NAELB Conference

May 12-14

St. Louis, MO

By: Charlie Lester

(with the permission of the NAELB Board of Directors)

By any standard, the 2005 annual National Association of Equipment Leasing Brokers Conference was a tremendous success. It was a blending of the old and the new with an energy and enthusiasm level that was refreshing as much as it was tiring for an old guy like me. I have not seen so much energy and enthusiasm in the last 15 years of attending the various industry association conferences.

The NAELB conference drew 364 attendees from its membership of 592. More importantly in my opinion, 119 were attending their first industry conference and 60 were new members. The number of exhibitors was over 40 with 39 claiming to be funding sources. As usual, some of the funding sources were brokers or superbrokers pretending to be true funding sources, but the question that stumped those that attended Dwight Galloway's session on “Do You Know Your Funder?” was “what is a true funding source?” It would interesting to hear what your readers define as a “true” funding source.

Probably the most interesting news with the “funding sources” was the emphasis on C & D level credits. Using the Exhibitor Profiles passed out to the attendees, 19 said their credit window was for A & B level credits only, but 20 said their credit window covered C & D level credits. Wonder if the C & D level sources have ever heard of the old adage that you can't compensate for risk with rate? Guess not or there would not be so many of them------at least for now.

The blending of the old and the new was very apparent. Bruce Kropschot was moderator for a session on “How to Get Top Dollar When You Sell Your Lease Brokerage Business” with Gerry Oestreich, Jim Borland and Charlie Lester as three old guys telling the story on how they sold their companies. At the end of the session, Jim Borland of US Energy Capital announced his plan find a merger or acquisition partner to help him realize the full potential of his niche market. He has a large number of national programs he has been developing for the past 25 years that the big guys are still trying to figure out how he did it. A press release from Jim is expected soon.

The new wave that pushes the edge of technology with the Internet as a marketing tool included Bob Anderson's session as moderator on “Lots of Leads for a Little Loot” and Kurt Hess and Gary Saulter's session on “Winning with Cutting Edge Marketing Tactics”. Looks like the old guys will have to learn more of the modern technology to keep up with the kids of the industry. What ever happened to the simple phone and fax as a way to communicate? What's a BLOG? Sounds like a horror movie to me.

Old or new, the sessions were well attended and participation was high even on Saturday afternoon when the sessions are normally attended by the janitors cleaning up and the presenters.

Claude Elmore somehow found the key to success as far as organization and execution of the pieces that make for a very successful conference. However, Claude has failed to learn that the Conference Chair who has a suite should give a party for those that made him successful. However, Claude is young and almost as cheap as Dwight Galloway. Even the Power Point presentations came off with very few computer problems that somehow have plagued sessions in the past. How Claude did that may be the 8th wonder of the world.

Donna Cole had the joy of turning over the job as President to Heather von Bargen from Caladesi Leasing. Somewhere in the depths of my little brain was the saying that “If you want a job done right, give it to a woman”. If you look up a woman leader in the dictionary, you will find a picture of Donna Cole. She has been a quiet, strong leader over the past year that has been able to avoid controversy that could have been divisive to the association.

After spending some time with Heather, I can tell you that she is a human dynamo that will follow in Donna's footsteps with strength and an unbelievable drive. I am glad I don't work for Heather since I would not enjoy being in rehab for exhaustion most of the time.

All the old pros were there, but there is a changing of the guard in the NAELB in my opinion. The members are younger, better trained in the technology necessary to succeed in today's environment and their energy level is disgusting. I am just glad I am nearing the end of my career in this great industry since I would not want to compete with the new breed of brokers we have today. To you other old folks, learn the new technology, adjust to the industry changes and take lots of vitamins or these new kids will eat your lunch and you won't even know it.

I say kids respectfully, but also with a sense of humor. Some are so young; I don't know whether to shake their hands or put them over my shoulder and burp them.

Since I am trying to move to retirement more and more, this conference may be my last annual conference and I thank all of you that have helped me have what I believe has been a meaningful career with respect for my competitors and customers.

Thank you and God Bless.

Charlie Lester