On October 1, the Commercial Finance Association (CFA) announced its new Executive and Management Committees for 2017. The Committees, comprised of key leaders in the commercial finance industry, will guide the Association, make policy decisions, confirm new members and provide advocacy, education and thought leadership for the industry.
Jennifer Palmer, President of Gerber Finance Inc., will serve as a member of the 2017 Executive Committee. Palmer has served as a Board of Director of the CFA for the past 9 years and was recently a recipient of the CFA’s 40 Under 40 awards in October 2016.
“I am thrilled to be appointed to the CFA’s Executive Committee. This is a unique opportunity to be such an integral part of an organization that brings together banks, financial institutions and service providers throughout the world to share ideas and expertise on how to improve and accelerate lending to businesses. I feel honored to have been chosen and I look forward to helping the CFA further drive our industry, entrepreneurship and our economy,” said Palmer.
After graduating from Fordham Law, Palmer joined Gerber in 2006 as a business development and marketing associate. Her intense interest in the people and drive behind small-business success proved to be an incredible guide, and she quickly rose to the role of vice president of business development, where she set an aggressive growth strategy for Gerber’s portfolio.
As Palmer brought new deals to the table, Gerber began to rely on her legal experience to streamline the documentation process while reducing clients’ costs and appointed her senior vice president and in-house counsel. As she managed both business development and legal, she dove deeper into the inner workings of Gerber’s operations and emerged with a clear picture of where the business needed to be as a whole in order to be more competitive in the face of a changing environment.
In 2013, having spearheaded the healthy and steady growth of Gerber’s portfolio and having expanded the firm’s geographic footprint to the West Coast, New England and Canada, she was appointed president of Gerber Finance to further drive and grow the business. She is both the youngest and the first female president in the firm’s 20-year history. In the last fiscal year, Palmer was responsible for increasing the firm’s ABL portfolio by 66 percent. As she continues to focus on big picture growth for the Gerber portfolio, she retains her enthusiasm for working with entrepreneurs, noting that it is the unexpected nature of the business that drives her every day.
“Associations are only as strong as their volunteer leaders. The CFA wouldn’t be the successful organization it is today without all the hard work, dedication and insight of our Executive and Management Committees. I look forward to working with our new slate of Committee members. Thanks to the commitment, vision and engagement of our leaders and members, 2017 promises to be an exciting year here at CFA,” stated Bob Trojan, CFA’s Chief Executive Officer.
Founded in 1944, the Commercial Finance Association is the international trade group of the asset-based lending, factoring and supply chain finance industries, with nearly 300 member organizations throughout the U.S., Canada and around the world. CFA provides education, networking opportunities and industry advocacy on a domestic and international basis to the commercial finance community.