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It’s
Leadership---Part II by Christopher Menkin Part 1 covered the largest, Equipment Leasing
Association, and the second
largest, the National Association of Equipment Leasing Brokers, June
to June membership. AGLF EAEL ELA NAELB UAEL
AGLF This
association is in a re-building mode with a new executive director,
Graham Hauck and executive assistant,. Brian Mandrier. There dues remain
at $650. ‘We currently have 260 members. The me Graham
Hauck membership dues remain at $650.” They
increased 28 members from June to June, the only leasing association to
have a membership increase. The
body count may not be a true way to gauge the number of companies who
belong. As many people as would like to from any one company may join.
One person must be designated the Regular Member and pay $650/year dues.
The other members are designated Additional Members and pay $150/year
dues. The
point being to compare previous members does not take into account one major
company leaving, taking ten or more members with their demise. AGLF
was founded in 1981 to serve municipal leasing industry. Publishes Bi-monthly
newsletter; sponsors 2 annual conferences; 50-state leasing survey;
federal leasing survey; and conducts numerous industry projects. “Municipal leasing is a $30 billion a year industry.
Almost all the transaction are “tax exempt” and based on “interest in
time,” most have a $1.00 out or nominal purchase at the end, and are
subject to annual appropriations ( California and Indiana have abatement
laws and other state have different regulations, as do tax entities.)
Entities may vote the end of appropriations and contracts, plus who
signs them, and the tax exempt status often require legal counsel fees. It
is a highly technical and specialized marketplace, most unlike other commercial
leasing or financing transactions. In the municipal market place, the
originator wins the transaction, and then finds a specific funder for
the transaction, and often in the documents cannot assignment, and should
they, must remain active in the collection and service of the lease. The
Equipment Leasing Association has a municipal-government committee, plus
conferences and is very active in relating this niche to its members.
The other
three association appear to ignore this marketplace. The captive vendor market
appears completely ignored by all five, as a side note. After
attending the three day Spring conference, I was reminded of the F.
Scott Fitzgerald quote, which I paraphrase to say, ”The municipal and
federal government
leasing sector are very different from the commercial leasing sector.” This is not a field that you break into easily,
or quickly. In addition, the
bond market is funny today. My
family trust has a lot of bonds, all types,
and before the dot.com demise, we got more into it as Merrill-Lynch told
us this was smart to do. Today
we are selling some. My
impression of this group is they are as “family” as the nucleus of UAEL and
EAEL. I would think with the
income and sales tax decrease, more government
entities would be looking at leasing.
Perhaps under the new executive
director and leaders this group will continue to grow. Non-members
are very welcome at their conferences. For registration materials, they
can call 202.742.AGLF (2453) or email info@aglf.org 2004
Annual Fall Conference November
12-14, 2003 / Loew's Ventana Canyon Resort, Tucson, Arizona AGL&F
23rd FALL ANNUAL CONFERENCE TENTATIVE
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS Wednesday,
November 12 Noon
Annual Golf Tournament 2:00
PM – 4:00 PM Basics Session Thursday,
November 13 8:00
AM – 1:30PM Keynote Speaker, General Sessions and Luncheon Evening
– Annual Conference Dinner Event Friday,
November 14 8:00
AM – Noon General Sessions, Ending with the Lawyers’ Panel UAEL To
lose 93 members from June to June is serious. 137 members from December,
2001, is a third of your membership; that’s even worse. “Shame.
