Dave Schaefer to Serve as Chairman, Mark Johnson Named CEO, and Jenny Wood promoted to Chief Client Experience Officer
Orion First Announces Leadership Transition: Dave Schaefer to Serve as Chairman, Mark Johnson Named CEO, and Jenny Wood promoted to Chief Client Experience Officer
Phoenix, AZ, December 11, 2024—Orion First , the leading provider of commercial loan & lease servicing, announces an exciting new chapter in its leadership.
After 23 years as Founder and CEO, Dave Schaefer has decided to transition into the role of Chairman of Orion First, where he will focus on providing strategic guidance to the company. Mark Johnson, a seasoned executive and current member of Orion’s Advisory Board, has assumed the role of CEO.
“This decision has been in the making for some time,” said Dave Schaefer. “I’ve been preparing to transition from day-to-day operations to a more strategic role while positioning Orion for continued success. Mark is the ideal leader to take Orion into its next phase of growth. His background, leadership philosophy, and deep industry expertise make him a perfect fit to help Orion become a firmly established and highly respected middle-market company.”
Mark Johnson brings extensive experience in building high-performing teams and leading companies through middle-market growth stages. His distinguished career includes leadership roles such as CEO of Concord Servicing Corp., President of Wyndham Consumer Finance, and Vice President of Global Operations at GE Capital.
“I’ve enjoyed getting to know Mark through working with him on Orion’s board. His leadership philosophy aligns well with our company culture, and his experience is uniquely valuable” said Quentin Cote, President of Orion First. “We are excited to collaborate with Mark to advance Orion’s capabilities and take our business to the next level.”
Jenny Wood promoted to Chief Client Experience Officer
Jenny Wood is being promoted to the role of Chief Client Experience Officer (CXO). Having been with Orion for over twenty-two years, Jenny has been a cornerstone of its team, helping to shape the way it serves and supports its clients.
“Jenny’s been at the heart of so many of Orion’s successes, always focused on making things better for our clients and our team,” said Cote. “This move will only put Jenny in a better position to do what’s best for our clients. Jenny’s promotion is a natural step in building out our leadership team.”
In her previous role as SVP, Client Services, Jenny played a critical role in building critical client service infrastructure to serve clients better. In her new role as CXO, she will oversee all aspects of client experience.
Both leadership appointments are effective immediately and mark a significant stride towards Orion’s commitment to industry leadership and strategic growth. Quentin Cote, as President, and Paul Marcoe, as COO, will continue to serve as senior leaders of Orion, working alongside Jenny and Mark to drive Orion’s vision and ensure its continued success.
ABOUT ORION FIRST
Orion First, founded in 2001, is a full-service commercial loan and lease portfolio servicer which provides a suite of services and products to manage the complete life cycle of a borrower. Orion’s product suite includes commercial loan and lease servicing and collection, portfolio management technology with client portal, data management, business analytics, and backup servicing. By delivering better technology, professional expertise, and deep experience, Orion empowers clients to focus their entrepreneurial energy on their greatest value—funding small businesses.
Orion First Announces Paul Marcoe's Promotion to Chief Operating Officer
Orion First Announces Paul Marcoe’s Promotion to Chief Operating Officer
SEATTLE—Orion First , the leading provider of commercial loan & lease servicing, is excited to announce that Paul Marcoe has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer (COO).
Paul Marcoe, who has played an integral role at Orion for over eight years, is being promoted from his current role as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to Chief Operating Officer (COO). Throughout his tenure as CTO, Paul has spearheaded major growth and technological advancements, playing a crucial role in Orion First’s success. In his new role, Paul will oversee the day-to-day operations of the company, ensuring continued excellence in service delivery and operational efficiency.
“Paul’s leadership and innovative vision have been instrumental in driving our technological advancements and overall growth,” said Quentin Cote, President of Orion First. “We are confident that his transition to COO will further strengthen our operational capabilities and support our long-term strategic goals.”
