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Welcome to Portfolio Perspective: Managing Risk & Seizing Opportunity, a podcast focused on the asset-based lending industry. Join Andrew Pace, Chief Client Experience Officer at Asset Compliant Solutions, as he interviews experts, shares insights, and explores strategies for managing risk, optimizing portfolio performance, and seizing opportunities in an ever-evolving financial landscape. From regulatory changes to technological advances, each episode provides actionable takeaways and deep dives into industry trends. Whether you’re a lender, servicer, or recovery expert, this podcast offers valuable perspectives to enhance your approach and improve outcomes.
We've really chosen to stick to our fundamentals. We've got a tried and true formula from an underwriting and a credit perspective standpoint that is decades of experience behind it. And so we're not chasing those short term gains. You know, those chickens eventually come home to roost.
Andrew:Back to ACS Portfolio Perspective. I'm your host, Andrew Pace, Chief Client Experience Officer at ACS, joined today by Ron Elwood, Senior Vice President at Navitas Credit. Ron brings over twenty five years of experience in equipment finance to our conversation today. Starting as a credit analyst in 1999, he has built his career across multiple disciplines, from credit underwriting, to business development, to executive leadership. Today, he oversees the partner funding division of Navitas, leading a team of 20 professionals across business development, credit, and funding.
Andrew:Under Ron's leadership, Navitas has become a leading funding source in the broker channel, playing a significant role in helping the company achieve a record breaking performance in 2025, with over $1,000,000,000 in originations. He's also deeply committed to the industry, serving on the National Equipment Finance Association Board's Executive Committee, and helping shape the future of equipment finance. Ron, welcome to the show.
Ron:Thank you very much. I appreciate it, Andrew. Very excited to join you today.
Andrew:My pleasure. Again, thanks for being here. You've had a front row seat to how this industry has evolved, and your background in credit really shaped the leader you've become. I want to start right there and dig into how your early foundation influences how you run a large third party origination channel today. So you started in equipment finance as a credit analyst back in 1999.
Andrew:How has that foundation in credit shaped your approach to leading a business development organization?
Ron:Sure. I would say it's very much the exception as opposed to the norm for someone with a credit background, really starting in credit like I did, to wind up leading a very sales focused group like we are. So that being said, I think it served us really well. Those credit routes that I have really helped shape the way that I go about leading this group, and for a long time we've been, the mindset that we've had, from the standpoint of, we take a very balanced approach when it comes to thinking about not just growing, but doing what we know we need to do from a credit standpoint. My move to business development, moving away from credit to more of a business development role, it happened pretty early in my career.
Ron:It was actually over twenty years ago now. But that foundation that was laid by working in a credit capacity really stuck with me, and that remains very much core and essential to what we do. To be quite honest with you, Andrew, I think if you're a funding source in this space and you have a long term mentality, you're in the business for the long haul, you really do have to keep that balance in mind in order to protect the business and make sure that you're able to continually provide the service that you're here to do, and lend to the broker marketplace for the long haul. Not put your customers on too much of a roller coaster ride as a result of maybe some poor decision making by not keeping credit as equally as important as that growth side of the equation. So, that's one thing I would say is I'm really proud of the fact that Navitas has remained very disciplined in our underwriting, and what that allowed us to do through the last number of years, if you go back to COVID and then the more recent downturn, we've been able to operate uninterrupted.
Ron:We've never had to even remotely pause fundings for our broker partners, which is tremendous.
Andrew:Navitas has become what you described as a market leader in the broker channel. What strategies have been most effective in building and maintaining those broker partnerships?
Ron:Yeah, I think we view ourselves, as much as anything, as consultants to our broker partners. In doing that, we really do take a relationship first approach. That's always a priority for us. When I say that, what I mean by that is we focus on things like communication and being very transparent with our partners, and working together to create programs that meet the needs of all of the parties involved. First and foremost, the customer.
