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December
23, 2002
Post time 8:45 a.m. PST |
Headlines---
Pictures from the Past---1985-WAEL Chairpersons
Classified
Ads---Great Xmas Gift-Hire a new salesman
Classified---Help
Wanted----
The
Week's Economic Events
Treasury
Sales This Week
Holiday Gift:
The Journal of Equipment Lease Financing
Alter
Moneta Expands into US
Sales
tax on Internet buys could help fill State's budget gap
U.S.
trend for recovery provides local hope-Seattle Times
Amid
historic loss, stock market's role studied
AmSouth
Promotes Three to Senior Executive Vice President
Oh,
No! Mr. Bill!! Deion Sanders arrives at Raiders camp today
### Denotes Press
Release
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pictures from the Past---1985—Western Association of Equipment
Lessors
Regional Chairpersons
 |
(Last Friday we had Steve O’Neill’s picture from 1989)
“Today's Leasing News had a picture of Steve O'Neill from
1989 which was just before I came to work for Steve.
“Since I arrived in my office this morning I have had a half
dozen people call me about the picture and just want to reminisce. Steve died four and a half years ago doing
exactly what he wanted to. How
many people can claim that they passed away playing on a golf trip with
their best friends - all from this industry.
Steve was such a fun-loving guy, having his picture around the
holiday season is just perfect (or any other party for that matter).”
Thanks,
Joe Schmitz, CLP
jschmitz@fitleasing.com
F.I.T. Leasing
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Great Christmas
Gift—Hire a new salesman
Sales: Mission Viejo, CA
Account Sales Executive with 10 years of leasing experience
looking for company to bring existing customer base.Email:makelly21@hotmail.com
Sales: Dallas,
TX
Director, Business Development for international financial
institutions. Global vendor programs with minimum sustainable volume
of $24M annually. CFO and Treasury contacts with major technology and
energy corporations.Email:tkorpolinski@ev1.net
Sales: Seattle,
WA
Sales professional, looking for sales/leasing position to
work from home office. Tenacious, aggressive, personable. Strong on
the phone. Outstanding PC, cold-calling, and closing skills. Email:bsmith@mybillsmith.com
Sales: Phoenix,
AZ
Sales professional with 10 years of leasing experience, seeking
a direct leasing company. Currently in the IT leasing market with vendor
relationships, Small/middle market arena. Email:cycling4fun2002@yahoo.com
Sales: Detroit,
MI
Experienced, hardworking, goal oriented sales professional
with strong structuring/restructuring skills. Captive/vendor middle
market IT concentration. Seeking position with leasing company in Michigan.
Email:leaseman222@yahoo.com
Sales: Portland,
OR
Account Exec. position based from Portland, OR originating
and business with "middle-market" companies. Fifteen+ years
experience in the Pacific Northwest. Have worked for bank and non-bank
leasing companies. Email:markstu@msn.com
http://65.209.205.32/LeasingNews/JobPostings.htm
Classified---Help Wanted----
Sales: National: 7 offices Medical & IT/ plus. Seeking
professionals w/solid book of business & high ethics. Exceptional
support & commissions. Expenses paid. 616-459-6800 Email: gsaulter@chaseindustries.com
"UAEL"
Sales:Warminster, Bucks County, PA.
18 yr old, prof. lessor seeks net PVP motivated sls pros.
Top funding & backroom capabilities.
Sales: Small ticket leasing reps, General equip. Vendor leads
are provided. Great comp plan, Draw and Benefits. (6)nationally (3)in
the NE Fred St Laurent freds@bwresults.com
Sales: Small to Mid-Size ticket leasing Reps. CA & others.
Many Vendor leads avail. Gen. Equip.and Auto Shop Equip. Strong Commish.
& Support. Adam at APetty@lvcm.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Week's Economic Events
December 23
MONDAY
Personal Income: November
December 24
TUESDAY
Durable Goods Orders: November
Last day of shopping/businesses
that are open, most likely will
close at noon
December 25
WEDNESDAY
Merry Christmas
(we all hope!)
December 26
THURSDAY
Weekly Jobless Claims
Return of Christmas presents
Many businesses will be closed
today and tomorrow for paid
and unpaid "holidays"
December 27
FRIDAY
New-Home Sales: November
Shopping for after Xmas buys,
today and tomorrow
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Treasury's schedule of financing this week is confined
to today's regular weekly auction of new three- and six-month bills
and a 2-year note, and a four-week bill on Tuesday.
