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SUPERIOR, CO, -- October 19, 2006 -- Key Equipment Finance and KeyBank National Association (Colorado) today announced that leaders from both companies have been named top business newsmakers in Colorado. Both Paul A. Larkins, president and chief executive officer of Key Equipment Finance, and Michael B. Hobbs, president of KeyBank’s Colorado District, were named to the top ten list of Denver area banking and finance newsmakers by the Denver Business Journal.
Each year, the Denver Business Journal’s Power Book names the area’s top 10 business newsmakers in a variety of categories. Winners are selected based on their newsworthy accomplishments, community involvement and contribution to their company’s success during the past year, among other things.
During the past year, Larkins’ newsworthy accomplishments included serving as chairman of the board of directors for the Equipment Leasing Association (ELA), the nonprofit organization representing the equipment leasing and finance industry, a role in which he served as a spokesperson on behalf of the entire equipment leasing industry. Under Larkins’ leadership over the past year, Key Equipment Finance grew new business volume by nearly 30 percent, opened an operations facility in S. Korea and leased additional space to expand employee training and development offerings.
In his first year as president of KeyBank’s Colorado District, Hobbs has taken on full responsibility for the performance of all of KeyBank lines of business across the state, which includes 46 retail locations, as well as business banking, commercial banking and investment banking, resulting in 14.6 percent growth over the previous year. During that time, he also successfully implemented a major bank restructure across Colorado, known as Key Community Bank, while increasing overall awareness of KeyBank across the state, and increasing the company’s donations to Colorado civic organization by nearly 28 percent.
About Key Equipment Finance
Key Equipment Finance is an affiliate of KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) and provides business-to-business equipment financing solutions to businesses of many types and sizes. They focus on four distinct markets:
- businesses of all sizes in the U.S. and Canada (from small business to large corporate);
- equipment manufacturers, distributors and value-added resellers worldwide;
- federal, provincial, state and local governments as well as other public sector organizations; and
- lease advisory services for manufacturers’ captive leasing and finance companies.
Headquartered outside Boulder, Colorado, Key Equipment Finance manages a $12.6 billion equipment portfolio with annual originations of approximately $5.7 billion. The company has major management and operations bases in Toronto, Ontario; Albany, New York; Chicago, Illinois; Houston, Texas; London, England; and Sydney, Australia. The company, which operates in 26 countries and employs 1,100 people worldwide, has been in the equipment financing business for more than 30 years. Additional information regarding Key Equipment Finance, its products and services can be obtained online at KEFonline.com.
Cleveland-based KeyCorp is one of the nation's largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $93 billion. Key companies provide investment management, retail and commercial banking, consumer finance, and investment banking products and services to individuals and companies throughout the United States and, for certain businesses, internationally.
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