Ron:You've got the vendor, the broker, and Navitas, and if we can align what we're doing to meet all of those parties' needs, then we're gonna be successful. I think taking that consultative approach and being very strategic in the way that we go about doing that, I think that only comes about as a result of having what I would say is probably the best team in the industry. So I'll brag for a second on some members of our team, the team overall, but certainly from a leadership standpoint. Tim McConnell heads up our business development department, Chris McGeehy and Bonnie Oakley in credit, Judy Garner in funding. Each of those individually have over twenty years of experience, not just in the industry, but with our team specifically.
Ron:And so, we're very hyper focused on communication, and we even take time for strategic planning at times with a number of our sources. So we'll huddle up with our partners and say, What sort of opportunities are you looking at with specific vendors or in specific industries? How can we customize offerings that are really going to meet everyone's needs and then benefit all of us in the long run? Being very clear, transparent. And the other thing I would say is being very consistent with our guidelines.
Ron:And I think if we, I've thought a lot about this recently too, Andrew. If you ask any of our sources, when you work with Navitas, you know what to expect when you submit an application? And when you receive an approval or you fund a deal, and can your customer know what to expect after the deal funds, to know that they're gonna have access to the information that they need, a customer portal, the resources, etcetera? If we can check all those boxes, that's a pretty strong recipe for success. Those are a few of the strategies that I'd say we really prioritize here.
Andrew:Thank you, thank you. You've described Navitas earlier, almost being like a consultant to your broker partners. Tell us more about that approach, and how it differentiates you and the market.
Ron:Sure. I think it's easy for a funding source to answer a question, Will you consider a particular type of equipment or an industry or deals with a certain vendor associated with them? It's really important to understand the goals beyond just the individual transactions themselves. That's what I was alluding to just a minute ago when it comes to meeting the needs of all the parties involved. Those typically differ from one opportunity to the next.
Ron:And so really digging in and understanding that and making sure those needs are being met, that's really what locks you in with a particular partner, whether you're talking vendor or broker, etcetera. And so we place a high degree of importance on that. We can align underwriting terms, pricing, documentation. That's sort of a creative approach that really checks all those boxes and benefits everybody's. What's going to help you develop more long term relationships.
Ron:And when you do that, well, guess what? You've got, more times than not, a partner that is willing to work with you and allows you to grow mutually for years. And that's what we're in this business for.
Andrew:Sure are. So you've referenced credit several times, your all star leadership team, and it's clearly a core part of the Navitas DNA. I want to shift into that because your approach to credit discipline has been a huge factor in the company's performance, especially in volatile market cycles. So use the phrase stick to your knitting when describing Navitas credit philosophy. What does that mean in practice, especially when the market gets hyper competitive?
Ron:I think we've seen a lot of instances in the past with a number of funding sources in our space that, whether it comes from a place of maybe getting a little bit too greedy, or just really wanting to grow maybe much too quickly, what happens is invariably parameters get a little bit too loose. So whether you're talking about the assets they're buying, pricing, app only limits, those sorts of things, it gets crazy really quick when things get really competitive. We've all seen that. I remember hearing for the first time that somebody was offering app only to 3 quarters of 1,000,000 or a million dollars. And I don't care what type of asset type you're talking about, that's kind of a frightening proposition.
Ron:But some people out there will do that. But what happens is they get a little bit too loose in their standards. And we've been fortunate to avoid loosening those standards to that extent during good times. We've really chosen to stick to our fundamentals. We've got a tried and true formula from an underwriting and a credit perspective standpoint that is decades of experience behind it.
Ron:And so we're not chasing those short term gains. You know, those chickens eventually come home to roost. So when the market turns, the folks that really went too far out on the limb, they wind up paying a price for that, and they suffer long term losses when it's all said and done. And so, from my perspective, and as a company, being a responsible lender and funding responsibly in the way that we're going about underwriting, we view that as a way that we're protecting our broker and our origination partners. We take that commitment really seriously, because we're not fly by night operators.
Ron:We're here for the long run, good times and bad.
Andrew:So 2025, record year for Navitas. While many competitors struggled, how did your approach to credit discipline during the good times position you for success during the downturn?