According to traders, at the close of the New York cash market
on Friday the rate on the outstanding three month bill was 1.17 percent,
the rate on the six-month issue was 1.22 percent and the rate on the
four-week issue was 1.15 percent. In when-issued trading, the two-year
note was offered at a price to yield 1.79 percent.
------------------------------------------------------------
*****************************
Holiday Gift: The Journal of Equipment Lease Financing
You can send a card that you have subscribed a magazine that
not only has the latest
For just $40 a year, a subscription to the Journal helps
support the industry and support ongoing education of your employees.
The Foundation will
provide a special holiday gift certificate with your subscription.
You may e-mail the certificate or print to put into an envelope.
To order holiday
subscriptions contact: llevine@elamail.com.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
############## ###########################################
Alter Moneta Expands into US
"As part of
the acquisition transaction, Alter Moneta US will open an office in
Buffalo, New York and intends to hire approximately 45 employees of
HSBC Business Credit (USA). The newly-hired employees will join the
Alter Moneta team comprising approximately 45 employees working in Alter
Moneta offices in Longueuil, Quebec and Mississauga, Ontario."
Alter Moneta Corporation, a Canadian corporation specializing
in equipment lease financing, has announced that Alter Moneta Corporation
("Alter Moneta US"), a Delaware corporation formed to facilitate
Alter Moneta's expansion into the United States commercial finance market
has entered into an agreement with HSBC Business Credit (USA) Inc. for
the acquisition of certain assets of its Equipment Finance Division
(EFD). This is coupled with a servicing agreement under the terms of
which Alter Moneta will manage, administer, execute and service all
remaining contracts not acquired. This transaction will add more than
two billion dollars CAD to Alter Moneta's assets under management.
The management
team and principal shareholders of Alter Moneta are enthusiastic about
this acquisition. Alain Savard, President of Alter Moneta commented:
"This provides a unique opportunity for Alter Moneta to significantly
accelerate its long-term strategy of expanding into the United States
commercial finance market by acquiring a substantial portfolio of assets
and a meaningful presence in this market".
Real Leclair,
the Chief Financial Officer of Alter Moneta added: "Together, we
will form a powerful organization that will guarantee significant growth
in the North American middle market and provide numerous collective
benefits for our customers and employees".
Richard Hardt,
the current head of EFD will join Alter Moneta as the President of US
operations. Mr Hardt commented: "We were impressed by the professionalism
and capabilities of Alter Moneta and are entirely dedicated to making
the initiative a tremendous success among all North American small and
medium-sized businesses".
As part of the
acquisition transaction, Alter Moneta US will open an office in Buffalo,
New York and intends to hire approximately 45 employees of HSBC Business
Credit (USA). The newly-hired employees will join the Alter Moneta team
comprising approximately 45 employees working in Alter Moneta offices
in Longueuil, Quebec and Mississauga, Ontario.
Alter Moneta Corporation, whose Head Office is in Longueuil,
Quebec, provides financing to businesses by way of leases or conditional
sales contracts covering various types of commercial and industrial
equipment. Alter Moneta has a significant presence in the Province of
Quebec and the Province of Ontario.
http://altermoneta.com/presmess.html
(courtesy ELAonline.com)
##############
############################################
Sales tax on Internet buys could help fill State's budget
gap
JIM WASSERMAN, Associated Press Writer
Though it may seem like chump change compared to California's
projected $35 billion budget deficit, sales taxes on online shopping
could spare countless small government programs from extinction by raising
$200 million yearly -- and possibly much more.
This newest potential budget fix resonates far beyond California.
Nationally, analysts believe local and state governments could add hundreds
of millions -- if not billions -- of dollars to their treasuries as
shoppers increasingly buy online.
"We can no longer ignore an entire segment of the retail
marketplace," said Pat Leary, lobbyist for the California State
Association of Counties and a frequent online shopper herself. "This
is no longer a fad. This is a genuine legitimate part of peoples' retail
behavior now."
Even as retail sales are sluggish, Internet shopping is expected
to climb to $40 billion this year over last year's $30 billion, according
to New York-based Jupiter Research. It could reach $105 billion within
five years, senior Jupiter analyst Ken Cassar said.
Still, many online shopping deals are closed without sales
tax -- $10 billion for computers and accessories, $4.7 billion for clothes
and $2.8 billion for books wasn't taxed, according to Jupiter.
The reasons are complex and have defied solutions.
