolios, comprised of $2.5+ billion of aggregated dealer-originated receivables. Most recently he was the Chief Decision Management officer for an $8 billion portfolio, leading all analytical and strategy efforts for a Private Label and Co-Brand relationship with a top-10 US retailer. Prior to his time at Citi, Mr. Carroll held positions of increasing responsibility in the risk management and analytical space at Morgan Stanley/Discover, First Chicago and Signet Bank.
Mr. Carroll’s forte is in combining analytically derived insights with regression analysis to create risk policy and strategy that is intuitive and empirically sound. Mr. Carroll spent many years mining data and has leveraged that experience in all elements of risk management, guiding super prime and sub-prime portfolios through challenging and tumultuous economic environments.
Mr. Carroll has a degree in economics from The University of Chicago as well as substantive coursework at The London School of Economics.
Managing Director, Industrial Equipment Division
KEN WUETHRICH
In the business for nearly thirty years Ken has built a career around finding ways to help his customers acquire the equipment they need to grow their business. Formerly President of Connext Financial – a company originally formed in 1996 – but back in the early 80’s he was introduced to the world of finance when the business computer systems he was selling couldn’t be acquired without the offer to provide the capital to do so. That began a life of building programs and a funding strategy that allowed large and small companies to easily get the capital they need. Things then grew into the beauty of providing lessons learned and useful tools to help vendors – those selling the equipment – to offer the right financing tools in just the right way. He calls it business intelligence, knowing our customers and what they want. Helping them and watching them grow. He is resourceful, hardworking and loves to find financing solutions. It can be done. Fun fact: Ken now enjoys eight grandchildren.
Senior Vice President, Industrial Equipment Division
DAVID STEARNS
With decades of experience David created a vendor finance consulting firm with the idea that to succeed you have to “become the customer.” This insight and perspective, focused in graphic arts and printing, has enabled David to thrive in an environment that has been defined by sweeping technological and market changes. As a founding member of Graphic Arts Capital and OneWorld Business Finance (the nation’s only equipment finance cooperative), David has found innovative financing solutions to get vendor deals done. His consulting firm has created and managed some of the industry’s largest and most successful vendor finance programs. Through the creation, management and administration of in-house, captive-oriented financing programs, David’s work has enabled equipment vendors to achieve incremental revenue increases of more than 20%.
Senior Vice President of Credit
WAYNE H. PASS
Mr. Pass is the Chief Credit Officer, Senior Vice President of Credit for the organization. Prior to joining ENGS, Mr. Pass was Vice President and Director of Credit for the Transportation & Construction Credit Divisions for Key Equipment Finance and American Express Business Finance, where oversaw the growth from $300MM to $1.3BB in assets. Earlier in his career, he had Vice President and senior roles at CitiCapital Commercial Corp, Financial Federal Credit and Orix Credit Alliance. Mr. Pass holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Miami, FL.
Senior Vice President, Capital Markets
SCOTT M. FRANKLIN
Mr. Franklin is the Senior Vice President of Capital Markets for the organization. He is primarily responsible for all capital markets activities, including negotiating, executing and reporting on third party lending arrangements. Additionally, Mr. Franklin leads the evaluation and execution of potential portfolio acquisition opportunities. Prior to joining ENGS, Mr. Franklin spent almost 20 years with the Bank of Montreal, most recently as a Managing Director in the US Securitization Group, responsible for the origination and structuring of Asset Backed Securities, specializing in equipment finance transactions. Earlier in his career, Mr. Franklin held a number of Accounting and Audit positions for a few large international banking organizations. Mr. Franklin has a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Marquette University as well as an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Mr. Franklin is a registered CPA in Illinois.
Vice President Portfolio Group
BJ FERNEAU
Mr. Ferneau is the Vice President of the Portfolio Management Group. His current responsibilities encompass management of customer service, collections, asset management, deficiency collections/recovery, and bankruptcy monitoring. Prior to joining ENGS, Mr. Ferneau was the Small-Ticket Restructure and Commercial Vehicle Credit Manager with Key Equipment Finance. He has almost 20 years in the finance industry with companies like General Motors Acceptance Corporation, Mercedes Benz Commercial Credit, Daimler-Chrysler Financial Services, and American Express Business Finance. Mr. Ferneau has had increasing responsibilities throughout his career from customer service/collections, floor plan auditing, credit buying and management, and small ticket restructure work outs. Mr. Ferneau holds a Master Degree in Leadership Studies from North Central College, as well as a Bachelor of Arts degree from Eastern Illinois University.
Vice President of Operations
ROSALIE M. REYNOLDS
Ms. Reynolds has been in the commercial finance industry for over twenty-five years working with Fortune 100 companies such as American Express and Transamerica, as well as TCF Inventory Finance, Inc. and MeriCap Credit Corporation. Prior to ENGS, Ms. Reynolds was a Vice President at TCF Inventory Finance Co. where she supported the Legal Department and management of the Documentation Team, which prepared dealer loan documentation and perfection of TCF’s security interest with respect to such loans. During her tenure at MeriCap Credit and American Express Business Finance, Ms. Reynolds responsibilities included preparing, implementing and managing the Companies policies and procedures as related to the front-end processing of commercial finance/leasing contracts, vehicle titling, corporate secretary, licensing and qualification. During her tenure with Transamerica, Ms. Reynolds’ responsibilities included corporate secretary responsible for all licensing and qualification of a commercial finance organization with over 25 subsidiaries in the U.S. and Europe; the management and supervision of a ten plus legal department support staff and budgeting and administration of a 20 plus legal department. Ms. Reynolds received her B.A. degree from DePaul University, Chicago, IL.
