Shawn D. Holiday

Managing Director – Professional Development

Shawn Halladay brings 30 years of experience as a lessor, trainer, consultant and auditor to The Alta Group. Shawn's professional expertise stretches across all leasing sectors and around the globe. Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, he has served lessors throughout North America, South America, Asia, the Middle East and Europe, providing training in all aspects of equipment leasing. His consulting expertise includes vendor finance, accounting and reporting best practices, competitive analysis, strategic planning, litigation support, and accounting and quantitative analysis.

Shawn is managing principal of The Alta Group's Professional Development Division and has authored or co-authored eight books on equipment leasing, including A Guide to Equipment Leasing, An Introduction to Leasing and The Handbook of Equipment Leasing.

Shawn's strengths in accounting, tax law and analysis help Alta clients quantify the success of their business and evaluate emerging opportunities. His custom training courses, offered in several languages and tailored to meet the needs of varying geographic and industry markets and cultures, help lessors maximize the value of their human resources and deliver outstanding lease products and customer service.

A member of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA), Shawn serves on its Accounting Committee and the editorial board for the Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation’s Journal of Equipment Leasing and Finance.

Contact Information

Shawn Halladay
+1 801 322 4499       
+1 801 322 5454 fax
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Rafael Castillo-Triana

CEO, The Alta Group Latin American Region, LLC

Rafael Castillo-Triana, CEO of The Alta Group Latin American Region, LLC, based in Fort Lauderdale, is an international attorney with more than 27 years in the leasing industry. A former executive for a leasing company in South America, he later founded two leasing companies in Colombia. In 1990, he left his leasing management career behind and focused on serving as a legal counselor and consultant for lessors.

An expert in international leasing law, Rafael has been a keynote speaker at the World Leasing Convention three times. He represented the Colombian government in the drafting of the national convention for international financial leasing developed through the UNIDROIT convention. He has published two books on leasing, written numerous papers, prepared speeches and lectured at universities and law schools in the U.S.

Rafael’s in-depth knowledge of international leasing law and his experience in founding, developing and managing lease finance companies is invaluable to Alta clients seeking to establish and expand operations in Latin America. Beyond the legal and business issues involved in international finance, he is skilled in cross-cultural translation and balancing a lessor’s goals in a country or region with what the market can offer.

The Latin American Group has local presence in all Latin American countries. Rafael has built a database that includes more than names of strategic partners in the region, but also information about the executives, their concerns, key negotiating points and their place in the LAR market. Typical projects for Alta clients include market research, competitive analysis and strategic analysis, with a focus on vendor leasing.

Contact Information

Rafael Castillo-Triana
+1 954 389 7943      
+1 954 370 0493 fax 
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Jonathan L. Fales

Senior Managing Director

 For more than 34 years, Jon Fales, a senior managing director in The Alta Group, has worked in the information technology and equipment leasing fields. Prior to joining Alta, Jon held numerous positions around the world with IBM Global Financing, including general manager of Asia Pacific South Global Financing and a member of IBM Credit General Business Customer Financing Group, which focused on marketing leases through indirect dealer channels.

Today he leads Alta’s consulting practice in information technology markets worldwide. His years of experience in international business development have helped Alta clients launch and manage vendor finance programs in Latin America, Europe, the US and Asia, with a special emphasis on China. Jon also works in benchmarking operations, litigation support and strategic consulting, including market-entry analysis and business case development. His focus in all of his projects is on getting problems solved or opportunities quantified in a way that affects a client's profitability.

A former member of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) board of directors and executive committee, Jon meets regularly with leasing industry and association leaders to provide direction to the ELFA, define the issues affecting lessors and service providers and determine how to best serve ELFA members. Jon frequently presents at global leasing conferences, writes articles for leading industry magazines and is considered an expert in vendor finance.

 Contact Information

 Jonathan L. Fales
+1 423 239 2582      
+1 423 239 2583 fax
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Paul Bent

Senior Managing Director
Legal Support Services

Paul Bent is a seasoned equipment leasing executive who currently serves as senior managing director of The Alta Group and manager of its Legal Support Services practice. With several decades of experience as an investment banker, equipment leasing CEO, and transaction attorney, Paul has participated in all facets of leasing and corporate financing. As a leader in the consultancy, he provides Alta clients with insight and advice in assessing both strategic and tactical business plans and alternatives, developing and implementing leasing transactions and structures, reviewing business and documentation practices, and analyzing asset-based financing alternatives.