Many online retailers balk at having to compute the hodgepodge
of local sales taxes across the nation. Most customers, in turn, duck
their duty to pay the sales tax themselves and most states don't go
after them.
But the issue is taking on fresh urgency in state capitals,
where last fiscal year governors collectively sliced $13 billion and
are preparing to whack billions more, according to the National Governors
Association.
At the height of Silicon Valley's technology explosion two
years ago, Gov. Gray Davis vetoed a bill that would have forced California's
online retailers to charge state residents an online sales tax. Davis,
then presiding over a budget awash in surplus funds, said the bill would
send the wrong message to an emerging new marketing medium and robust
job generator.
Now, facing a record budget shortfall, Internet sales taxes
are among many options on his table.
"We'll be looking at all ideas," said Davis spokeswoman
Hilary McLean.
That might encourage some tax reform advocates.
"There are a lot of programs that cost $10 million that
I care about," said Lenny Goldberg, a budget lobbyist and head
of the California Tax Reform Association.
Estimates vary widely on how much local and state governments
are losing while they devise plans to encourage online retailers to
collect sales taxes voluntarily.
One widely quoted study by the University of Tennessee maintains
that states, cities and counties nationwide lost $13.2 billion in revenue
last year from uncollected "e-commerce" sales taxes.
A 2001 study for the Utah-based Institute for State Studies
predicted annual losses up to $45 billion by 2006. By that analysis,
California last year lost $1.75 billion in revenues, while Texas and
New York followed with about $1 billion each.
Those figures dwarf the estimate of the California Board
of Equalization, which suggested annual losses were $147 million. In
2000, the state's Legislative Analyst pegged yearly losses at $80 million
to $200 million.
Sales taxes account for more than 30 percent of California's
income. This year the state expects its 7.25 percent tax on sales will
generate $22.3 billion. At least 18 of California's 58 counties add
another half cent for highways and transit.
Fearing losses up to 10 percent of their annual sales tax
revenue, numerous other states are trying to make it easier for companies
to compute online sales taxes for them.
Utah Tax Commissioner R. Bruce Johnson hopes within a year
at least 10 states will create a simple, single statewide sales tax
rate. He has tried to enlist Wyoming, North Dakota, Ohio, Michigan,
Florida and North Carolina in his campaign.
Meanwhile, states such as California are feeling pressure
to get more aggressive. One coalition of police and fire departments
and local chambers of commerce has suggested the state should first
collect more sales taxes before raiding city hall treasuries.
On the Net:
University of Tennessee study: www.statestudies.org
California Commission on Tax Policy in the New
Economy: www.caneweconomy.ca.gov
Survey of state efforts to simplify sales tax structures:
www.geocities.com/streamlined2000.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. trend for recovery
provides local hope
Stephen Dunphy / Seattle Times staff columnist
Every day, an average of 14 freight trains move through Seattle
on the Union Pacific's north-south main line.
Some trains head to Oregon and California while others hang
a left at Portland and go to the Midwest along the U.P.'s Columbia River
line. The trains can be filled with anything from electronic goods to
clothing to forest products, the whole gamut of freight that the UP
and other railroads carry to keep the economy moving.
The Puget Sound economy has been hit hard in the recession,
often looking inward at the impact of Boeing layoffs, collapsed dot-coms,
too much office space and little sign of a recovery any time soon. But
the rail lines in and out of the region — the Union Pacific and the
Burlington Northern Santa Fe — remind us that those ribbons of steel
tie us to the national economy.
What happens elsewhere in the economy, from California to
the New York island, has an impact here. In fact, the forecast for the
national economy in 2003 might be one of the few bright spots for the
region. Economists expect the modest upturn in the economy since late
last year should continue into next year.
After declining sharply for three quarters in 2001, the economy
has posted almost a year of solid growth, averaging 3.2 percent through
the third quarter. Much of the economic steam has been lost in the fourth
quarter, but the overall trend is upward.
"Although fourth-quarter growth could come uncomfortably
close to zero percent, the economy is unlikely to double-dip into a
recession," Richard Nash, an economist with KeyBank said here earlier
this month. Growth of gross domestic product in 2003 is likely to average
about 3 percent, he said.
Why pay attention to the national economy? The obvious answer
is that we're part of it, but there are other factors as well.
• California represents about a sixth of all economic activity
in the U.S. Washington state's West Coast location and easy access to
this huge market makes what happens there important here.
