Otterbourg announced that James M. Cretella has been named Chair of the firm’s Alternative and Specialty Finance Practice Group.

A member of the firm’s Finance Department, Cretella represents lenders, factoring companies and prominent financial institutions, as well as borrowers, in a variety of lending, factoring and corporate transactions.

“Jim has earned an outstanding reputation among both clients and peers for skillfully advising on complex financial transactions. Jim is an out-of-the-box thinker, and the firm’s clients regularly seek his advice on many of their most difficult situations,” said Richard L. Stehl, Otterbourg’s chairman. “His leadership qualities are equally impressive, and we are pleased that he will chair this expanding practice area.”

Cretella has practiced at Otterbourg for his entire career and his experience encompasses financial transactions across a broad range of industries, including staffing, technology, transportation, oil and gas, and government contracting. His areas of focus include asset-based lending, supply chain finance, trade finance and specialty finance. He often acts as “outside in-house counsel” to finance companies and specialty lenders.

Cretella is co-author of the “What Would You Do” column, which appears regularly in The Secured Lender, and he is a 2016 winner of the Commercial Finance Association 40 under 40 Awards.