Hans-Michael
Heitmüller
Chairman of the board, Deutsche
Leasing
Although
less of a leasing veteran than other contenders for this award,
Heitmüller has had a very long and successful career within the
banking industry (he started at Kreissparkasse Cologne in the 1960s
and in the 1980s became a management board member at Deutscher
Sparkassen).
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Currently chairman of Deutsche
Leasing, he started his career in leasing with his job as CEO for
Germany’s largest lessor. Since joining Deutsche Leasing in 1999,
new business has increased from €1.8 billion to €9 billion.
His major role was the connection of
Deutsche Leasing with the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe (savings banks
group). Thanks to his contacts within the banking group, Heitmüller
identified new markets, gained access to new SME customers, and
achieved a liquidity improvement for Deutsche Leasing.
He is currently responsible for the
strategy ‘Deutsche Leasing 2018’, an extension of the strategy
‘Deutsche Leasing 2009’, in which he assigned a number of
priorities for the growth of Deutsche Leasing.
Hans-Peter Kraemer, formerly
chairman of the supervisory board of Deutsche Leasing, said: “Since
Heitmüller has become CEO of Deutsche Leasing, the company has
helped Germany’s savings banks to a position of considerable
independence and significant expertise in leasing business.”
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Karel Schellens
Former chief executive, De Lage
Landen International
Karel Schellens, who this year stepped down as chief executive of
De Lage Landen International, has over 35 years of experience in
leasing and asset finance.
Having spent 25 years of his life at
De Lage Landen, Schellens is responsible for having developed the
Dutch lessor’s vendor finance focus. Schellens joined De Lage
Landen in 1984 as managing director of the company – and quickly
turned the loss-making business into a profitable leasing company
by recognising the vast potential of the vendor finance
principle.
Throughout his career, Schellens has
also seen the international potential of leasing, culminating in De
Lage Landen’s acquisition of Tokai Financial Services’ $1.3 billion
(€873 million) portfolio in 1999. Schellens, who was subsequently
appointed chairman of De Lage Landen’s Vendor Finance Americas
division, also expanded operations into Canada, Brazil, Argentina
and Mexico.
Within five years, De Lage Landen
became the largest foreign leasing company in the US. In 2002,
Schellens was appointed chief executive officer of De Lage Landen
International. Under his leadership, the lessor evolved into a
vendor finance company with business in over 35 countries
worldwide.
“During his time at De Lage Landen,
Karel has embedded some key themes firmly in the company’s genes,”
said a spokesperson for the company. “The themes that are of the
utmost importance to him – innovation, entrepreneurship,
globalisation and corporate responsibility – are the core of
Karel’s success.”
In addition to his work as a lessor,
Schellens is on the supervisory board of the Sri Lanka Orphanage
Foundation, and is an honorary member of the Netherlands
Association of Lease Companies.
Godfrey Smith
Former finance director, Bank of
America Leasing
Godfrey Smith, a principal at Bank of America Leasing, has recently
retired after a long career in the leasing industry. Smith, who in
last role was finance director for the leasing business of BofA,
worked at the American lessor for almost 20 years. This included
five years as financial director with Fleet Boston, the
Boston-based banking group which merged in 2004 with Bank of
America.
According to BofA head John Bennett,
Smith “has certainly contributed much to our industry” and is
therefore “a very good candidate for the award”.
Bennett added: “He was a key figure
in expanding our activities in Europe to cover 17 countries and
became an expert in cross-border, legal and tax structures for
vendor transactions.”
In addition to that, Smith did a lot
of work with the Finance & Leasing Association in submitting
proposals and working with different parties in relation to changes
in corporation tax for lessors, and on accounting and
reporting.
Simon Kirk, finance director at Five
Arrows Leasing Group, who attended many of these meetings and has
known Smith for a long period of time, said: “The one thing I can
say about Godfrey is that he is always charming, he always had that
sort of sunny disposition to talk to, he always emphasises the
positive.”
According to Jonathan Vines of KPMG,
Smith “has consistently performed at a high level in various
organisations and demonstrates true UK and overseas asset finance
expertise”.
He also combines length of service
and real cross border expertise, Vines added.
Derek Soper
Chairman of International Advisory
Associates
With over four decades of experience in global leasing and asset
finance, Derek Soper is a prime candidate for the Lifetime
Achievement Award. Indeed, few can match the breadth of his
experience and expertise in international leasing.
During his career, Soper has
launched and founded numerous successful leasing companies,
including AT&T Capital in Europe and Asia, Barclays, Kleinwort
Benson and the Midland Bank. By the time Soper left AT&T
Capital to retire, it had a portfolio of over €1 billion.
Despite retiring in 1997, Soper
realised he wanted to continue to work, and launched Alta Europe,
where he was a principal, and then chairman until earlier this
year. Today he is chairman of International Advisory Associates, an
international leasing strategic consultancy which he relaunched
this summer.
Soper has also served as chairman of
the UK Equipment Leasing Association (now the Finance & Leasing
Association), and was a member of the Council of Leaseurope, the
Industry Future Council of the Equipment Leasing and Finance
Association of America, and the Finance House Association of Hong
Kong. He is also a Fellow of the UK Institute of Directors, and is
a Freeman of the City of London.
Outside of the business environment,
Soper is an avid traveller, and enjoys skiing and shooting. He is
also kept busy with Cancer Journey, a regional charity which he
supports and which he hopes to help develop into a national charity
this year.
Friedhelm Westebbe
Outgoing chief executive of BDL,
the German Leasing Association
Friedhelm Westebbe recently celebrated his retirement from the
German Leasing Association (BDL) with friends and colleagues at
Leaseurope’s annual conference in Prague, after nearly 30 years in
the German Financial Services Sector.
A former head of the leasing company
LGS Sparkasse GmbH, and subsequently a board member at Deutsche
Leasing in 2002, Westebbe joined BDL as chief executive in 2002.
During his tenure with the association, it merged with another
organisation, IDL, which focused on the SME sector. Without taking
on any extra staff, Westebbe managed to cater to the needs of both
membership bases.
Now, the BDL writes 90 percent of
Germany’s lease book, with around 190 members and combined
outstandings of more than €55 billion. Westebbe and his staff of 10
have provided the organisation with regular market statistics and
reports, while also organising social and educational events.
In addition, Westebbe’s political
talent has come to the fore in recent years, especially last year
during negotiations with financial supervisory body BaFin to repeal
an increased trade tax. He has furthermore provided support to BDL
members left troubled by the collapse of Germany’s lease
refinancing market, as well as managing incoming accounting issues
and the demands of Germany’s changing regulatory climate.
Terry Willis
Former head of legal at
Lombard
Terry Willis retired in October after working
for 27 years at Lombard’s legal department. He rose to become head
of the department in the late 1990s, a position he retained until
his retirement, and he then went on to oversee all the contentious
and non-contentious work of the company, which continues to be one
of Europe’s largest leasing businesses.
He is particularly well-known for
the key role he played in overseeing all of Lombard’s acquisitions,
disposals and joint ventures throughout this period. Having also
played an important part in legislative issues, his final task was
to make sure Lombard’s contracts are compliant with the upcoming
Consumer Credit Directive.
Willis also worked tirelessly over
many years for the Finance & Leasing Association’s influential
legal committee, of which he was a senior member.