He serves as an industry and testifying expert in legal matters involving leasing, complex corporate financings, transaction structuring, and contract interpretation; and he provides services as a neutral arbitrator and facilitator in difficult disputes over leasing and corporate finance, with emphasis on maintaining relationships and avoiding litigation.

Based in Long Beach, California, Paul has direct and hands-on experience in developing, arranging, facilitating, managing, negotiating and closing leases, structured corporate financings, and related business transactions. As an investment banker and a transaction attorney, he has analyzed, negotiated and participated in hundreds of transactions for clients throughout the world. In addition to serving with The Alta Group, he is the founder, president and general counsel of GoodSmith & Co., Incorporated, a corporate financial services firm specializing in large-ticket leasing, leveraged leasing, and asset-based corporate financing.

“The details of equipment leasing and financing transactions provide the key to successful deal making. As in most aspects of business, a commanding knowledge of the technical issues determines the ultimate outcome of every crucial decision and plan.”

Whether in developing or analyzing new financing transactions, serving as a neutral party in resolving transactions gone awry, or providing business advice and expert opinions in transactions already in litigation, Paul Bent offers Alta clients the benefit of decades of real world experience in corporate finance.

Contact Information

Paul Bent
+1 562 426 1000       
+1 562 492 1199 fax
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David S. Wiener

Director

David Wiener has been respected in the disciplines of sales, credit, and capital markets/syndications within the equipment finance industry for more than 30 years. As an expert in transaction and portfolio pricing and negotiation execution, he has personally structured and closed more than $2 billion in volume from more than 700 transactions, and managed or collaborated with capital markets staff collectively closing over $50 billion in portfolios and transactions. He has created full capital markets syndications capabilities for three separate top-ten vendor leasing organizations in the U.S. Recognized as a market leader in the use of contemporary social media technology, David has conducted extensive training on the application of LinkedIn ... for leasing.

David has broad industry management experience as a transaction leader at LEAF Financial, GE Capital Markets, Tokai Financial Services, and Maryland National/MNC Leasing. His finance work includes personally serving a “who’s-who” list of companies: Google, AOL, Dell, Kodak, CBS, NBC, Blue Cross, Chevron, Novartis, Hilton, Motorola, Sprint-Nextel, Penske, IBM, International Paper, Sheraton Lockheed Martin U-Haul, Unisys, Canon, Bonneville Power, and Konica. He has been a past recipient of the GE Capital Pinnacle and Tokai Winners Circle awards.

David has utilized Six Sigma quality tools and e-commerce initiatives for process improvement in the execution of syndication activities. He successfully directed an effort to internationally outsource capital markets analytic activities, a cost saving endeavor that has resulted in a significant reduction in deal evaluation cycle time. This has been recognized as a best practice within the world’s leading international outsourcing company.

David is a respected authority on equipment finance demographics. He has participated for 24 years on the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) committee that oversees design and review of the Survey of Equipment Finance Activity benchmarking report. In his 12 year volunteer trustee role on the Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation as research committee chair, he has been instrumental in commissioning research resulting in the publication of more than 40 major industry reports. For his volunteer service to the ELFA, David was recognized as a recipient of their Distinguished Service Award.

Contact Information

Dave Wiener
410-308-9840       (voice)
410-308-9841       (fax)

410.371.6028       (mob)
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Bruce Kropschot

Senior Managing Director – Mergers and Acquisitions

Few know more about mergers and acquisitions within the equipment leasing and finance industry than Bruce Kropschot, who joined The Alta Group in 2008. As Merger and Acquisition Advisory Practice Leader for Alta, he draws on 40 years of executive and advisory experience. In addition to providing M&A advisory services to buyers and sellers of equipment leasing and financing businesses, Bruce helps arrange debt and equity for clients and performs leasing company valuations.

Prior to joining Alta, he founded Kropschot Financial Services, establishing his firm as the leading provider of M&A advisory services for equipment leasing and financing companies. His company initiated the sale of more than 160 such businesses and also arranged debt and equity capital and performed valuations for equipment leasing companies.

