New head for Canadian Leasing Enterprises

Canadian Leasing Enterprises (CLE), a leading equipment financing and leasing provider for Canadian small and medium businesses, has announced the appointment of François Nantel as President, succeeding Luc Robitaille who will remain with the company as senior advisor.

Nantel joins CLE from GE Capital, where, most recently as senior vice president, he was instrumental in the sustained growth of the business unit he was in charge. He has overseen various functions including sales, risk, and operations, and has said he aims to replicate his success in growing companies through focused business strategy in his leadership of CLE.

“CLE has an excellent reputation in servicing the SMB equipment financing industry. The support of Hitachi Capital, which acquired CLE in 2014, provides an excellent springboard for our strategy to expand the financing solutions we offer our clients,” said Nantel. “Having grown companies of a similar size in the financial market, I see many parallels for dramatic growth here, and I am thrilled to join CLE’s outstanding team”.

“Having François Nantel join our team is the next major step in the evolution of CLE,” added Ryan Collison, Hitachi Capital Canada CEO.

Established for over 35 years, CLE has a network of 110 brokers and more than 1,300 active equipment vendors across Canada. In May 2014, the company joined the Hitachi Capital Group. For the last five years, CLE Leasing and Hitachi Capital Canada funded over 22 000 contracts.