• A number of local companies have a national reach. Nordstrom,
Microsoft, Starbucks, Costco, Safeco, Washington Mutual and others are
perhaps more affected by what happens outside the Northwest than what
happens here.
• Migration patterns are often based on economics. Big in-migration
in the 1990s could be reversed by people leaving the area to seek better
opportunities elsewhere. However, there is what economists call "the
Mount Rainier effect," in which people who come here tend to stay
here despite a slumping economy.
• Tourism is big business here. Modest growth in the rest
of the U.S. can translate into more visitors spending those discretionary
dollars here. Some recent weakness in the cruise-ship business is not
a good sign, but overall increases in travel can be important. Tourism
is driven in large part by discretionary income that grows when the
economy is improving.
Forecasters with clout
Global Insight, a major economic forecasting company, plays
a key role in the state's own outlook for the rest of the country. When
state economists gather to look at the state's fortunes — or lack of
them — they plug in numbers from Global Insight.
Their forecast is in line with most for 2003 with GDP growth
of 2.9 percent, but growing strongly at a 4.2 percent rate in 2004.
Most forecasts are "backloaded" — they expect the second half
of 2003 to be much better than the first half. Inflation remains under
control at 2.4 percent.
John Mitchell, an economist with US Bancorp, says even the
current situation is not that bad by historic standards. He said most
measures of the economy from unemployment to inflation are only slightly
below the long-term averages for the economy.
"It's not the end of the world," said Mitchell,
"but it is also not the late 1990s," when the economy grew
at what proved to be unsustainable rates.
Mitchell puts growth next year at 2.5 percent to 3 percent,
again stronger later in the year than the early part.
What are the major elements of a national recovery in 2003?
Most economists point to three major factors.
• Congress and the Bush administration are expected to agree
on a package of tax cuts for 2003. Global Insights estimates the package
at about $45 billion. That combined with larger government spending
for defense, security and other government programs should provide a
big fiscal stimulus to the economy.
• "Stuff is wearing out," Mitchell said, a reference
to the fact that business investment cannot remain flat for long. Inventories
also have been pared to about as low as they can go. Rising equipment
spending in 2003 is expected to offset some declines in residential
construction.
• Interest rates remain low through most of the year, helping
consumers with refinancing mortgages and making the "service"
of high levels of debt easier to manage. "Consumers are proving
to be indefatigable," said Global Insights.
While the economy will grow next year, jobs will remain scarce.
"Companies are likely to remain reluctant to add employees
until cash flow improves, the situation with Iraq is resolved and until
they are convinced of the economic rebound," said Nash, the KeyBank
economist. He said the recovery in 2003 is likely to resemble the "jobless
recovery" of the early 1990s. The unemployment rate will hover
in the 6 percent range, he said.
What's ahead
TimesWatch provides insights into the regional economy. (Includes
charts) What should people look for nationally if the forecasts are
correct?
Industrial production: This was the hardest-hit area in the
recession. Production slowly gained some momentum this year, showing
small growth by summer. But it has flattened since then, up only 0.8
percent in November. It should resume its upward movement if the economy
is improving.
Imports: They were down in October, but mostly because of
the West Coast dock shutdown. But the decline in imports also reflects
continued reluctance by businesses to invest in equipment. Imports of
computer accessories, telecommunications equipment and semiconductors
all declined in October. Until the global economy finds sturdier ground,
both exports and imports will be hindered as demand remains weak and
businesses remain cautious with their investment plans. Improving imports
would indicate a stronger economy.
Unemployment: It will seem stuck around the 6 percent level
for some months. But if it should begin to move, pay attention. If it
heads upward, that's a sign the economy still is not functioning well.
It should slowly decline, especially later in the year.
Factory use: The economists call this "capacity utilization,"
but what it really means is how many factories are up and running. There
is over capacity in many industries, creating a low factory use level
of about 75 percent. More factories being put back into production would
indicate a rising economy.
Interest rates: As the economy improves, the Federal Reserve
will begin to worry about inflation and start raising short-term interest
rates, probably in the summer. This is the good news, bad news part
of the forecast. The good news is that rising interest rates are a sign
of a sustainable recovery. The bad news is that rising rates likely
will choke off the housing boom and boost rates for credit cards and
other borrowing.