Earlier in this career, Bruce was co-owner and president of Master Lease Corporation, a leading equipment lessor that became De Lage Landen Financial Services. He has also served as a senior executive with two other sizable equipment leasing companies, controller of The Magnavox Company and audit manager with Price Waterhouse.

Bruce has served on the board of directors of the ELFA, EAEL, UAEL and the Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation. He currently serves on the Advisory Board of Leasing News. Bruce was also a founding director of the International Network of M&A Partners, a worldwide organization of more than sixty M&A advisory firms. He is a CPA and graduated with BBA and MBA degrees (with honors) in accounting and finance from the University of Michigan.

Contact Information

Bruce Kropschot
+1 352 750-3588      
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Thomas C. Wajnert

Senior Managing Director

Tom Wajnert is a leasing pioneer, having launched his career in 1968 with US Leasing, a NYSE-listed company that is widely regarded as the progenitor of the modern equipment leasing industry. For over 40 years, Tom has navigated the changing currents of the equipment leasing industry and built an impressive list     of accomplishments.

He joined AT&T in 1984, founding AT&T Credit Corporation, a captive finance organization, which quickly expanded and evolved to become AT&T Capital Corporation, an international, full-service equipment leasing and commercial finance company. Under Tom’s leadership, AT&T Capital grew quickly, became publicly owned, was bought out by management, and subsequently sold in 1997.

After his success with AT&T Capital, Tom’s career took an entrepreneurial turn as he invested in and created an HR outsourcing firm, EPIX, and later a technology-based business, SEISMIQ. In 2001, he co-founded FairView Advisors LLC, a middle-market merchant bank. From 2006 to the present, Tom has provided advisory services to several private equity firms. A former chairman of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA), Tom also served as the chairman of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation. He now Chairman of the Board of RAI (NYSE), serves on the Board and is Chairman of the Audit Committee at UDR (NYSE) and serves as a Trustee of Wharton’s Center for Financial Institutions.

Tom brings a remarkable depth and breadth of experience to The Alta Group and works primarily on projects involving: merger, acquisition and funding management; strategy development and execution; captive and vendor finance; competitive analysis; market entry and global portfolio management.

Contact Information

Thomas C. Wajnert
+1 908 500 2691       
+1 707 942 6871 fax
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Juan Neil Dodds

Senior Managing Director, Vendor Financing Services

Juan Neil Dodds, a senior managing director in The Alta Group from Argentina, spent 16 years in foreign trade for several multinational companies before joining the leasing industry more than a decade ago. His expertise includes asset management, operating leases and the development of vendor relationships in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico. Juan’s clients have included Avaya, Dell, Ford, Cisco, Kodak, Agfa, SAP, Oracle, Heidelberg, IBM and Xerox, among others.

He was a founder of the Capital Access consultancy in Argentina that provides consulting services to leasing companies and vendors in the South Cone. During the past four years, Juan was part of the team hired by Banco Comafi Argentina to relaunch its leasing company, which became the leading leasing entity in origination and portfolio management . Earlier in his career, he worked for AT&T Capital, The Capita Corporation and as asset management director for CIT Latin America.

His responsibilities in these positions included portfolio management, the opening secondary channels for end of lease equipment, future residual value setting for various types of equipment, impairment analysis and the development of leasing systems in several South Cone countries.

Juan earned a Business Administration degree from the Universidad Argentina de la Empresa. He is fluent in Spanish, English and can speak Portuguese.

The Latin American Group has a local presence in all Latin American countries. Typical projects for Alta clients include market research, competitive analysis and strategic analysis, with a focus on vendor leasing.

Contact Information

Juan Neil Dodds
Las Heras 1937, 1602 Florida
Buenos Aires - Argentina
+54 911 5327-0583       
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Rob Stowers

Senior Vice President, PHH FirstFleet

Rob Stowers is responsible for the management of PHH FirstFleet, the truck and equipment leasing division of PHH Arval. Prior to joining PHH Arval in 2011, Mr. Stowers was Managing Director of Altec Capital’s equipment financing business. Before that, he was with NationsBanc Leasing Corporation as Senior Vice President, responsible for the Utility and Large Fleet Leasing organization, a $6 billion asset based leasing company. He holds a pre-law, political science degree from Auburn University and an MBA from the University of Georgia System-Columbus State University.