Philip Benké

International Decision Systems (IDS) has appointed Philip Benké as senior account executive - strategic accounts EMEA based at the company’s European Head Office in Basingstoke, England. 

Philip Benké brings to IDS over 20 years of worldwide sales experience in the asset finance industry, with particular expertise handling large global transactions for the IT market in the UK and Europe.  

NetSol Technologies, Inc. has appointed Kevin F. Pickard as the company's US-based chief financial officer.

Pickard, 48, will report directly to Najeeb Ghauri, chairman and CEO of NetSol, as well as work with Boo-Ali Siddiqui, who will continue to serve as chief financial officer of NetSol Technologies Pakistan Ltd.

Nidhi Bothra

The rebirth of Indian leasing

Nidhi Bothra is vice president of Vinod Kothari Consultants Private Ltd, a Kolkata-based consultancy specializing in non-banking finance, securitization, asset-based finance, credit derivatives and financial instruments generally.

The firm, which was established in 1981 by Vinod Kothari, is a leader in training and consulting in the specialized fields of asset finance training, publication and legal and regulatory advice not only in India but on a world-wide basis.

Hugh Swandel

Earlier this month (January) Hugh Swandel, managing director of The Alta Group Canada and founder of Swandel and Associates, was elected president of the board of directors of the National Equipment Finance Association (NEFA).

The NEFA is a US-based, association of equipment finance and leasing professionals with a Canadian component.

The International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation (IFRS Foundation), responsible for the governance and oversight of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), has announced the appointment of Yong Li and Marco Onado as Trustees.

The appointments, approved by the IFRS Foundation Monitoring Board, begin with immediate effect and will expire on 31 December 2014. The terms are renewable once.

It is some 12 months since David Betteley was appointed as director, financial services at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). His brief was straightforward - to direct JLR financial services on a world-wide basis.

Betteley joined scarcely two years after Tata, India’s biggest automobile company, had acquired the luxury UK-based car brands Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford for $2.3bn (£1.15bn). Although Land Rover was profitable, it was widely assumed that Ford never managed to make money from its investment in Jaguar.

Neil Warman

Neil Warman has joined The Nostrum Group as its new chief financial officer.

Warman started his career at Andersen, qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1998 before becoming a senior manager in its financial services practice. He then joined Bear Stearns in 2001 where as a managing director he helped develop and run the European Mortgage and Consumer Asset Finance trading desk.

Colin Tourick

Carbon Heroes, one of the UK’s leading journey-matching companies, has appointed Professor Colin Tourick to its board as a non-executive director.

Carbon Heroes helps companies to reduce the environmental impact of their employees’ commuting and business travel – and aims to deliver cost savings in the process.

Vince Belcastro

This past September, Vincent (Vince) Belcastro (46) was appointed managing director and group head of CIT Capital Equipment Finance.

Belcastro comes with an exemplary career background in asset finance – together with an extremely valuable previous four years as senior credit officer at CIT Corporate Finance. Valuable - because a solid background in risk management is an important attribute for senior management in leasing companies in this post-recessionary environment.