Vice President of National Accounts
MARK M. ROSINSKI
Mr. Rosinski has 25 years of experience lending capital throughout the transportation industry in both retail and wholesale environments. His diverse background encompasses various leadership roles in Risk, Operations, and Sales departments gained with Transamerica Commercial Finance, Ford Motor Credit/Primus, Key Equipment Finance, American Express Business Finance and MeriCap Credit. In his current role, Mr. Rosinski draws on previous experience at American Express Business Finance and Key Equipment Finance where he grew the National Account Division to $175MM, encompassing marketing, closing and managing large national accounts and program sponsored portfolios. Mr. Rosinski graduated from the University of Iowa with a BS concentrating in Finance.
Senior Vice President, Information Systems
FRANKLIN D. SWANN
Mr. Swann is responsible for managing all of the technology systems for ENGS, including its core infrastructure software, reporting services, and hardware platform. Mr. Swann has over 30 years of professional experience bringing technology solutions to Fortune 500 and independent finance companies. Mr. Swann held similar roles at other equipment finance and software organizations such as Comdisco, Relational Funding and Instec Corporation.
Controller
ROB KOLEK
Mr. Kolek is the Corporate Controller of ENGS Commercial Finance responsible for Accounting, Financial Reporting, Payroll, Human Resource, Accounts Payable, and Tax. Prior to joining ENGS, Mr. Kolek oversaw accounting and financial reporting of Relational Technology Solutions, a premier independent technology solutions company focused on leasing ($1B in assets) and equipment supply. He has also held leadership roles at Hitachi Data Systems and Macquarie Rail. Mr. Kolek began his career in public accounting and consulting. He is a registered CPA in Illinois. He also holds a Bachelors degree in Accounting from Northern Illinois University and an M.B.A. in Finance from DePaul University.
Director of Syndications
THOMAS P. BRAIDA
Mr. Braida is the Director of Syndications for the organization. He is responsible for all lease and loan syndications, including negotiating master assignment agreements, marketing individual and portfolio sales, transaction pricing and developing and maintaining lender relationships. Mr. Braida has spent over 25 years in corporate finance in various senior credit and syndications roles at leading technology and financial services companies. Prior to joining ENGS, Mr. Braida was Managing Director at Cencor Capital, where he oversaw credit underwriting and syndications activities. Earlier in his career, he held Director and Vice President level roles at Apple, Cisco Capital & Cisco Systems, LINC Capital and Comdisco.
Mr. Braida has a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from Northern Illinois University and an MBA from DePaul University, Kelstadt Graduate School of Business.
Managing Director, Factoring
TANIA A. DANIEL
Tania Daniel leads ENGS Commercial Finance’s factoring division. Ms. Daniel has spent over fifteen years partnering with businesses to meet their working capital needs by providing cash flow solutions such as invoice factoring and other forms of asset based lending.
Over the course of her career, Ms. Daniel has held roles in executive management, risk and portfolio management, credit and underwriting, and sales and operations. She joined LSQ Funding Group in 2001 where she played an integral part in many areas of the company. She was able to use the knowledge she gained to grow within the organization and become the Vice President of Operations. Most recently, Ms. Daniel was Chief Operating Officer of Porter Capital Corporation where she oversaw daily operations, built a high performing team, developed a dynamic culture, and created strategies that enhanced the growth of the organization.
Director of Field Sales
GREG CLEMENS
Mr. Clemens is the Director of Field Sales leading the outside sales team. He has more than 30 years of sales and management experience in the commercial transportation finance industry. Prior to joining ENGS in 2012, Mr. Clemens held positions with MeriCap Credit, Key Equipment Finance, American Express Business Finance, SAFECO Credit, and Associates Commercial Corp., encompassing roles in Business Development, Operations, Credit, and Collections. In addition, Mr. Clemens managed finance and insurance departments for commercial truck dealership groups including Rush Truck Center.
Mr. Clemens earned his Bachelor of Science in Business from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He and his wife reside in the Denver, CO area.
Director of Inside Sales & Asset Management
CHRIS JOHANNESON
Mr. Johanneson is the Director of Inside Sales & Asset Management leading the inside sales team. He is charged with continuing the growth trajectory of these markets that have realized substantial growth year-over-year. He brings nearly 15 years of sales, management and distribution channel experience in the commercial transportation industry. Prior to joining ENGS, Mr. Johanneson held positions with increasing levels of responsibility at Navistar Inc. In his most recent position there, he was responsible for all aspects of central sales and pricing for the North America market. He built long standing and successful relationships with the Navistar’s Dealer channel which consists of over 500 locations. He was charged with overseeing and managing $8B in annual revenue and 60K+ gvw class 6-8 orders annually. He was successful in designing and executing sales strategies that generated $500M of incremental revenue annually. Mr. Johanneson is well respected in the commercial transportation industry continuing the tradition set forth by two generations of family members. His diverse background encompasses leadership roles in Sales, Pricing, Operations, and Procurement.
Mr. Johanneson earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management Information Systems from the University of Iowa, and a Masters in Business Administration from DePaul University (Chicago) in Marketing Management and Sales Leadership.
Director of Broker & Special Relationships
RODICA PIOTROWSKI
Ms. Piotrowski is responsible for managing the Company’s Inside Sales efforts and originating business through strategic relationships, new vendor relationships and the company’s existing customer base.
Ms. Piotrowski has over 20 years of experience in sales as well as commercial lending and equipment finance. Earlier in her career, she’s held senior roles at Ford Motor Credit and Ford Motor Credit Commercial Lending including Administration Supervisor, Customer Service/Collections Manager, Credit Manager, among leadership roles with other companies.
Ms. Piotrowski has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance from Loyola University, Chicago IL.