ABOUT ORION FIRST
Orion First, founded in 2001, is a full-service commercial loan and lease portfolio servicer which provides a suite of services and products to manage the complete life cycle of a borrower. Orion’s product suite includes commercial loan and lease servicing and collection, portfolio management technology with client portal, data management, business analytics, and backup servicing. By delivering better technology, professional expertise, and deep experience, Orion empowers clients to focus their entrepreneurial energy on their greatest value—funding small businesses.
Opportunity Amidst Risk: Delinquency Management in a Volatile Market
Orion First President, Quentin Cote’s latest article in the Monitor Daily: After a prolonged economic upswing, delinquencies and defaults are on the rise. Quentin Cote explores how we got here, outlines the essentials of proactive delinquency management and argues that returning to fundamentals today can set the stage for tomorrow’s growth.
Orion First to provide servicing to Conserv Capital
SEATTLE—Orion First has begun servicing contracts for Conserv Capital.
Nashville-based Conserv established itself in 2015 as a premier lender to contractors and haulers for heavy equipment in the Southeast. Today, it has more than 1,500 pieces of equipment with over 750 customers in 30 states. The company is shifting away from servicing its contracts in-house using a major industry-leading software solution in favor of a third-party servicing partnership with Orion.
“I could go into how they reduce costs, increase productivity, and enable expansion, and that would all be true,” says Trey Miller, COO of Conserv. “But at the end of the day, we went with Orion because they are great people who are great at what they do.”
Orion is a leader in commercial finance and has been instrumental in helping growing lenders make the switch from in-house to third-party servicing operations in order to scale while saving back-office costs, offering better customer experiences and deeper business analytics.
Miller was strategic. “When I was first approached about using a third-party servicing partner, I thought my colleagues had gone mad. I understood the advantages that came along with it, but we were talking about one of the few things companies in our space can control: the customer experience. After getting to know the team at Orion, I realized we would be doing our customers a disservice by not giving them the Orion experience.”
“We’re thrilled to have Conserv as a partner,” says Orion President Quentin Cote. “The servicing landscape is evolving and increasingly demanding. Because Orion is focused on investing in the borrower experience and data analytics, Conserv can focus its investments on building the best portfolio possible.”
ABOUT ORION FIRST:
Orion First, founded in 2001, is a full-service commercial loan and lease portfolio servicer which provides a suite of services and products to manage the complete life cycle of a borrower. Orion's product suite includes commercial loan and lease servicing and collection, portfolio management technology with client portal, data management, business analytics, and backup servicing. By delivering better technology, professional expertise, and deep experience, Orion empowers clients to focus their entrepreneurial energy on their greatest value—funding small businesses.
ABOUT CONSERV CAPITAL:
Conserv Capital is an independently owned, direct capital source focused on the construction and transportation industries across the United States. Originally designed for borrowers that did not qualify for traditional captive or bank financing, Conserv now offers competitive rates for all credit profiles. The business was started in 2015 and, to date, has provided financing on over $250mm of essential equipment.
Jaimie Haver joins Orion First as new SVP, Director of Contract Operations
Orion First has named Jaimie Haver, CLFP its new Senior Vice President and Director of Contract Operations. A veteran of the field, Haver has been responsible for building back offices for scaling companies, including banks and independent lessors.
“We are very excited to have Jaimie joining the team here at Orion,” says President Quentin Cote. “She brings a strong operational process focus and an ability to build strong and trusted relationships with her industry peers. It’s a rare combination of skills. It blends perfectly with Orion’s culture.”
Haver will be filling the role left by Jenny Dubinsky, CPA, CLFP, who has stepped down to pursue other career goals, leaving behind a contract operations department that is stronger and more robust than ever. In a role that depends on both relationship-building, leadership, and process discipline, Haver embodies all three. “She’ll help strengthen our focus on providing a meaningful partnership with each of our clients,” says Cote.
In previous roles, Haver inspired colleagues with her passion for the industry, enthusiasm for impeccable service, consistency, compliance, and decisiveness. Her open communication and leadership style enables her to improve team performance and to course-correct quickly when necessary. As a leader in equipment finance, Orion is deeply invested in the improvement and advocacy of the industry. Haver shares this commitment, according to the Monitor Daily, “believing it is essential for equipment finance businesses to self-police and enforce better practices.”
