CIT Capital Equipment enrolls a raft of senior ex-GE Capital originations staff

Eric Miller, group head and managing director (pictured above), said: “In addition to the deep industry relationships and market expertise these seasoned veterans bring to our team, the elevation of several key members and further expansion of our group will enable us to build a best-in-class originations team committed to meeting the capital equipment financing needs of the middle market.

“These strategic appointments will expand our direct originations platform and allow us to offer large ticket equipment financing solutions across the entire United States and deliver strong value to our customers.”

The key origination appointments include:

• Steve Bander, director: Bander is responsible for originations for the Midwest region of the US.

Prior to joining CIT, he held positions of increasing responsibility at US Leasing Corporation, Heller Financial, Lendx, Merrill Lynch Capital, GE Capital Corporation and Huntington Equipment Finance. He received a BA from Michigan State University.

• Jason Fronheiser, director: Fronheiser is responsible for originations for the Southwest region of the US.

Prior to joining CIT, he held positions of increasing responsibility at Fifth Third Bank and GE Capital Corporation where he focused on business development and relationship management and providing equipment finance and working capital solutions to middle market and large companies. Fronheiser received a BA from Penn State University and an MBA from Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business.

• Brandon L. Hannaman, director: Hannaman is responsible for originations for the Western region of the US.

He previously served as senior vice president at GE Capital Corporation where he covered Northern California and Hawaii specializing in leases and loans for middle market companies. Hannaman has additional financing experience in corporate aircraft, real estate and corporate lending. He received a BS in Business Finance from California State University, Chico.

• Michael Tornichia, director: Tornichia is responsible for originating large ticket equipment leasing and lending relationships, as well as project finance-related activities within the Northeast region of the US.

He previously served as senior vice president at GE Capital Corporation and held positions of increasing responsibility at Bank of America and Nations Equipment Finance. He received a BA from Lehigh University.

• Edward Ciccone, director: Ciccone joins CIT as director and head of underwriting for Capital Equipment Finance.

Previously, Ciccone was with GE Capital Corporation for 23 years, where his experience included equipment financing, corporate aircraft financing, franchise finance, cash flow lending and credit rating methodologies. He also retains 15+ years of experience in leadership roles, the vast majority of which involved leading and developing credit/underwriting teams. Ciccone received his BBA and MBA from Western Connecticut State University.

• Scott Schumacher, vice president: Schumacher is responsible for Asset Management reporting to Kelly Lane, who was recently promoted to director and head of asset management.

Schumacher previously served as vice president at SunTrust Equipment Finance, where he performed Asset Management duties as well as Key Equipment Finance in Superior, Colorado. He has experience in a wide variety of equipment including rail, transportation and intermodal assets. He received a BS in International Business from Colorado Technical University. Schumacher is currently based in Atlanta, but will be relocating to Dallas, Texas.

In addition, Kevin Ronan was appointed director, Buy-Desk to originate transactions through financial intermediaries. He will work with Rob Seltzer, who was recently named national sales manager. Ronan has more than 25 years of experience in the equipment finance industry and has held various sales leadership roles at GE Capital and RBS Citizens Asset Finance. He received his BA from Pace University.