First Financial Bank announced the expansion of its specialty banking leadership team and the launch of First Financial Business Capital, a division of First Financial Bank.

Steve Fields will serve as Senior Vice President and Director of First Financial Business Capital. He joins the bank with more than 30 years of experience providing asset based and cash flow lending to middle market companies. He has spent a majority of his career in the asset based lending group at U.S. Bank. There, he developed and managed regional and national sales origination teams. Most recently, he led the business development efforts of Alliance Business Lending, a commercial finance company located in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In addition, Stephen Wood will serve as Senior Vice President and Director of First Financial Equipment Finance. Wood has more than 35 years of experience in a variety of leadership roles within the industrial, manufacturing, and banking sectors.  In his 20 years of commercial banking experience, Wood has held senior and executive level positions in both credit and lending. He joined First Financial Bank in 2010 and most recently served as the Commercial Real Estate Credit Officer for the bank.

“As we continue to experience strong growth within our specialty banking group, the establishment of the Business Capital division is a natural evolution,” said Brad Ringwald, First Financial’s President of Specialty Banking. “It’s unique for a bank our size to offer asset based, cash flow and mezzanine lending, and we look forward to working with businesses across the Midwest to help them grow and experience greater success.”
 
First Financial first began offering specialty banking products and services, including asset based lending and equipment finance, in 2011. The group has experienced great success over the past three years and recently expanded its product offering to include cash flow and mezzanine lending.