Haver serves as a Member of the Equipment Finance Cares Advisory Council and is chair of the fundraising committee. She has also served on both the ELFA Women’s Council, the subcommittee for the ELFA Women in Leadership Mentoring Program, and was a long-time board member of Beyond Blindness, formerly known as Blind Children’s Learning Center in Tustin, California.
“We are thrilled to have Jaimie on the team,” says Dave Schaefer, Orion’s CEO. “It’s rare to find someone of Jaimie’s caliber who also knows our company as well as many of our clients. She’ll be able to hit the ground running and help Orion get to the next level.”
ABOUT ORION FIRST:
Orion First, founded in 2001, is a full-service commercial loan and lease portfolio servicer which provides a suite of services and products to manage the complete life cycle of a borrower. Orion’s product suite includes commercial loan and lease servicing and collection, portfolio management technology with client portal, data management, business analytics, and backup servicing. By delivering better technology, professional expertise, and deep experience, Orion empowers clients to focus their entrepreneurial energy on their greatest value—funding small businesses.
Orion First to provide servicing to Universal Finance Corp
SEATTLE—Orion First has begun servicing contracts for Universal Finance Corp.
Massachusetts-based Universal Finance has over the last forty years established itself as a premier lender to the construction industry. The company now serves clients in a wide range of other industries, including transportation, restaurants, and medical equipment suppliers. As it’s grown from a regional to a national business, Universal has wanted to expand product lines and operate more efficiently. Limitations of its current systems had restricted them, however.
“Outsourcing our servicing enables us to focus on sales and credit underwriting,” says Dan Robinson, a partner at Universal, “which is what we do best.”
Robinson led the search for a servicing partner. “Orion was clearly the top choice. No one else has the kind of performance and savvy that Orion does. They outperform everyone else, and they have two rare commodities: broad knowledge and deep history.”
“Like us, they’re really all about helping small businesses succeed.” says Orion EVP Quentin Cote. “It’s exciting to see them building a world-class organization.” Cote believes it’s natural for growing finance companies to seek servicing partners. “Visionary leaders recognize that originations and credit are key differentiators, while the back office can often be a drag on success. Partnering with Orion ensures world-class performance, insight, and borrower experience.”
ABOUT ORION FIRST:
Orion First, founded in 2001, is a full-service commercial loan and lease portfolio servicer which provides a suite of services and products to manage the complete life cycle of a borrower. Orion's product suite includes commercial loan and lease servicing and collection, portfolio management technology with client portal, data management, business analytics, and backup servicing. As a key partner to banks, independents and captives, Orion harnesses its technology, expertise and experience to deliver better performance, deeper insights and a rewarding customer experience designed to support clients' growth.
ABOUT UNIVERSAL FINANCE:
With more than 35 years of experience and located just north of Boston, in Reading, Massachusetts, Universal Finance Corp. is a direct funding source. It has been a premier lender for the construction industry as part of a “One Stop Shop” for New England’s finest contractors since the early 1980s. Universal’s extensive experience in the construction industry gives it a unique edge when relating to customers.
Orion First promotes Cote to President, Dubinsky to Senior Vice President
Orion First Financial, LLC has promoted its director of accounting, Jenny Dubinsky, to senior vice president and director of contract operations, and has promoted executive vice president Quentin Cote to president and chief operating officer.
The promotions come just as Orion surpasses the benchmark of $3 billion under management. The company has enjoyed sustained growth over the last several years, despite the early tumult of the coronavirus pandemic. Orion adopted a leadership role in the commercial equipment finance industry throughout the pandemic, setting an assured tone and strategy for lenders and borrowers alike. Both Dubinsky and Cote were instrumental in navigating the industry’s ensuing upheaval, and helped Orion maintain its financial footing and continued growth.
CEO Dave Schaefer noted Cote’s contributions to Orion’s growth and marketplace innovation. “Quentin takes a deep interest in our clients and their well-being. This quality, and his ability to lead a high-performing team, are what the company needs as it continues to grow. Quentin has greatly influenced the strategic direction of the company.”
