Element strengthens leadership team to drive growth strategy

Bradley Nullmeyer brings unmatched expertise in the development of world-class vendor finance programs  

TORONTO, Aug. 13, 2012 /CNW/ - Element Financial Corporation (TSX:EFN) ("Element" or "the Company"), Canada's leading independent equipment finance company, today announced that it has appointed Bradley Nullmeyer as President of the Company's North American operations and established a new Vendor Finance unit directly under Mr. Nullmeyer's oversight to bring added focus to the development of these important origination alliances with equipment manufacturers.

Vendor financing is a highly specialized area of commercial finance that management expects will make a significant contribution to Element's future growth in origination volumes. As the head of Element's Vendor Finance unit, Mr. Nullmeyer will be responsible for developing industry-leading vendor finance programs for major North American equipment manufacturers.

"Over a period of 16 years, Brad was responsible for originating more than $30 billion of high quality finance assets from the world-class national and international vendor finance programs that he oversaw as the President of the Newcourt Financial division of Newcourt Credit Group," noted Steven Hudson, Element's Chairman and CEO. "Vendor financing was at the heart of Newcourt's organic growth engine and Brad clearly has the experience, the network and the leadership skills needed to make Element the dominant provider of vendor financing in North America. In my opinion, there is no one better qualified than Brad to take on this important job at Element," added Mr. Hudson.

"Knowing the successful track record of the team that Steve has put together at Element, I have made a substantial personal investment in this Company and am very excited about having this opportunity to contribute directly to accelerating its growth and profitability," said Mr. Nullmeyer. "As North American businesses retool for the next growth cycle, I believe that Element is exceptionally well-positioned to deliver annuity-like originations by building customized vendor financing programs for leading North American equipment manufacturers," added Mr. Nullmeyer.

Mr. Nullmeyer's appointment will take effect September 1, 2012.  Concurrent with Mr. Nullmeyer's appointment, the Company announced that it has appointed Mr. Bruce Smith as President and Chief Operating Officer of Element Financial (Canada) with responsibility for all of Element's Canadian operations. In addition to serving as President of the Company's North American operations, Mr. Nullmeyer will join Bruce Smith, Michel Béland (CFO) and Steven Hudson (CEO) on Element's Strategy and Corporate Development Committee.

Mr Nullmeyer earned his Chartered Accountant designation at Ernst and Young in 1984. He was the Vice President of Finance at Cottrell Transport before joining Medcan Financial (predecessor to Newcourt Credit Group) in 1986. As one of Newcourt's founding partners, Mr. Nullmeyer was responsible for growing the company's vendor finance origination volumes which increased at an average rate of 110 percent per year over five years from $933 million in 1994 to $18.4 billion in 1998. During this period, Mr. Nullmeyer established several world-class vendor finance programs for major equipment manufacturers including Dell Computers, Western Star Trucks, Avaya (formerly Lucent Technologies) and Snap-on Corporation.  Mr. Nullmeyer moved to the United States in 1997 where he served as the President of the company's Vendor Finance unit until 2001.  Since returning to Canada, Mr. Nullmeyer has been active in investing and operating numerous private investments and interests. He currently serves on the Board of Directors and is the Chair of the Audit Committee of Davis + Henderson Corporation (TSX:DH). Mr. Nullmeyer resides in Toronto with his wife and four children.

About Element Financial Corporation

With total assets of approximately $1 billion, Element Financial Corporation is Canada's leading independent equipment finance company. Element operates nationally in three segments of the equipment finance market - Element Capital provides large ticket equipment leasing, Element Finance serves the mid-ticket equipment finance market and Element Fleet provides vehicle fleet leasing and management solutions through the Company's TLS Fleet Management division.

Forward Looking Statements

This release includes forward-looking statements regarding Element and its business. Such statements are based on the current expectations and views of future events of Element's management. In some cases the forward-looking statements can be identified by words or phrases such as "may", "will", "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "intend", "potential", "estimate", "believe" or the negative of these terms, or other similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this release may not occur and could differ materially as a result of known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting the company. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements and information by their nature are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statement or information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements or information. Except as required by applicable securities laws, forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and Element undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

SOURCE: Element Financial Corporation

Media Contact: 
John Sadler 
Genoa Management Limited
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Investor Contact:
Michel Béland
Chief Financial Officer
[phone] ext. 225
[email protected]