Valerie King
I grew up in Boise, Idaho, and my high school class consisted of 13 people. 40% of the school came from countries around the world. I earned an international baccalaureate degree and knew from the age of 12 I wanted to go to school in Boston. My younger brother went the opposite route—he headed to Portland, OR. I went to Wellesley College (right outside of Boston—close enough) and majored in theatre studies and anthropology. I was the president of the Shakespeare Society and I directed three plays in college; I acted in/produced/sound designed for maybe 25 more. I have lived in Idaho, Boston, New York City, Jamaica, St. Louis, Chicago, and San Francisco. I ended up in Philadelphia and this is my third stint living here—I just can’t stay away. I bought a house here—now I also can’t move away. I have a tech background and I’ve done some political campaigning. I’ve always been sales or sales-adjacent, but my passion is coaching. My husband is from Germany and my dog is from Kensington. He is a pug-cocker spaniel who is very lazy and very funny. I am childfree by choice. I am the Demand Gen/SDR Manager at Marlin Capital Solutions. I like people who are funny, intelligent, and generous. All day, I seek to laugh, make other people laugh, and shine a flashlight through the dark tunnel of one person’s career. I’m excited to work with you all.
Adam Ohme
Adam Ohme is Vice President of Underwriting at Channel, tasked with steering process and policy implementation and team development with a focus on the Equipment Finance product and shared Working Capital product responsibility.
Prior to joining Channel, Ohme was Lending Manager in the Commercial Vehicle Group at Wells Fargo where he managed a credit analyst team that funded +$500MM annually in flow/small ticket and middle ticket business transactions $10-500K. In his 13 years at Wells Fargo, Ohme served in various roles from branch management to commercial lending and played a vital part in instituting numerous compliance and regulatory requirements, including BSA due diligence.
Ohme holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management from St. John’s University, a Master of Business Administration from St. Mary’s University, and achieved his CLFP designation in May of 2021.
Riley Nemeth
I am a Vice President of Asset Management for Wintrust Commercial Finance in Frisco TX. I have held that role with WCF for 4.5 years and has been in the industry for over 6 years. I was born and raised in rural Northwest Nebraska, I am a passionate sports fan and also enjoy restoring old vehicles and woodworking. I am married to my high school sweetheart, Krista. We have no kids and one dog, Ruger. We both love to travel and attend concerts.
Rita Garwood
Rita Garwood is editor in chief of trade magazines Monitor, serving the equipment finance industry; ABF Journal, serving the commercial finance and asset-based lending industry; DealMaker, the magazine of the National Alliance of Commercial Loan Brokers and Commercial Factor, the magazine of the International Factoring Association.
Her 20 years of interviewing experience have come in handy as the host of Monitor Podcast+ and the DealMaker Talks video series.
Rita serves as managing editor of Monitor and DealMaker magazines, and she collaborates with the equipment finance industry to produce Monitor’s annual rankings, including the Monitor 100.
In addition to her current role, Rita has operated Garwood Writing and Editing Services, a Philadelphia-based freelance writing and editing business, since 2006. She specializes in topics related to commercial finance, and she has taken on assignments involving education, non-profits, and technology.
Experienced in public relations and marketing, Rita writes articles, blogs, press releases, newsletter content and marketing materials. She has also helped organizations create marketing calendars and manage their social media presence.
In 2013 to 2014, Rita served as research assistant to a doctoral candidate and conducted a series of interviews with educators after obtaining a NIH Protecting Human Subject Research Participants Certificate from The National Institutes of Health.
Currently, Rita serves on the auction committee of Charlestown Playhouse, a non-profit, parent-cooperative preschool that emphasizes learning through child-centered play. She manages marketing and social media campaigns for the school’s annual auction fundraisers, and she interviews teachers each month for the school’s newsletter.
Rita served as a Girl Scout troop leader from 2014 to 2019. During that time, she obtained Outdoor Overnight Training certification from Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania, took a troop of 12 girls on many overnight camping adventures and served as ‘cookie mom’ for three years.
Rita graduated magna cum laude from Kutztown University’s professional writing program in 2006 where she studied journalism, magazine writing, public relations, creative writing, copy and line editing and business writing.
In her spare time, Rita enjoys spending time with her husband and three children, reading, hiking, forest bathing, cooking with fresh organic produce from her local CSA, and pretending to be a photographer.
Joseph Turner
Joseph Turner is a Vice President responsible for Strategy and Analytics for Business Capital and has been with the firm since 2016. Joseph began his career at the bank through its two-year Finance Development Program and after three years in Finance transitioned into a role within Business Capital in 2019. He joined the bank straight after graduating from the University of North Florida (UNF) with dual Bachelor of Business Administration degrees in Finance and Economics. While in school, Joseph served as Student Body President and a Trustee on the UNF Board.
Erin Smith
Erin has 15+ years managing office buildouts and corporate events for mid-sized to large international organizations. Working with multiple internal and external stakeholders to ensure goals exceed expectations.
Lilia Romero
I have been in the finance industry for 16 years with more than 10 years focusing on title operations. I joined Dakota in 2016 as a “Customer Service/Title Analyst”. During my time at Dakota, I have held different roles, such as Lease Coordinator, Asset Management and more recently as the Title Department Manager. I helped Dakota create our title department and grow from a 1-person department to a 7-person department. I live in Los Angeles and when I’m not keeping busy with work, I spend my time with family and friends.
Ana Lage
My name is Ana Lage, I have been in the finance industry for 23 years. I am currently the AVP Documentation Manager at Eastern Funding LLC where I have been employed for almost 10 years. In addition to managing the documentation department I also focus on improving workflows and creating enhancements in originations. I am a critical member of the conversion team that successfully converted Eastern Funding’s enterprise platform. I am very enthusiastic about operational excellence passionate about my team’s growth and continuous improvement. Finally, I also chair 3 very active employee focused committees.