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--------------------------------------------------------------------- Whatever Happened to.... Fred Van Etten February 4th, Leasing News
asked if anyone knew where Fred Van Etten was? He e-mailed and the next day, and February
6th, we printed his response that he was in Houston,
Texas. http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/Feb2002/2-06-02.htm When Mark McQuitty allowed
us to print the abridged letter to about the demise of Republic
Leasing of Anaheim ( we had the letter since October, but that
is another story , including McQuitty's brilliant observations on aggregate
leasing and dot coms in December, 1999), it became public that
the man sent to fire McQuitty as "branch manager" in Apirl,2000,
was also the same person he recommended in June, 2000 to become the new CEO
and replace Tom Depping, Leasing News decided the readers should know more about this "very
interesting" person, especially
since he was acknowledged a
key "mover and shaker" to raise the money
to start First Sierra/Sierra Cities.
We also learned he was considering
starting up a leasing company because he and American Express made
a settlement ( and that is also another story ). "When you look up either
"good guy" or "salesman" in the dictionary, you will find a picture of Freddie
Van Etten. Freddie always has a smile on his face and the salesman's
positive attitude that the cup is half full instead of half empty. The
only place you cannot trust Freddie is on the golf course. His handicap is
a 2, not the 19 he claims when the bets are placed. Freddie, you are one
of the best and I wish you the best of success with your new venture
with the Redstone Group." Charlie Lester, LPI Financial, Atlanta, Georgia " Nicest man in the world;
always has a smile on his face. Always
has something nice to say about
somebody. I make it a point
that when I am in Houston to visit him every time. Truly, a great guy." Greg McIntosh, Snider Leasing, Sacramento, California Whatever Happened to.... Fred Van Etten Hello everyone_. As previously
mentioned in Leasingnews.org, I am still in Houston, Texas, and healthy,
happy, wiser and still occasionally hitting the little white ball on weekends.
I am with The Redstone Companies, which is a large privately held holding
company comprised of several different companies. Redstone has investments in companies involved in the banking, securities,
hospitality, real estate, golf
management, development, and ownership, and various others. Redstone as
you may remember gave First Sierra Financial our start from ground zero as the
primary investment capital and were involved in the company all the way
through to the sale to American Express. Most of you remember me from
First Sierra as one of the founders (in fact my wife, Julie gets credit for
coming up with the name) but I had been in the Leasing Industry prior to that
for most of my career, beginning with McDonnell Douglas Finance Corp
in 1978. From Long Beach, California, I was moved to Houston by MDFC in
1981 and I have been primarily here working in leasing and asset finance since
then. That probably makes me
one of the longest surviving leasing nuts
in this area! But at only 48 years old there is still a lot of drive which
keeps me going and enjoying the chase and the relationships I have built
in this business. Having been an originator,
seller, buyer, and manager with public and private companies I have to
marvel at the way our industry has changed, both good and bad, throughout those
years. Remember the TEFRA act in 1986? Leasing was supposed to be
finished then, but, as we have seen many times the industry changed to meet
the times, not disintegrated because of them. It seems that as most everything in life, things are cyclical, things
tend to repeat themselves in similar
business cycles. Looks like now the industry is going through what the Equipment
Leasing Association describes as "The Perfect Storm" brought
on by credit and liquidity issues. This too shall pass as soon as margins widen
enough in our business to begin to re-attract capital. The question is, who
will the survivors be_ To me the one thing that has
made this a great business is that it is people oriented and relationship based.
Doing business with people you know and trust has safeguards. You have
heard it said that the first lesson of lending is to "know your
customer" Certain people
have tried, and are others are continuing to try
and completely automate our business. Over the last few years people proclaiming
that the industry would be dead because of the "New Paradigm"
of E-commerce selling have so far been proven wrong. Do I believe that more companies
over time will use the Internet to promote and inform customers? Of course,
and will companies sell more in the future over the Internet? Yes, of
course, but the change won't take place over night as many have predicted.
People still buy stocks, cars, books and everything else that the e-commerce
wizards said would be automated, from traditional sources, not purely
from the Internet. So far the Internet is only a fabulous information
source. Oh well, enough preaching_ Redstone has kept me very busy
since arriving in February of 2001. Initially I ran the business development
activities at Northwest Bank, a wholly owned Redstone Financial company.
I was there until we sold it to The Whitney Bank from New Orleans in October
of 2001. I then moved over to Redstone Bank in a similar capacity and have been
working on all aspects of trying to help this bank grow. Redstone Bank is
only two years old and basically was a branch of Northwest Bank. When we sold
Northwest we decided to keep Redstone Bank. We are now looking at re-capitalizing
the bank, starting a holding company and adding a few specialty
finance companies under the bank holding company umbrella. We are continually
looking at all areas of specialty finance and we have come to the conclusion
that there are some very attractive areas which we may be able to compete
in on some selected basis. We should have some announcements on those
areas in the second quarter of this year. Lot's of things going on in
Houston right now (yes, other things than Enron!!!) like the worlds largest
rodeo, Mardi Gras in Galveston (OK, so it's not New Orleans) and the
excitement which is building for our new football team, The Houston
Texans. Don't worry, the games wont be played at Enron field!! That's the Astros
field. Houston has had it's
up and downs as well, but for me it's always
been a wonderful place to live and work. Julie and I had the best holiday
season ever, and we enjoyed being with all our friends here and in Phoenix/Scottsdale
where we spent Christmas and New Year's. I continue to hear
from and stay in touch with most of my colleagues from the First Sierra days.
In fact I think most people know that Roger Gebhart previously EVP of First
Sierra has joined us here at Redstone as well. One final note regarding Redstone,
the Redstone Golf Club, a new development here in Houston was just awarded
the 2003 through 2013 Shell Houston Open PGA tournament which was previously
played at The Woodlands. It will bring a lot of notoriety to Redstone
and will help with that side of our business, which manages and develops
golf courses. All my best to all my friends
in the industry. Fred Van Etten Executive Vice President Redstone Bank N.A. 713-316-3675 www.Redstonebank.com |
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