Pictures from the Past
Featured on Leasing News: 2/21/2003

---2000---

 

Rob Day

 

 

“Question: What does it take to get Pawnee’s President Rob Day off the

links?”   United Association of Equipment Leasing Winter Newsline, 2000

 

 

    Since Sam Leeper has taken over the day-to-day management of Pawnee I spend most of my business time on long range planning, which we all know is a way of saying that I watch what is happening more than making things happen.  We continue the Pawnee philosophy of "manage yourself out of your position" so more of our employees are having the opportunity to take on increased responsibilities.

Additionally, we have been able to hire some bright new talent.  New faces bring new ideas and that is healthy for any company.

 

I am excited about the prospects ahead for Pawnee and others in the small ticket leasing arena.  I believe that the companies left in the industry have a skilled executive suite with a clear vision of the task ahead.  The fact that more and more financial giants are entering the asset-backed market is the best indication yet that leasing may no longer be the outcast of the financial services sector.

 

I wish you well in 2003 and pray for the safety and well being of your son during these difficult times.

 

Sincerely,

 

Rob Day, CEO

 

Pawnee Leasing Corporation

PawneeRob@aol.com

 

 

On the Pawnee Website:

 

Twenty Years, a Perspective

 

  By Rob Day, CEO

 

 

A few weeks ago we celebrated our 20th anniversary. My what a ride it has been. I am quite confident that when I founded Pawnee Leasing Corporation in July of 1982 that the Pawnee Leasing Corporation of 2002 was not the vision. But I expect that's how life is supposed to evolve; twists and turns along the way that polishes our dreams by making the necessary modifications along the way.

We began operations in July of 1982 providing computer leasing for an Apple Computer store in Sterling, Colorado that I had invested in. The company was capitalized by what I thought was a huge sum of money (about what we fund now in a typical day) and we obtained a line of credit from a local bank. You probably would be interested to know that Jerry Reeves, our present executive vice president and credit manager, was the loan officer. We had Bank of America's lease form, Apple Computer's lease rates and off we went with me as the sole employee. We bumped along leasing to the store customers, but that had a limited market and was going to be an eventual losing game plan.

In 1989 Pawnee and I moved to Fort Collins, Colorado. Happily, we were able to continue our banking relationship as Jerry Reeves had been transferred there as well. During the next year or so we expanded our customer base by going outside of our computer stores (now 4) to provide leasing to other computer retailers in northern Colorado. It was a gentleman named Dave Malucky, a one-man lease brokerage in Denver, though, that provided us our next chapter by introducing us to the lease broker market in 1990. That introduction would change the face of Pawnee forever.

For the next year or so we did a little business with local Colorado lease brokers while continuing on with our in-house lease program. As the stores matured, however, it was becoming clear that our lease program would not be sufficient to service the needs of our customers. Computer systems were expanding which meant the cost was as well and the typical $10,000 lease was now $25,000 and going higher. We had neither the financial strength nor the knowledge to service our stores. By servicing the broker community we could more closely match our lease purchases with our cash flow. By 1991 the stores accounted for less than 10% of our volume and had faded completely by 1993. Pawnee was committed to the broker market and we have not looked back since.

Our first significant brush with extinction came in late 1993. Century Bank had been our only bank and we had a seven figure revolving line with them, our only significant credit facility. This was a time in Colorado banking history when the "Minnesota Twins" arrived on the scene. First Bank and Norwest, both of Minneapolis, started purchasing many of the banking assets in Colorado and their actions set off a buying binge by other national banks that feared missing out on the Colorado market. Unfortunately for us Century Bank was purchased by Key Bank and our type of business was no longer welcome with the new organization. We had 90 days to pay off the note.

I had met Sam Leeper, a senior executive with Affiliated Banks of Colorado in 1991 when they provided a small line of credit for a leasing partnership we had formed. By late 1993 his bank had been purchased by Bank One and they were my plan for survival. Fortunately for us, the transition from Affiliated to Bank One had been difficult and longer than anticipated but by late 1993 Bank One was ready to do business and needed to make up for some lost time. In less than 45 days Sam and his team came through with a credit facility to replace Key Bank and to provide funds for expansion.

We grew with Sam and Bank One into the golden era of specialty finance where leasing companies were highly sought after and premiums were high. Every company has capital issues and they are either solved internally or you sell out to a larger organization that can provide the external solution. Pawnee needed more capital to fuel the growth and we had a suitor in early 1997 that could do that. I agreed to a buyout contingent on both of us performing due diligence. As is so often the case with founders; as the due diligence progressed I began to question whether my buyer was the kind of company I really wanted my employees and me to join. I thought our business model was superior to theirs. I thought our team was better than theirs. That kind of thinking was not going to produce harmony and we had a mutual understanding to terminate the discussions. No deal and we were back to looking for capital like a coyote looking for his next meal.

Sam, as our banker, was in the loop of my thinking and the progression of the buyout discussions. When it became clear that the deal was going nowhere, I suggested to him that we get together and talk about him joining us and helping Pawnee find additional capital. In June of 1997, Sam joined us and introduced Dick Monfort to Pawnee. We have just completed our fifth year together and it is a combination that has led to substantial growth in our portfolio, systems, and our financial sophistication.

So what now? We are going to keep doing what we know how to do, but do more of it. We are going to continue to serve our broker-partners by being the kind of partner we want for ourselves. We are going to continue to support the leasing associations and encourage others to do the same. We are learning how to do business more efficiently and passing that knowledge onto our broker-partners. I don't know what the next 20 years will bring, but I know it will have challenges where only a nimble, creative, innovative, and ethical organization can thrive and prosper. Pawnee Leasing Corporation is committed to being that kind of partner.

 





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