Episode #30
Warrior, Not Survivor: Rethinking Resilience in Equipment Finance
In this episode of Portfolio Perspective: Managing Risk & Seizing Opportunity , Andrew Pace sits down with Mike Toglia, founder and publisher of Equipment Finance Advisor and ABL Advisor, to explore how three decades inside the industry, from credit analyst to national sales leader to capital markets executive, now shape how he covers it from the outside. Mike walks through the arc of his career, starting as a formally trained credit analyst at Fidelity Bank, moving through GE Capital, and eventually running a $600 million equipment finance unit as National Sales Manager at Textron Financial before shifting into capital markets. That foundation, he explains, is what let him build Equipment Finance Advisor into one of the industry's most-read independent publications, now marking its 15th year, with ACS among its earliest supporters. The conversation digs into what he calls the "two-minute business": the discipline of delivering a daily e-newsletter that readers can process before their day starts, and why that format has stayed largely unchanged even as attention spans and reader sophistication have shifted. Mike also speaks candidly about the trust required to balance readers and advertisers, and why turning down stories that would drive clicks but damage credibility is part of protecting that trust. The episode closes with Mike's read on where the industry is headed: rising AI adoption among service providers, growing collaboration between equipment finance and working capital solutions, and a younger, more digitally fluent generation entering the field. Andrew and Mike also settle a long-running debate on whether credit or sales should drive a lending culture. Key Topics Discussed: Mike's career path across credit, sales, and capital markets The founding and growth of Equipment Finance Advisor and ABL Advisor Publishing strategy and the "two-minute business" model How reader habits and industry demographics have evolved Trust and credibility between publishers, readers, and advertisers AI adoption trends across equipment finance The rise of private credit and private equity in the space Collaboration between equipment finance and working capital solutions The role of third-party service providers in portfolio management Credit culture versus sales culture in lending organizations Long-term outlook and resilience across market cycles Notable Takeaways: On why his credit background made him better at sales: Toglia credits his formal credit training as the foundation for everything that came after. "Being a credit person made me a hundred times better of a business development person. It just did, because I could sit across the desk from a CFO, and I could still do it today, because you don't forget what you learned." On AI adoption across the industry: Toglia sees a clear divide forming between companies investing in AI now and those waiting it out. "The companies who aren't looking at AI today and aren't considering it or investing in it today are going to be left behind." On rejecting the word "resilient": Toglia pushes back on the industry's go-to description of itself, offering a sharper one. "I don't like to use the word resilient because everyone uses the term resilient when they talk about this industry. It's not a survivor. It's a warrior, this industry." On the credit-versus-sales culture debate: Asked to pick a side, Toglia lands firmly in the middle. "If you don't have a strong credit culture and you don't have the business development side of it respecting that culture and trusting that culture, then you're going to fail. And if you have purely a sales side that's running the business and not paying attention to what the credit teams and risk management people are telling you, you just can't get there." Subscribe to Portfolio Perspective: Managing Risk & Seizing Opportunity for more industry insights and field-tested strategies. For more information, visit Asset Compliant Solutions .
