Fresh out of college in 1981, Leon Steinberg went to work in a junior sales capacity for an east coast based independent equipment leasing company that provided Fortune 500 companies with operating and tax-oriented leases on large computer systems. His perseverance, ability to grasp complex finance concepts and develop strong customer relationships, allowed him to quickly rise to the top of their sales force; whereby he retained that status for more than a decade. He built relationships with many of the world’s largest corporations, based on creative ideas, ability to understand his customers’ needs and the integrity of how he transacted business.
Over the course of the past decade, in a significant sales role with a Midwest equipment lessor, Leon helped assess that there was a void in the marketplace with mid-size, emerging growth companies. He knew that young and/or credit challenged companies had a thirst for capital to nurture new products and good ideas, yet traditional sources of debt capital had let them down, often passing on them. During this period and particularly after the 2008 financial crisis, he helped these companies fill their capital needs through leases for a variety of assets.
During the past thirty years, Leon’s creative and cost effective ideas would result in more than $1 billion in equipment originations and remarketing volumes. Numerous, mid-size, emerging and Fortune 500 companies have benefited from his hands-on approach forged over three decades.
Leon graduated from St. Thomas Aquinas College in 1981, with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration. He attended St. Thomas Aquinas on a basketball and academic scholarship and was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2001. He currently serves as a leader on the college President’s Council. Outside of family and work, he is passionate about basketball, where he enjoys coaching youth travel basketball teams. He is also a member of the Bergen County High School Basketball Jamboree committee, a prestigious scholastic sports tournament in New Jersey, which annually hosts the area’s top teams; and whose purpose is to award scholarships to student-athletes throughout the County from the tournament proceeds.