Dubinsky in particular was recognized by Schaefer for her leadership and management acumen. “She doesn’t just manage teams. She builds them. She leads them,” says Schaefer. “She’s seen us through some dramatic growth and has a clear vision for her group and the organization as a whole.”
CFO Zack Marsh agrees: “Jenny has a real passion for operational excellence. You see it in her commitment to developing a team of superstars and in her focus on building repeatable and reliable processes, all of which are critical for Orion’s ability to scale and perform at an optimal level for our clients.”
ABOUT ORION FIRST:
Orion First, founded in 2001, is a full-service commercial loan and lease portfolio servicer which provides a suite of services and products to manage the complete life cycle of a borrower. Orion's product suite includes commercial loan and lease servicing and collection, portfolio management technology with client portal, data management, business analytics, and backup servicing. As a key partner to banks, independents and captives, Orion harnesses its technology, expertise and experience to deliver better performance, deeper insights and a rewarding customer experience designed to support clients' growth.
Orion First Surpasses $3 Billion Under Management
Orion First has surpassed $3 billion in assets under management. This milestone comes shortly after reaching its previous benchmark of $2 billion in 2020.
The assets under management consist of small business commercial loans and leases for which Orion provides servicing, portfolio management, collection and backup servicing duties for clients ranging from federally regulated banks to captive and independent finance companies.
“We are seeing the benefits of substantial investments in technology, people and processes. We are able to adapt and grow with our clients, who are among the fastest growing in the industry,” says Quentin Cote, executive vice president of Orion. “We’re proud to partner with these successful companies and believe Orion’s growth is a key part of that success.”
Orion’s success may also be due in no small part to its business model. Unlike other servicers, Orion only services commercial portfolios. It views consumer portfolios as a distraction from this core focus. By allocating its resources entirely to a narrow (albeit deep) segment of the industry, Orion is able to offer more specialized expertise to its clients, and a better customer experience tailored specifically to the small business owner.
Additionally, Orion is foremost a primary servicer, with backup servicing making up less than 13% of total contracts under management. Servicers whose portfolios contain substantially more backup contracts than primary pose a risk to clients, as their operations can be strained if lenders begin to falter and they need to convert backup portfolios to primary servicing.
“There’s a transformation in the way borrowers expect to interact with their lenders,” says Cote. “They want to interact on their own terms. Orion has developed an industry leading borrower portal to empower the borrower. Additionally, data and analytics are playing a critical role in portfolio performance—what was once the art of lending is now the science of lending-and that’s where we’ve been investing. Our clients are able to make portfolio optimization decisions with increasing speed and confidence.”
ABOUT ORION FIRST:
Orion First, founded in 2001, is a full-service commercial loan and lease portfolio servicer which provides a suite of services and products to manage the complete life cycle of a borrower. Orion's product suite includes commercial loan and lease servicing and collection, portfolio management technology with client portal, data management, business analytics, and backup servicing. By delivering better technology, professional expertise, and deep experience, clients are able to consistently achieve lower losses, better pricing, lower expenses, and less distraction.
Orion First has unveiled its latest business analytics product, Delinquency Manager
Delinquency Manager is a highly customizable dashboard that clarifies trends and meaningful factors affecting the delinquencies in equipment loan and lease portfolios. It allows Orion's clients to view and filter data by state, originator, industry, and other criteria, to better understand what's happening and act swiftly and accurately on its insights.
"It's become a requirement for small business lenders to embrace analytics in order to remain competitive," says David Trost, VP of Product & Analytics of Orion. "Our technology lets us combine data that our clients are already collecting with Orion First's proprietary data, to develop these amazing new tools for visualizing and reporting. Not just on portfolio performance, but also insights into market trends and potential pitfalls."
Delinquency Manager is aimed at helping executives simplify their data compilation, trend analysis, and pricing. It will help portfolio managers identify problem areas quickly and easily, and communicate performance to a wide range of stakeholders.
The product is the latest in a string of recent releases from Orion that includes its popular Customer Portal and Client Portal. Orion is also folding these technologies into a new program, Insights, that will offer both a la carte and client-only business analytics tools.
