Bakke named chairman of Commercial Finance Association

Northwestern Financial Review, Feb 1, 2002

[people on the move]

Stephen L. Bakke, president of Manchester Commercial Finance, LLC, has been selected the new incoming chairman of the Commercial Finance Association. Manchester Commercial Finance is based in Edina, Minn., with offices in Milwaukee, Kansas City, Richmond, Va., and Denver.

Founded in 1944, the Commercial Finance Association is a trade group with members throughout the United States, Canada and around the world. Members include the asset-based lending arms of domestic and foreign commercial banks, small and large independent finance companies, floor plan financing organizations, factoring organizations and financing subsidiaries of major industrial corporations.

Bakke is a founder (1995) of Manchester Commercial Finance, which provides working capital loans, primarily under $1 million, for small and mid-size companies. He has a bachelor of arts degree in accounting and economics from Luther College, Decorah,Iowa, and a masters of business administration degree from the University of Minnesota. He is a certified public accountant and, for a number of years, was associated with Deloitte & Touche.

For more than 12 years, Bakke held various positions, including president of Republic Acceptance Corp. (now part of U.S. Bank Business Finance).

Bakke has been active in CFA for many years, serving as its president, member of its board of directors, executive committee, management committee, as well as chaired its Entrepreneurial Finance & Factoring Committee and its Planning Committee. He succeeds Charles G. Johnson as CFA chairman. Johnson is managing director of the Distribution Financial Services Division of UPS Capital Corp., Atlanta.

Bakke and his wife Lois, have two sons, one a certified public accountant, the other a physician. The Bakkes enjoy fishing and live in Edina.