Justine Cook
During Justine’s tenure at CIT she has experience working in all aspects of the lease life cycle: residual setting, originations, collections and end of term servicing. Justine has also successfully worked the portfolio on due diligences, portfolio conversions (including international) and technology initiatives. A lot of focus was spent working closely with sales as new programs are onboarded to ensure proper servicing requirements. As new applications and enhancements are rolled out to support existing and new businesses Justine works to practice transformational change with the improvements. Most recently Justine was promoted from VP of Asset Management to a Director of Operations.
Veteran support is a passion of Justine’s and she is National Advocacy lead for the Be You Veterans employee resource group. Away from work Justine enjoys spending time at the beach with her family. Her two boys keep her busy fishing, boating, surfing and watching lacrosse tournaments.
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.
Rich Irwin
Richard Irwin is SVP and Chief Financial Officer at Marlin. Mr. Irwin is responsible for overseeing the company’s Accounting, Financial Planning & Analysis, Tax, and Treasury teams. Mr. Irwin joined Marlin as Treasurer, relaunching the Term ABS program after an 8-year hiatus, streamlining the syndicated secondary marketing process, assisting in M&A and due diligence activities, as well as overseeing the company’s general pricing strategy. Prior to joining Marlin in 2016, Mr. Irwin spent over 19 years at CIT Group Inc., holding various positions in Corporate Accounting, Treasury Risk Management, Funding, and Mergers & Acquisitions. During his time at CIT, Mr. Irwin was responsible for certain fundings of the US and Canadian Vendor Finance, US Factored Receivable, and the Global Aerospace and Rail portfolios as well as analyzing over 75 M&A transactions including the US acquisition of Direct Capital and CIT’s divestitures in Asia, Europe, and South America. Mr. Irwin earned a BS in Finance and an MBA from Rutgers University, earned the Certified Treasury Professional designation, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst charterholder.
Tara Berlingo
Tara has 15 plus years of HR experience, six of which have been spent at Peoples United Bank. She has supported a variety of different groups including corporate, sales, engineering and service across a variety of industries. She has been involved with 10 mergers and acquisitions throughout her career. Tara also has had the opportunity to manage, mentor and coach numerous people throughout her career. She served on the board of the western branch of the Society for Human Resources Management from 2006-2011 in the position of Chair of Student Affairs and Co-Chair of Community Affairs. She has a master’s degree in Integrated Marketing from Manhatanville College and an undergraduate degree in Criminal Justice from Salve Regina University. She also holds certificates in Mediation as well as Dale Carnegie. Tara currently lives in Stamford, Connecticut and works out of Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Tom Feierabend
Tom Feierabend is a Sales Director at LEAF Commercial Capital with 15 years of experience in Leasing/Sales. Tom currently manages a team of 15 members and provides the training and development of new and tenured Sales Reps to help them achieve their goals. He specializes in creating strategies to help close complicated transactions. A strong believer in open communication and interaction, you will find Tom sitting side by side with colleagues showing them how they can get to the next level of their career. On the weekend you can find him cooking, mostly behind a BBQ.
Tim Egan
My name is Tim Egan and I am from New Jersey. I work full time as Vice President of Compliance and Operations at a bank owned finance company in New York City. We finance laundromats, car washes, grocery stores, tow trucks and more. I have been in equipment finance for 15 years, which began documenting loans at a different bank owned finance company, where I landed after the military. I am a single parent of 4 kids between the ages of 11 & 19. I have half an MBA but don’t plan on going back to finish it up. I enjoy reading fiction and writing music. Happy to meet you.
Matt Diehl
I wear many hats at LEAF - which makes my role fun and exciting. I work closely with LEAF’s multiple business lines, shared services, parent organization, and external partners to serve our customers and advance our mission. My wife and I live in New Jersey with our two young children and feisty terrier. I was previously an entrepreneur, which led me to develop a passion for business strategy and creating unique growth opportunities.
Pam Molchan
My role at LEAF, along with my team of six, is to provide data analytics and reporting to all areas of the company to manage the business. I have a passion for data and delivering insights. I have been in the industry for thirty three years. My husband and I have two daughters. I am somewhat of a pioneer of working from home as I have had a hybrid schedule for twenty six years.
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.
Nicole White
Nicole White is a Director in Sales Operations at CIT Bank, a Division of First Citizens Bank & Trust Company. She has responsibility for Indirect Deal closings for Equipment Finance and oversees all Syndication closing activities for CIT’s small-ticket & mid-ticket transactions. This includes program management, deal structuring and booking. In her role she is further responsible for control management activities which cover quality assurance reviews, policies and procedures implementation, coordination with internal and external auditors, as well as providing onboarding support for new relationships and products.
Nicole has over 5 years of experience in the Commercial Leasing industry and has played an integral role in large portfolio acquisitions as well as Business Capital control projects. She joined CIT in May 2016.
She received a BS degree in Finance from the University of Florida – Warrington College of Business. Outside of work Nicole enjoys going to the beach and taking her two dogs on local trails.
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.
Brian Dundon
Brian Dundon joined First Financial in 2013 and currently serves as Senior Vice President. In this role, he oversees First Financial's credit, syndication, and portfolio management activities, with the ultimate goal of empowering First Financial and his colleagues to make well-informed, forward-thinking business decisions that will bring long-term benefit to its customers. Brian was drawn to leasing and finance after the Great Recession in 2008 and has since dedicated his 10+ year career to being a facilitator for smart, responsible business. Prior to joining First Financial, he was the Senior Credit Analyst for CHG-MERIDIAN’s U.S. operations, joining shortly after its founding in 2009.
Brian holds a B.A. in Economics from Wheaton College in Massachusetts. When not at work, he can be found baking artisan bread with his wife and daughter and finding new and creative ways to use CSA produce.
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.