vice president, Midwest markets. Based in Indianapolis, Count will be responsible for developing owneroccupied, commercial real estate financing opportunities throughout the Midwest. “We’ve been looking to expand our presence to the Midwest by adding an asset-based lending and/or banking veteran with roots in the region,” notes Jeff Van Sickle, president of Briar Capital. “Having spent over 35 years in commercial lending, all of which in the Midwest, Paul is the perfect fit for our organization.” In addition to his extensive assetbased lending and banking experience, Count served as founding President of the Association for Corporate Growth – Indiana and founding President of the Indiana Association for Corporate Renewal. He also has fulfilled leadership positions in a number of civic and philanthropic organizations throughout the Midwest communities where he has lived and served. Capital One: Todd Hammond was appointed to its underwriting and portfolio management team and welcomed Brian Schwinn to the team on June 10. Hammond joins the team to lead underwriting for Middle Market Banking, supporting the Regional Commercial Bank, Not-for-Profit, and Municipal groups and coordinating closely with the Diversified Industries group. Schwinn will lead the Financial Institutions Group’s Underwriting and Portfolio Management team. Both executives will report directly to John Crosby, head of underwriting and portfolio management for Capital One’s Commercial Bank. “At Capital One, we continue to develop and look for leaders who have deep segment experience and will help support our customers,” Crosby said. “Both Todd and Brian exemplify
this objective, and we are very happy to welcome such strong leaders to our team.” Prior to joining Capital One, Hammond spent 15 years at Key Bank N.A., where he held various risk operations positions and most recently served as SVP, head of Business Banking and Commercial Underwriting. In that role, Hammond was responsible for underwriting and portfolio monitoring activities within SBA, business banking, agribusiness, private banking, and middle-market commercial lending throughout Key Bank’s footprint. Schwinn will be joining Capital One from Santander Bank, where he was most recently EVP, head of Asset Based Lending and Restructuring Finance. In that post, he led a team of origination, underwriting, and portfolio management professionals delivering structured asset-based financial solutions to a variety of industries. Prior to this role, Schwinn was chief credit officer, responsible for overall commercial credit risk management for Santander Bank, N.A. CIBC: Brandon Barr has joined CIBC’s U.S. Asset-based Lending team as head of business development/strategy. “Brandon has served as part of CIBC’s U.S. Specialty Finance group for the last four years and brings expertise in complex commercial financing solutions to our clients,” said Bruce Denby, co-head of CIBC’s U.S. Assetbased Lending team. “As we continue to expand our ability to serve commercial clients across the U.S., we are pleased to have Brandon’s experience and strategic approach helping to guide our asset-based lending solutions.” Barr joined CIBC in 2011, leading a U.S. Private Banking team in Chicago serving business owners and entrepreneurs before transitioning to Specialty
Finance in 2015, where he led origination efforts for commercial clients. CIBC (NYSE: CM) (TSX: CM) is a leading North American financial institution with 10 million personal banking, business, public sector and institutional clients. CIBC offers a full range of advice, solutions and services in the United States, across Canada and around the world. In the U.S., CIBC Bank U.S.A provides commercial banking, private and personal banking and small business banking solutions and CIBC Private Wealth offers investment management, wealth strategies and legacy planning. cibc.com/U.S. CIT: Marc Heller, CIT’s President of Commercial Services, was recently recognized by the New York Institute of Credit (NYIC) with its prestigious Founders Award. Heller is only the 5th recipient in NYIC’s 101-year history. Heller is only the 5th recipient in the last century to receive the award, which recognizes those who served in a leadership role and enhanced the success of the NYIC. Heller played a vital part in transitioning the NYIC from a classroom-based school into the successful professional and educational association it is today. “This organization plays a vital role in professional education for the industry leaders of today and tomorrow and in recognizing professional excellence,” Heller said. “I am thrilled to have played a part in helping NYIC grow and evolve and represent CIT’s values with this important community advocate.” The NYIC is a non-profit organization that bridges the gap between business theory and business practices. It consists of educators who are credit executives or prestigious accountants and lawyers who value the alliance of these professions. The NYIC aims to educate business profes-
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