AMONG CFA MEMBERS

Celtic Capital Corporation: Alexander P. Falo, Celtic's executive vice president, has been elected president of the Commercial Finance Conference of California (the Southern California chapter of the CFA) for the 2014-2015 term. As an active member of the CFCC, prior to this position, Falo served as treasurer (2010-2011) and vice president finance and budget chair (2012-2013). Falo can be reached at [email protected] or (310) 664-4861.

Ramsey Naber has joined the firm as senior vice president - portfolio manager. In this role, Naber will oversee a team of account executives responsible for the daily administration of Celtic Capital's client portfolio. With more than 15 years of industry experience, including stints at Wells Fargo Capital Finance, Platinum Equity LLC, Silicon Valley Bank and GemCap Lending, Naber brings expertise in portfolio analysis and management, and relationship management. Naber is a member of the Commercial Finance Association (national), Commercial Finance Conference of California (Southern California chapter of the CFA), Turnaround Management Association, and is actively involved in UCLA Alumni. Naber can be reached at [email protected] or (310) 664-4875.

CIT Group Inc.: Sheila A. Stamps has been named to CIT's Board of Directors effective immediately. She will serve as a member of CIT's Risk Management and Regulatory Compliance Committees.

Stamps served as executive vice president of Corporate Strategy and Investor Relations at Dreambuilder Investments, LLC, a private mortgage investment company. Prior to Dreambuilder Investments, she served as director of Pension Investments and Cash Management at the New York State Common Retirement Fund and was a Fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. Prior to this, Stamps served as managing director and head of Relationship Management, Financial Institutions at FleetBoston Financial. Before this, she held a number of executive positions with Bank One Corporation and First Chicago Corporation, including managing director and head of European Asset-Backed Securitization and managing director and senior originator of Asset-Backed Securitization.

Stamps received her MBA from the University of Chicago and her B.S. in management sciences from Duke University. She also serves on the Board of Directors of IES Abroad.

CIT Group Inc. also announced that John A. Thaln, chairman and CEO, CIT Group Inc., was honored at The Catholic Charities gala at The Waldorf-Astoria, New York, NY on Wednesday, February 26. The Catholic Charities gala convened a dynamic group of New Yorkers from the worlds of business, philanthropy, culture, fashion, law, media, politics and religion who share a deep concern for the well-being of New Yorkers in need. The event raises more than $2 million annually. Honorée John A. Thain has enjoyed a distinguished career in the financial services sector and continues to be a leader in the

field. Before joining CIT Group Inc. as chairman and CEO in 2010, he served as chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. and previously served as CEO and a director of NYSE Euronext, Inc. and president and COO of The Goldman Sachs Group, L.P. He is a member of the MIT Corporation Board, the Dean's Advisory Council of MIT/Sloan School of Management and the U.S. National Advisory Board of INSEAD. He also serves on the Board of Managers of the New York Botanical Garden, is a member of the Board of Directors of the FrenchAmerican Foundation and is a trustee of New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

Crestmark: MarkJ. Simshauser has been hired and will further support small middle-market businesses throughout the Northeast and New England areas while reporting directly to Midwest regional sales manager, Jim Farrell. Located on Long Island, Simshauser will work as a part of Crestmark's expanding and growing East region. Simshauser recently worked with UT-based TAB Bank as vice president, Northeast Origination, for over two years with a focus on expanding its Northeast market presence. In that time, Simshauser successfully originated an active portfolio of over S20 million in both factoring and asset-based clients throughout the Northeast. Previous to that, spanning over an active 15-year career, he has worked with a variety of bank and non-bank-related asset-based lenders including Greystone Business Credit, Webster Business Credit, HSBC Business Credit and FINOVA Capital. He earned his master's in economics from Cornell University and an undergraduate degree from SUNY at Fredonia with a concentration in business and communications. He is active in many regional professional/credit associations including working as past co-chair of the Annual Northeast Regional TMA Confer- ence (Saratoga Springs, NY), director of the Upstate NY and Long Island TMA, current director of the Long Island RMA and board member of many Northeast manufacturing associations. Simshauser can be reached at (516) 660-4501, and at [email protected]

Crystal Financial LLC: Matthew Governali has joined the Crystal Financial SBIC LP team with his primary responsibility the origination and management of new investments for the fund Governali has over 15 years' experience providing senior and junior debt, as well as equity, to a wide variety of middle-market companies. Governali's investment background includes experience in commercial banking, CLO management as well as several years with Crystal Capital, a predecessor firm to Crystal Financial. Colin Cross commented, "We are thrilled to have Matt rejoin our team at Crystal and know that he will have a significant impact in helping us grow the SBIC."

Ward Mooney, CEO of Crystal Financial LLC, announced that Crystal Financial SBIC LP has received a license from the Small Business Administration to form a Small Business Investment Company and has closed its first investment in this new fund. The fund will be managed by Crystal SBIC GP LLC, which is comprised of several senior managers at Crystal Financial LLC. The fund will focus on providing secured loans to smalland medium-sized companies for acquisitions, working capital, growth and to support them in meeting their strategic objectives.

First Niagara Commercial Finance (FNCF): Peter Drooff has joined FNCF as first vice president and director of underwriting and Rod Landis serves as vice president of underwriting, reporting to Drooff. Drooff and Landis, are based out of FNCF headquarters in Dedham, MA and will work closely with the national director of new business development Keith Broyles and his team to support business growth.

