Bruce H. Jones, CFA Executive Director, to retire after 42 years of service to the Commercial Finance Association

Secured Lender, The, Nov/Dec 2007 by Rutberg, Sidney

After 42 years with the Commercial Finance Association, Bruce H. Jones, CFA executive director, has decided that it is time to stop and smell the roses.

Mr. Jones, 70, who has been executive director for five years, spent most of his career working with Leonard Machlis, who retired five years ago. Mr. Jones will retire at year-end.

Once freed from Association responsibilities, Bruce and his wife Katiuyn plan to travel extensively. And he's not interested in the "if this is Tuesday, this must be Belgium" brand of travel. What he expects to do is spend enough time in his favorite places around the world to soak up the atmosphere and culture in each location. For example, they plan to spend a month in Rome with its splendid ancient structures and relics of the Roman civilization, the wonderful Italian food and the impossible traffic. They also plan to spend time in Naples and Sicily. Cyprus is anotiier venue on their list since his wife Katiiryn comes from there. Other destinations include Russia, France and various other areas in Europe and Asia.

His modus operandi, he says, generally will be to rent an apartment and live for a time in each chosen locale.

Aside from foreign travel, Mr. Jones, a history buff, wants to explore as many Civil War battle sites as he can find between his Kendall Park, NJ, home and his wintertime condo in Naples, FL.

Bruce and Kathy will have a brand new grandchild, their first, just prior to his planned retirement. He's certain the new baby will absorb a good bit of their free time.

Since taking over as executive director at the beginning of 2003, Mr. Jones has left an indelible mark on CFA. He improved the education program, moved to strengthen the chapter network for younger asset-based lenders and improved the content of The secured Lender, the association magazine. A great fan of the Internet, he has regularly added new features to CFA's Website to keep it on the cutting edge of technology.

The secured Lender is published every other month. To fill in the gap between issues and keep association members informed on a timely basis, Mr. Jones launched an Internet e-mail newsletter, the TSL Express. The TSL Express, published three times a week, provides up-to-theminute news on industry deals, major loan transactions, industry mergers and personnel changes to CFA members and otiier interested readers. TSL Express also carries advertising, providing an opportunity for additional revenue for the Association.

Adding to the educational programs of CFA, a Leadership Institute was developed during his tenure, designed to address leadership issues for senior managers in the asset-based lending and factoring industries.

CFA's Website has been in a constant state of flux and now provides Internet visitors with access to articles in The secured Lender and me ability to register online for me CFA conventions. In addition there is a "find a lender" function and a compendium, an online reference guide to important questions of commercial finance law in all 50 states.

Separately, Mr. Jones implemented a ListServe, which electronically allows all employees of CFA member companies to connect with their industry peers to share ideas or get answers to pressing questions related to the commercial finance industry.

Mr. Jones has also been active in the production of the CFA's annual conventions. These events have provided the kind of information required to keep members abreast of all major developments. These annual events also provide members and service providers in the industry an opportunity for networking and even some wheeling and dealing.

Among the principal speakers at recent conventions were former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board Alan Greenspan; former secretary of State Colin Powell and Bob Woodward, assistant managing editor of the Washington Post and one half of the reporting team of Watergate fame.

This year the tradition continues witii Tom Brokaw, longtime NBC news anchor and author of The Greatest Generation, along with Bill Walton, basketball great and Ben Stein, an attorney, economist and television personality.

Also, the first new textbook on the asset-based lending industry in over 40 years was published by CFA on his watch and is now widely used in business schools all over the country and overseas. The text, entitled Asset Based Finance: Proven Disciplines for Prudent Lending, written by Professor Gregory F. Udell, the Bank One Chair of Banking and Finance at the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. The author drew on a panel of experts from die CFA membership to assure accuracy.

Asset-based lending has become an international financing tool making the textbook relevant throughout the industrialized world and in emerging nations. It has sold over 5,000 copies since its publication in 2004.

Essentially, Mr. Jones spent his entire business career working for the Association. After graduation from Brooklyn College in 1961, he was drafted almost immediately, trained as a cryptographer and sent to Bremerhaven, West Germany. He landed tiiere on the day the Berlin Wall went up. He spent his time there in the Signal Corps coding and decoding military messages.