Author, “Factoring Operations Manual”

Debra Wilson Zukonik is the co-founder of Factorhelp, Inc. and serves as Chief Credit Officer of BAM Worldwide where she manages the Strategic and Tactical Operations of the company. In her 30 plus year commercial finance career, Debra has held a variety of progressively more responsible positions with four different commercial finance companies.

Debra’s extensive range of training and experience in factoring, commercial credit/collections, auditing, and financial management made her well qualified to author Bank Revenue Solutions’ “Factoring Operations Manual”, written specifically for the factoring industry.

Debra currently serves as a board member of the International Factoring Association, the Commercial Finance Association, the American Factoring Association and is a former board member of the Finance Forum. Debra is well known within the industry, as she teaches Credit & Underwriting Seminars, has been a featured speaker at numerous factoring and finance conventions, serves as a subject matter expert for the IFA Account Executive Certification program, and has provided expert testimony in several legal actions across the country.

Debra is available to discuss the “Factoring Operations Manual”, a potential deal that is outside your scope, or even a possible participation. She may be contacted at 469-402-4001.

Founder and President, Commercial Finance Consultants

David, along with Debra Wilson Zukonik, founded FactorHelp, Inc. in 2002. With over 25 years of experience in sales and marketing, and an honors graduate in Psychology from Sam Houston State University, he has earned his reputation as an expert in Factoring, Asset Based Lending and Commercial Finance.

Additionally, David currently serves as President of Commercial Finance Consultants, which specializes in human capital acquisition in the niche of Factoring and Asset Based Lending. CFC also has been recognized by the Factoring Industry, earning the coveted “Endorsed Vendor Status” with the IFA (International Factoring Association) and named the Strategic Career Center Partner with the Commercial Finance Association, which has never been bestowed on an executive search firm in the history of the CFA.  Additionally, David served on the board of The Finance Forum as past board member of the Dallas Chapter of the National Funding Association.  David has been a speaker at industry conventions, written numerous articles and conducted webinars for the ABL and Factoring industries.

Much of David’s success can be attributed to his commitment to exceeding the expectations of his clients. By approaching each assignment with the highest levels of professionalism, ethics, dedication and confidentiality, he has established a track record of success in satisfying the needs of his clients while providing both clients and candidates with exceptional opportunities.

In his own words, “Our reputation and knowledge of the Factoring and Asset Based Lending industries are the most important things we offer my clients. We work hard and listen to what our client’s need and then deliver.”

Allen has nearly 30 years of factoring experience at Republic Business Credit as Founder and President/CEO, and previously at Gulf Coast Business Credit where Allen also founded that division of Gulf Coast Bank and then at KBK Financial (now Marquette) as Senior VP.   Allen took Republic from a startup to a major player and at Gulf Coast, he grew this from a start-up operation to a top 25 US factor and one of the largest Southwest based factors.  At KBK, Allen oversaw the New Orleans and St. Louis operations from start-up.

Prior to this, Allen had over 20 years of commercial banking experience, with his last assignment as President/CEO of a New Orleans Bank.  Allen served 3 terms on the board of the International Factoring Association and chairs the Presidents Council (Industry Leadership Conference).  He is a Director of the Commercial Finance Association and chairs the Entrepreneurial Finance and Factoring Committee, also serving on the CFA’s Executive Committee.

He recently supplemented his strong industry leadership by becoming President of the American Factoring Association which is the factoring industry’s lobbying association.  Allen earned both his Bachelor’s Degree in Business and MBA from Louisiana State University.

Stewart worked for Bibby Financial Services, a global Factor, for nearly 10 years. He commenced his career with Bibby in the UK as Operations Director overseeing one of its larger factoring business units and was also responsible for M&A activity including integrating the businesses.

In 2004, he moved to Bibby’s North American division as COO to lead the integration of a factoring division based in Chicago. In 2007, Stewart became CEO of Bibby’s U.S. and Canadian operations and a Global Board Director.

Prior to this Stewart spent 4 years in the government sector commercializing agencies, was a Managing Director and minority shareholder of a business services company for 7 years (which used factoring to successfully fund its growth) and managed its scheduled sale.

He began his career as an accountant / auditor for BDO Seidman. Stewart is currently a member of the CFA’s Entrepreneurial Finance & Factoring Committee and is a past Board member of the IFA. Stewart is a graduate of Aston University, Birmingham, UK, from which he holds an MBA.

Laurie Martin Montplaisir is an accomplished attorney whose practice is concentrated in the factoring industry.  Laurie has extensive experience in all facets of factoring, including drafting legal documents and negotiating and documenting intercreditor agreements, subordination agreements, participations and workouts.  She frequently handles account debtor issues and third party creditor issues.  Laurie has litigation experience and has filed and litigated complaints against factoring clients, personal guarantors and account debtors.   Serving as outside general counsel to many of her factoring clients, Laurie negotiates credit facilities and investor documents and advises factoring clients on a myriad of legal issues including contract negotiation and drafting, transactional matters, employment matters and general business issues.

Laurie’s business acumen and familiarity with a broad spectrum of legal issues and industries, combined with her pragmatic approach to dealing with complex problems, enables her to act as both legal advocate and thought leader for her clients’ achievement of their business objectives.   Her representative experience includes advising private and publicly traded companies in establishing and maintaining factoring operations, including drafting of all factoring documentation, establishing operations and procedures and compliance with best practices, counseling factoring clients in negotiating and documenting multi-million dollar bank credit facilities, representing a prominent regional bank in negotiating and documenting a credit facility to a factoring customer and advising clients regarding litigation matters related to breach of contract, fraud and the fraudulent transfer of assets.

Laurie completed her undergraduate studies at Purdue University, with honors, majoring in financing with a minor in psychology.   Laurie graduated from Loyola University School of Law, cum laude with honors, where she was the recipient of scholastic scholarships and achievement awards.

Laurie is a preferred attorney with the International Factoring Association and frequent lecturer for the IFA, including conducting webinars, participating as a legal moderator at annual conference legal panels, conducting “Women in Finance” seminars and roundtables and as a moderator for factoring seminars.   Laurie also founded the Midwest Chapter for the IFA.

Laurie is active in her community and a volunteer in her school and church community and for the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services.  She enjoys sailing, scuba diving and skiing.

Gail Reints, President and owner of Sky Business Credit, has many years experience in the factoring and asset based loan industries with the most recent being Managing Director of Bibby Financial Service (Midwest) for the last 6 years. Prior to joining Bibby, she worked for JD Factors and Prairie Business Credit honing her skills in the alternative finance world. Gail has a BS in Business Administration from DePaul University. She currently serves as a Subject Matter Expert for the International Factoring Association’s Account Executive Certification program.

Gail’s years of underwriting and credit experience has enabled her to be successful in structuring transactions that are mutually beneficial to all parties involved. Gail believes that her philosophy of combining best business practices with client flexibility is what has led to her successes. Gail’s distinction is her ability to look at each client’s situation on its own and provide a solution specific to meet their needs. In the world of factoring, there is no such thing as a cookie cutter solution and flexibility

Gail’s distinction is her ability to look at each client’s situation on its own and provide a solution specific to meet their needs. In the world of factoring, there is no such thing as a cookie cutter solution and flexibility is key to the success of the relationship. Having led one of the largest factoring companies in the US, Gail is excited to again work in a small office environment that will enable her to have a more hands-on approach to working with her clients.