Ron:We were able to recognize some red flags early on, and I think that was key for us. So we pivoted very quickly. When you see those red flags and you start taking action to make sure that you're getting out in front of those and meeting customers where they are, that helped us significantly. The result, quite honestly, has been one of the better performing portfolios in the industry, from all reports. Whereas a number of our competitors saw delinquencies spike, what they wound up doing is reducing their appetite, buying less, right, imposing more restrictions.
Ron:A lot of them even closed as a result of the increased delinquencies. We know of probably 10 sources to the broker marketplace that closed over the last couple of years. And so the reality is when competitors pulled back, we were able to advance. Some of those fast adjustments that we made early on really did pay off. We protected ourselves against some of those challenges.
Ron:Even though the market shrank in 2025, our share of that market grew by quite a bit. So for us to be able to say that 2025 was our best year ever, I think that's really saying something.
Andrew:For sure. So what lessons from the past market cycles, including the 2010 downturn and the COVID period, have informed how Navitas manages portfolio risk today?
Ron:I think knowing how important it is to react that quickly to some of those leading indicators, You can't understate those sorts of lessons, and we've been able to put those into effect. I think listening and adapting very quickly to customer needs. We've got a fantastic servicing department that really does stay in tune with where customers are and respond accordingly. As a company, I think we're very much in tune with that. Our goal is always to ensure that we're properly aligned with our partners as well.
Ron:I think that's important. We're always going to look to do what in the long run is mutually beneficial for everybody. And so, if we keep that mindset, we're doing things the right way. And again, I mentioned it earlier, but managing risk for long term stability is critically important. Otherwise, what winds up happening is you're just doomed to repeat the same mistakes that you've made in the past, and nobody's interested in doing that.
Ron:And so, those lessons that we've learned over the years, again, 2025 was a great year for us because we paid attention, we took notes, and we responded accordingly with the most recent downturn.
Andrew:Thank you. A big part of staying disciplined is making sure your team has the right tools, data, and systems in place. Technology's becoming more central to competitiveness in the industry, and Navitas has invested heavily in digital tools that support your partners. So let's shift to the role technology is playing in your strategy. So you mentioned Navitas provides digital tools, including calculators and white label applications, to help broker partners go to market more effectively.
Andrew:How important is that technology investment to your competitive position?
Ron:It's certainly a piece of the overall strategy. It's not necessarily the central point, but it is a very key piece for us. We think it's essential for supporting brokers. If you think about our operation, Andrew, we work with everything from very small one man broker shops up to divisions of national banks. So, providing that sort of empowerment to brokers and allowing them maybe a stronger presence than they might otherwise have, we think is very important, and there's a lot of value in that to our sources.
Ron:And so, it's something we're committed to, for sure. The new tools, the digital tools that we're rolling out, some updated versions on, they really do enhance the borrower experience. And that includes at the point of sale, which is of course critical for growing your business. And think for a smaller broker shop especially, the ability to offer that sort of technology, speed, and service allows them to compete against some of the big guys that have more of the resources to be able to devote to that sort of technology and efficiency improvements and tools and so forth. So, it absolutely is an important part of our strategy.
Andrew:AI is transforming many areas of financial services. How is Navitas thinking about and implementing AI in areas like credit decisioning and portfolio management?
Ron:Yeah, I like to call AI the easy button. The value of AI, if you've been paying attention, and everybody viewing this knows, it can be massive. Especially when it comes to just general data analysis and efficiencies. So we're certainly cognizant of that, and we are working on various forms of implementation. One of the things I think I'm most fascinated by are portfolio insights that AI can really provide you.
Ron:When you think about AI's ability to scan a portfolio, and especially a company the size of Navitas, you can really gain a lot of insight and guidance as it relates to underwriting transactions and managing transactions based on the data that's already there. You've got years and years of history there that you can look at and say, Would this make sense to handle this new opportunity based on the historical performance? And so that is, again, almost limitless, what you can do with that sort of information. And so it's gonna continue to be of increasing importance, and we're gonna continue to put it more and more to use. Parceling information out of credit packages, and I talked about the credit decisioning.