Shame. Shame,” as Gomer Pyle would say. Here is an organization that
had it all until Dr. Ray Williams was asked to submit his resignation. There
is more to the story, and Leasing News printed it. http://two.leasingnews.org/archives/October/10-03-00.htm Bob
Rodi, who was UAEL president at the time,
who “accepted the resignation,” wrote Leasing News on April 3,2003:
”Ray wanted to be Mike Fleming when he grew up. In retrospect, his leadership
was misdirected and ineffective at best. A long succession of Western
Association of Equipment Leasing /United Association of Equipment Leasing
executive committees renewed Ray's contract and his concept for ‘growth.’
has confirmed it.” From
a Western based organization the association changed its name and
became a national group. Williams
attended many regional meetings, seemed
to be everywhere, and was very popular with members. He obviously had
a “divided” board of directors. Unfortunately
the move to let go a professional executive was at the wrong time and
wrong place. It was up to new
presidents Chuck Brazier and Bob Fisher, immersed
in their own leasing company problems, to re-build. They ran into
“The Perfect Storm” scenario. In
his departing speech, Brazier was proud he saved the foundation. " There was a crack on our foundation a
year ago, " he began his farewell address at the Fall conference
at the San Antonio, Texas Hyatt Riverside Hotel. He
and his board should be given a lot of credit for doing so. However, Bob Fisher was next in line to hold
it together. The decision to
save money brought the original conference manager Joannie Dalton into
the position, then along came past president Joe Woodley, a very popular
and leasing knowledgeable person. He
had no experience in running a large non-profit association, but soon
would get “on
the job” training. As cut backs continued, the office was closed
in Oakland, California, staff let go, and now operates not far from
where Mr. Woodley lives in Southern California, and current president
Betty Kerhoulas’s company is based.
In reality, it was a financial move to close the office and Bob
Fisher’s press release that the rent was too high was only part of the
dilemma. When the board went
to Philadelphia on July 27th,
2002, after canceling the regional meeting due to lack of attendance, the
writing was on the wall. The
board went nevertheless and asked members
to join them for lunch and to get feed back on the direction UAEL
should take. There were only
a few who joined the board. Denial
was not a city in Egypt. UAEL
had run into “the List” with dwindling financial assets, membership
decline, and past directors going to other associations. Ginny
Young, past membership chair, is no longer a member and devotes
her energies to NAELB conference. Even current board member
Bob Teichman is becoming more active with NAELB. At
his recent Sausalito, Regional get together, past director Ken Greene,
was there, who is no longer a member, and Bill Grohe said
Barry Dubin of Cooper-White-Cooper, San Francisco, a past
director, had dropped out after the firm’s Jeff Wong died, Grohe
explained. Both Ken and Barry are active with ELA. It
is ironic that the incoming UAEL president is an attorney, Jim Coston, who’s
office is in Chicago, Illinois. Nevertheless, there is a nucleus that
will hold the organization together, but most likely membership will
continue to dwindle until the association finds direction. EAEL There
has been talk for years that the Eastern Association of Equipment Leasing
and the United Association of Equipment Leasing would merge. The
goals of EAEL are quite different. One
important distinction in EAEL membership recruitment is that they do
not solicit Brokers/ Lessors west of the Mississippi River. EAEL
is primarily a regional association with 67% in the Northeast (New York,
New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut), an additional 5% in Pennsylvania
and Maryland, and the remainder in 25 states and Puerto Rico. Executive
Director Alison Pryor reports the current membership breakdown: Lessors/
Brokers 127 Funding
Sources 28 Service
Providers 14 Attorneys
22 There
is a close bond among its members, and due to its size, personal connection is
fostered. The
dues are also very reasonable: $300.00
FULL MEMBERSHIP (less than 3 employees) $600.00
FULL MEMBERSHIP (less than 50 Employees) $800.00
FULL MEMBERSHIP (more than 50 Employees) $800.00
FULL MEMBERSHIP (funding source) $800.00
SERVICE MEMBERSHIP (attorneys, accountants, etc.) More
importantly, the loss in membership, according to Executive Director Alison
Pyror, is primarily from companies no longer in business, or those
that have been acquired by larger leasing companies. This
association is stable. In fact,
many of their members belong to
other leasing associations, but want to be connected and attend both
regional meetings, conferences, and get- togethers. Recently
an e-mail message board was put on line for members. http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/July%202003/7-21-03.htm#new (If
you missed part 1 of this Six Month Leasing Association Membership report,
please go to: http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/August_%202003/8-04-03.htm#its
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