According to the Chinese calendar, 2003 is the year of the
sheep. David Rosenberg, Merrill Lynch chief economist, sees that as
fitting since he expects a "sheepish recovery" in 2003. He
expects the same choppy/sloppy pattern of quarterly growth as this year
when growth ranged from 5.5 percent in the first quarter to less than
1 percent in the current quarter.
TimesWatch figures show little change in the regional economy.
The indicators point to an economy now at a low point and not likely
to get any worse. But there are few signs the economy is getting any
better either.
Among the hardest-hit sectors in the recession were technology
and aerospace. "The Northwest has a larger-than-average exposure
to those areas," said Mitchell, the US Bancorp economist. "But
if the national economy continues to grow, it is going to result in
stronger growth here."
Stephen H. Dunphy's columns appear Tuesdays-Fridays and Sundays.
Phone: 206-464-2365. Fax: 206-382-8879. E-mail: sdunphy@seattletimes.com.
More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amid historic loss, stock market's role studied
STOCKS MAY HAVE SPURRED BOOM, NOT VICE VERSA
By David A. Sylvester
San Jose Mercury News
For the first time in 60 years, the stock market is headed
for its third consecutive year of decline, wiping out another $2 trillion
in wealth.
And the losses have hit many: People nearing retirement will
need to work longer than they expected. Pension managers must find ways
to make up for losses so company pensions don't fall short. Taxpayers
need to make up massive shortfalls in government budgets. Venture capitalists
and executives at start-ups have a hard time raising money to expand.
More than this, the troubled stock market has created a national
economy with a split personality, one that feels a lot worse than the
supposedly mild recession reported by the government's monthly numbers.
``Stock ownership has become so widespread that the economy
feels the impact much more from the market,'' said Keitaro Matsuda,
senior economist at Union Bank of California. ``It has become a barometer
of the health of the economy.''
Without a rally during the final few days of the year, the
start of the 21st century will make history. Its three-year decline
joins the outbreak of World War II, the start of the Great Depression
and the end of the turn-of-the-century mania in 1900.
The numbers are daunting. This year, the Dow Jones industrial
average has lost 15 percent, and the Nasdaq is down 30 percent. Since
the peak of the bubble in March 2000, $7.3 trillion of stock market
wealth has vanished. Of this, the largest 150 companies in Silicon Valley
account for $1.2 trillion -- or about 16 percent of the total.
While the recession has not been severe for the nation overall,
it has been more like a depression among the tech industries in Silicon
Valley.
Economy.com, the regional forecasting firm, now estimates
a real recovery won't come to Santa Clara County until the end of next
year -- nearly a year later than previously estimated.
The technology bust also is raising a basic question: How
could the ``miracle'' economy of the late 1990s turn soft and stay soft
so long? Whatever happened to the strength of a New Economy driven by
technology?
A robust mirage
A theory is emerging: The so-called New Economy was never
as healthy as it appeared.
Robert Brenner, an economic historian at the University of
California-Los Angeles, has examined the 1990s boom and bust closely
and contends that most economists got the story backward. The stock
market didn't boom because it was reflecting the rising value of the
technology-driven New Economy.
Instead, investors were pouring money into stocks -- giving
cheap and easy money to companies to spend freely on technology and
factories. This allowed many firms to expand beyond the point where
they could make real profits.
``It was very easy to believe tech was lifting the economy
and the stock market,'' he said. ``Instead, the stock market was driving
the tech boom, rather than vice versa.''
This investment bubble has saddled the national economy with
too much capacity and created what he calls a ``crisis in profitability''
among manufacturing firms. Nationally, profits remain weak. As a group,
the largest 150 companies in Silicon Valley have not reported a quarterly
profit in two years.
Withdrawal symptoms
The latest figures show that the SV150 companies lost a total
of $3.3 billion in the third quarter, an improvement over the $8.2 billion
lost in the second quarter.
In Brenner's view, the recovery is taking much longer to
arrive because the national -- and tech -- economy is struggling to
kick the artificial stimulant of a rising stock market, in the way that
an addict has to kick a drug habit.
And the withdrawal is proving painful. Here are some of the
symptoms:
• State governments are facing their worst fiscal crisis
since the Great Depression. In California, revenue has shrunk by about
$12 billion a year because of declining taxes on capital gains and stock
options over four years. That would account for about half of the $24.4
billion budget shortfall that Gov. Gray Davis has projected for the
next fiscal year ending in 2004.
• The federal government also is facing a decline in revenue.
An estimated $5.6 trillion budget surplus over 10 years could well turn
into deficit of $900 billion. There are no estimates of exactly how
much comes from the loss of revenue from the stock market's collapse.