As director of underwriting, Drooff oversees the underwriting process for all asset-based loans to commercial, industrial, retail and wholesale companies, ensuring superior client service and client-centric financing delivery while maintaining prudent risk assessment. Drooff works in close partnership with FNCF's new business development and portfolio management groups to ensure a team-based approach to seamless execution for the client from origination to closing and beyond. Drooff draws on more than 20 years of experience in the areas of finance, banking, and consulting. Prior to joining First Niagara, he held a senior underwriter position at PNC Business Credit in Manhattan. Drooff is a member of the Commercial Finance and Turnaround Management Associations. He received his B.S. in both business administration and finance and accounting from Providence College.

In his new role as a vice president with First Niagara Commercial Finance, Landis is responsible for the underwriting, credit analysis and due diligence of new asset-based transactions. Landis has over 20 years of experience in financial services, having split time between commercial banking and investment management. Previously, he worked at CypressTree Investment Management as a collateralized loan obligation manager and at RBS Citizens as a loan officer Landis is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a member of the Turnaround Management Association and the Commercial Finance Association. He received his MBA from Boston University and his B.S. from University of California, Berkeley

GemCap:Jim Thieken has joined as executive vice president and Annie O'Connor as accountant. Thieken brings 23 years of experience in mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures in retail, wholesale and manufacturing environments across multiple industries. He was previously senior vice president and principal at SB Capital Group, LLC, where he led numerous divestiture transactions and successfully helped lead the acquisition of a S200 million gross revenue retailer, during which he spearheaded financial analysis, developed corporate structure, implemented core information technology and payroll systems, and developed the operational team necessary to facilitate the acquisition.

O'Connor joins GemCap with more than seven years of experience as an accounting professional servicing local corporations. Prior to that, she owned and operated a retail business in Malibu.

Marquette Commercial Finance: Aaron Dever has joined as vice president of sales. Reporting to Marquette's national sales manager, DiAne P. Reed, he will be responsible for loan origination in the Southeast region of the U S. Dever's expertise in factoring and asset-based lending has benefited from having experience in a myriad of business activities. He has more than 20 years of experience and is a consistent top performer in the factoring and com- mercial lending industry. Deverwas most recently with Summit Financial Resources where he served as vice president of business development, and FCC, First Capital, where he spent five years in business development. He has strong ties to banking institutions and the commercial finance industry in the South where he is also an active member of CFA, TMA, I FA, RMA and ACG. Dever holds a Bachelor's degree in both economics and history from Indiana University.

Renasant Bank: Rechelle Bates has joined Renasant Bank's Business Credit team, which is the asset-based lending division of Renasant Bank. Bates has been appointed assistant vice president and, in her new role, will have a dual focus on direct marketing as well as operations management.

Bates has over 10 years of experience in asset-based lending and accounts receivable credit management. She was recently with M&F Business Credit in Memphis, a wholly owned subsidiary of M&F Bank, which was acquired by Renasant on September 1,2013. She relocated to Atlanta on February 1,2014, to join the Renasant Business Credit team in their Atlanta offices at the Riverwood Office Tower in the Vinings/Gal leria area.

TBS Factoring Service announced that it is expanding beyond its transportation roots to serve a broad range of businesses in the United States through TBS Capital Funding, a newly formed subsidiary.

TBS Capital Funding will be headed by senior vice president Darla Auchinachie, an industry veteran with more than 20 years' experience in general factoring. Auchinachie joins TBS from the International Factoring Association, where she served as director of development. She began her factoring career in 1992 as a collateral analyst with First Capital Corp., where she helped establish a factoring division. She has worked in various executive and consulting roles in commercial finance, focusing on best practices in portfolio management.

"Cash flow is critical to the success of small businesses," Auchinachie said. "TBS Factoring Service has had great success serving the cash flow needs of transportation clients and I am looking forward to replicating that success across the small-business spectrum" Founded in 2004, TBS Factoring Service today is the largest small-business factor in Oklahoma, even with its focus on transportation By offering its services to a broader range of businesses, the company hopes to serve a niche that has been traditionally underserved by traditional lenders.

"TBS Factoring Service has always been a family business, serving family businesses, and with a customer satisfaction rating of more than 97 percent, our clients are raving fans," said TBS owner Wood Kaufman. "With the financial resources and service infrastructure we've built over the past decade, we felt the time was right for us to expand our definition of family beyond transportation to meet the broader needs of entrepreneurs, the backbone of American enterprise

Wells Fargo Capital Finance: Evan Zwerman has been named business development officer for the New York office of its Business Credit division. In his role, he is responsible for sourcing and structuring flexible asset-based financing for middlemarket companies with credit needs ranging from $5 million to S35 million He is reporting to Rob Kinne, regional loan originations manager for the Business Credit Loan Originations team.

Prior to this new role, Zwerman was a relationship manager in the Business Credit division of the east region. Evan brings strong relationships and industry knowledge, having been with Wells Fargo Capital Finance for six years and within the ABL industry for more than 15 years with previous roles at Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and PNC Bank. He is currently a member of the Turnaround Management Association, the Association for Corporate Growth and the Commercial Finance Association Zwerman received his Bachelor of Science in finance and management from the State University of New York at Albany.