Features include:
- Executive overview of portfolio health: trends in portfolio size, monthly delinquency, and summary of factors that have the biggest impact on delinquency
- Interactive delinquency manager: compare performance across delinquency buckets and portfolio categories; slice or cross-filter by timeframe, origination source, industries, asset type, geography, or custom categories specific to your portfolio
- Interactive roll rate analysis to develop delinquency expectations for the coming months: compare how different portfolio segments roll through delinquency buckets, slice or cross-filter the portfolio to compare performance amongst subsets
- Customize your dashboard—or individual pages—with additional filters, such as risk rating, recourse, or categories unique to your business
- 24 months of automatically updated delinquency data
- Reports are easily exported into .PPT and .PDF for easy sharing
ABOUT ORION FIRST
Orion First, founded in 2001, is a full-service commercial loan and lease portfolio servicer that provides a suite of services and products to manage the complete life cycle of a borrower. Orion's product suite includes commercial loan and lease servicing and collection, portfolio management technology with client portal, data management, business analytics, and backup servicing. By delivering better technology, professional expertise, and deep experience, clients can consistently achieve lower losses, better pricing, lower expenses, and less distraction.
CFBank Taps Orion First to Provide Servicing for Equipment Financing
SEATTLE, WA— Orion First Financial, LLC announced today that CF Bankshares Inc. (NASDAQ: CFBK) and its wholly-owned banking subsidiary, CFBank, N.A. (“CFBank”), has selected Orion First, a full-service commercial loan and lease portfolio servicer, as its exclusive provider of primary management services for the bank’s equipment finance and leasing line of business.
The agreement between the companies supports CFBank’s recent expansion into commercial equipment finance and leasing, offering financing to businesses secured by new and used equipment.
As part of the agreement, Orion will provide CFBank with full portfolio management services including the booking of newly originated contracts; payment processing and all cashier services; reporting covering accounting, portfolio data, delinquencies, and custom reporting; fully staffed, white-labeled customer service support, and delinquency/default management.
CFBank’s focus in this arena will be middle-market and small-ticket equipment finance transactions, loans, and portfolio purchases. It will originate transactions from third parties and bank customers before eventually expanding into vendor programs. “Our decision to go with Orion was simple: they’re the best at what they do,” says John Catalano, CFBank’s new president of equipment finance. “We want to stay focused on origination and credit underwriting. For that, we need a trusted partner for portfolio servicing and that is what we have with the Orion team.”
“We are excited to support CFBank with their entry into the equipment finance space,” said Quentin Cote, EVP of Orion First. “This is a fantastic team doing great work that aligns with our values. They are actively committed to helping small businesses succeed. As more banks enter the equipment finance and small ticket finance sectors, our industry as a whole benefits from their lending experience, their knowledge of commercial banking products, expanded customer bases, and ultimately, new ways to improve the experience of small business borrowers everywhere.”
Approximately $51.4 billion of new small-ticket (under $250,000) equipment loan and lease financing was originated in the United States in 2019, according to the Equipment Leasing & Finance Association in its 2020 Survey of Equipment Finance Activity, up from $47.5 billion in 2018. New business volume—which grew 10.5% in 2019—outpaced GDP growth (2.3% according to the U.S. Department of Commerce), with banks seeing the highest increase (12.8%) compared to independents (8.4%) and captives (6.9%).
ABOUT ORION FIRST
Orion First, founded in 2001, is a full-service commercial loan and lease portfolio servicer which provides a suite of services and products to manage the complete life cycle of a borrower. Orion’s servicing platform includes systems to support lease and loan accounting, credit application processing, scoring and decisioning products, and collection management.
ABOUT CFBANK
CFBank is a boutique commercial bank that was founded in 1892 and headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Over a century has passed and its focus remains the same: to help businesses and individuals thrive. CFBank specializes in commercial loans and leases, commercial and residential real estate lending, treasury management depository services, and personal banking. CFBank is proud of its Ohio roots serving client needs through its physical locations in several Ohio major metro-markets including Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Akron, and branch locations in Columbiana County. In addition to its expanding network of full-service brick-and-mortar locations, CFBank also has national lending and deposit account origination presence. CF Bankshares, Inc. is the holding company for CFBank, N.A. (NASDAQ: CFBK)