Ron:Those are some very key areas I can see. I think it's too powerful not to put it to use, and the scary part is, I think we'd all agree that it's just the tip of the iceberg where we're at right now.
Andrew:Yes, for sure, definitely exciting and scary. So what technology trends do you believe will have some of the biggest impact on our industry over the next few years?
Ron:Yeah, I think auto scoring using AI is really something that we're gonna see get traction for the first time. It's not a new concept. I can remember not long after starting in this industry, I heard about the idea of auto scoring transactions. Historically, there are certainly limitations there. So if you have a chief credit officer who develops a grid, a scoring grid, the limitations are his or her knowledge, or the knowledge of that credit team.
Ron:It's a very limited perspective on the overall business versus, as I mentioned earlier, AI's ability to really parcel out information in a much more infinitely complex way. I do think there's an advantage to that for larger lenders. It makes sense, right? If there's a larger portfolio, there's a much bigger sample size that you can build those sort of scoring models off of. So it'll be interesting to see how this unfolds amongst a number of vendors that are in our space.
Ron:And then I would say another tech trend that's coming down the pike that I think I've seen it referred to as the Internet of Things, and I think we're gonna see that adopted more and more in the commercial equipment space as time goes on. I never thought I'd see the day where, you know, at the house you've got the garage door, the thermostat, the refrigerator, all these devices at home that are connected to the internet, they can provide you with a ton of information about how they're performing, when they need to be serviced, etcetera. And I think you're gonna see that more and more with commercial equipment. And I think that real time data is going to be critically important to vendors, to lenders, customers, etcetera. And so, when you think about things like equipment valuations and recovery rates, servicing, it's pretty impressive to think about what could become of that sort of information through that sort of data transfer.
Andrew:Don't forget vacuum cleaners, right? Can't forget vacuum cleaners.
Ron:Every device. Yeah, fast forward ten years from now, there's probably nothing in your house that's not going to have some sort of data behind it, and it being connected to the internet or an application in some way.
Andrew:A 100%, a 100%. Alongside the work you're doing in the business, you are also taking on a significant leadership role in the industry through NEFA. That gives you a broad perspective on where equipment finance is heading. So I'd like to shift into that bigger picture. You've risen to the NEFA Executive Committee.
Andrew:What drew you to that level of involvement, and what value does industry association participation bring to Nabeetus, and to your own professional development?
Ron:Yeah, the first thing I'd say is my connection to NEFA specifically goes back over twenty years at this point. I remember my very first conference after moving into a business development role was a UAEL conference in the 2003, 2004 timeframe. And so we've long been committed to the association, as well as a few others, ACFB and ELFA. But for me specifically, NEFA holds a special place. I think when you look at the type of really strong leadership that's represented at NEFA, not just on the board, but elsewhere within the association, it's hard not to be inspired by that.
Ron:There are some fantastic individuals that really play key roles in our industry, and through the association are really helping steer the boat in a lot of ways. Chad Sluss and his team at NEFA do a fantastic job. When I look at some of the more recent boards, and the individuals that have held leadership roles over the last few years, people like Robert Hornby, Kim King, Jamie Haver, Sherwin Roshti, some really fantastic individuals. To be a part of that is really an honor, to be quite honest with you. So board experience is invaluable.
Ron:Whether you're focusing on something like growing the association, managing the financials in the treasurer role, or serving as a board liaison, like I'm currently serving on for the Rising Professionals Group, which is a fantastic group. There's a lot that you can learn, a lot of connections that you can make. The networking is fantastic. The conferences are terrific, and of course, for any member, the education benefits that you can gain from being a part of NEFA are terrific. Skip Weiner recently played a key role in rolling platform over at NEFA, which is terrific as well.
Ron:So don't get me started on NEFA. I can talk for days on that one. Really proud to be a part of that association, and the role that I currently serve on, on the board.
Andrew:Well, as a NIFA member, and being on the philanthropy committee, I thank you, and those that you've mentioned, all the work that you do to make it such a great association for us to be a part of, and yeah, the conferences are fantastic, and I look forward to them every year. So looking ahead to 'twenty six and beyond, what opportunities and challenges do you see for the equipment finance industry?
Ron:Yeah, well, I'm always gonna be bullish on this industry. It doesn't matter what the environment is. I am an optimist by nature, but when it comes to this industry, time has proven over and over again the way that we adapt and come out on the other side of downturns even stronger, with better perspective on how to manage business and so forth. I just think the opportunities are very strong, especially in the next handful of years. I think when you look at some of the advantages that things like AI and upcoming technologies are going to represent, combined with things like a very real pent up demand.
Ron:I think universally, are of the opinion that there is a lot of pent up demand in the market right now. When you think back to COVID and supply chain issues and equipment availability, the more recent downturn, there are a lot of reasons people have been hesitant, business owners have been hesitant to invest in their business. And so, I think at least for the next few years, especially in the construction space, would say, there's a lot of reason to be optimistic that business is going to be very strong for our marketplace. I do think when you ask about challenges, things like the regulatory side of the equation, that's cooled a little bit recently, I think, with the change in the administration, but that can certainly come back in full force. That's something always to keep an eye on.
Ron:Of course, the general economic challenges at the macro level, there's always gonna be some degree of uncertainty. The world we're in right now is certainly no exception. There are a lot of things that are at play right now. You look at wars, and tariffs, just a variety of issues that are affecting business owners' decision to move forward right now. So, that's something to always monitor and be ready to adjust to.
Ron:But at the end of the day, with this industry, we've proven it time and time again, it's hard not to be optimistic, just based on how resilient we've proven to be over the years.
Andrew:That's a great word to use. That's what I was thinking before you said it. I'm like, It is such a resilient industry. So before we go, what advice would you offer to others in the industry, whether they are lenders, brokers, or just entering the field per se?
Ron:Yeah, I would suggest get involved, beyond just your daily work. Really get involved in some of the industry associations, and more of a macro level with the market, because not only do you have the ability to build some very strong industry connections and gain insights and information that can really help your business, you can learn a ton from peers and mentors. For me personally, I think about people like Jim Jackson at the Alta Group, Scott Wheeler, Gary Sovereign over at Stellify. There's some fantastic individuals within the associations and in our industry that it's fine to come into work on a day to day basis and do your job and go home. But the reality is, I think a lot of us can relate you know, true fulfillment in what we do in our career really can come from community impact and being involved in things like the associations that we talked about earlier.
Ron:Yeah, I'm reflecting. It's funny you ask that question, Andrew, because I'm reflecting on that more and more as I see on the horizon my career eventually will come to an end. You really start reflecting on where do you glean the satisfaction your career? And when I get to the end of that road and I look back, I think that's first and foremost gonna be where that comes from, is being involved the industry level. Working for a fantastic company, of course, is important, but being a part of a much bigger picture is very important to me, and I think to a lot of people.
Andrew:For sure.
Ron:So that would be my Thank
Andrew:you, thank you. Ron, South Carolina versus Clemson, which mascot would actually win a 40 yard dash if both had to sprint in full costume?
Ron:In full costume. Great question. I think when you think about the two mascots, you've got a tiger and a gamecock, which for those not familiar with a gamecock, it is, as we like to say, I'll use an alternate word, it's a butt kickin' chicken. And so, of the two of those, only one has wings, which is the Gamecock. Naturally, I think the Gamecock's gonna win, especially in light of the fact that the tiger's tail tends to be a little bit long, and much like the football team, could see them tripping over it, so the Gamecock wins every time.
Andrew:That's awesome. Thank you for that. Ron, this has been a fantastic conversation. Your insights on leadership, credit discipline, technology, and the direction of the industry are incredibly valuable. For our listeners, be sure to follow Navitas and connect with Ron to stay up to date on their latest insights and industry leadership.
Andrew:Thanks again for joining me on the ACS Portfolio Perspective, and to our audience, thank you for listening. Be sure to subscribe where you get your podcasts and stay tuned for more conversations with the people and perspectives shaping the future of equipment finance. Until next time, I'm Andrew Pace. Thanks for tuning in.