One rough guess puts it at about $2 trillion of the originally projected
surplus.
• Corporations that paid billions for other companies are
finding the value of those deals has melted away. In the past three
years, companies have written off staggering amounts on their balance
sheets because the value of the companies they acquired has virtually
vanished. In Silicon Valley, tech companies have erased more than $100
billion in assets from their books as a result of inflated acquisitions.
• Returns on traditional pension plans are lagging. Many
companies will have to take money away from their profits to bolster
the poor stock performance in their pension plans. One study by Credit
Suisse First Boston estimates the pension plans for the Standard &
Poor's 500 companies could have as much as $243 billion -- or about
20 percent -- less than they need if they had to meet their pension
obligations immediately. That money may have to come from earnings,
particularly at about 30 companies with the biggest pension problems.
• Retirement assets have dropped sharply. By one estimate,
the total 401(k) plans have dropped by about 10 percent. And some retirees
are faced with delaying their retirement. Carl Angotti, 61, president
of his own consulting firm in Sunnyvale, lost about one-third of his
retirement funds when technology stocks collapsed. He will have to work
anywhere from five to seven years longer -- and is much more careful
about plunging back into the stock market.
``I'm just holding cash and smarting from all these terrible
losses,'' he said.
In some ways, he's better off than many individuals who can't
bring themselves to sell losing stocks. Rich Chambers, a financial planner
and president of Investor's Capital Management in Menlo Park, said some
people won't move to a more conservative, balanced portfolio after taking
serious losses.
``They say, `Well, if I do this now, I won't recover my losses,'
'' he said.
In his view, that's a mistake.
``They're going to have to write it off,'' he said. ``There
is no process I know of to recover those losses.''
Is 4th year possible?
Could the stock market face a fourth year of decline in 2003?
The answer could come from two sources over the next year: productivity
and profits.
If workers remain as productive as before, and corporate
profits begin to recover, then the economy will be on stronger footing
and investors may regain confidence, bidding up stock prices.
After all, the only time stocks have declined for a fourth
consecutive year was in 1932, the worst of the Great Depression.
That's why many analysts are expecting a strong rally next
year for stocks. After the three-year decline ending in 1941, stocks
bounced back nearly 8 percent in 1942 and 14 percent in 1943, according
to the research firm markethistory.com.
David Rahn, who manages $80 million in funds at Avalon Capital
in Redwood City, did a historical study of past bear markets and points
to a pattern of sharp rebounds after deep declines. He said he expects
the S&P 500 index to rise 14 percent next year to just over 1,000
and the Nasdaq composite index to be up 20 percent to 30 percent to
somewhere between 1,600 to 1,800.
``The rally is real,'' he said. ``It will be much longer
lasting than people expect and go higher than people expect.''
Contact David A. Sylvester at dsylvester@sjmercury.com or
(408) 920-5019.
############ #########################################
AmSouth Promotes Three to Senior Executive Vice President
AmSouth Bank (NYSE:ASO) has promoted three key executives
to Senior Executive Vice President: David B. Edmonds, head of the Human
Resources Division; John M. Gaffney, head of the Commercial Banking
Group; and Stephen A. Yoder, general counsel and head of the Law Division.
In making today's announcement, AmSouth's chairman, president
and chief executive officer, C. Dowd Ritter, said, "These three
individuals, all of them members of our Management Committee, have consistently
contributed their time and talents to ensure the success of the company,
earning their promotions to Senior Executive Vice President."
Edmonds joined AmSouth in 1994 from Pepsi-Cola, where he
served as director of Human Resources for the Southeast. Before Pepsi-Cola,
he was employed in the human resources area of Mobil Oil Corp.
Edmonds received his bachelor's degree from the U.S. Military
Academy at West Point. He currently serves as a member of the Central
Alabama Council - Boy Scouts of America and the executive committee
of the Alabama Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.
Gaffney joined AmSouth's Management Associates training program
in 1977. He was named manager of the National Banking Department in
Birmingham in 1981 and transferred to Mobile in 1982 as manager of Corporate
Banking. In 1984 Gaffney returned to Birmingham where he subsequently
served as manager of the Metropolitan Commercial Loan Department and
Regional Banking Group before being named manager of Birmingham Commercial
Banking in 1994. In 1999, Gaffney was named Birmingham City President
and in 2001, North Central Alabama Area Executive. In April 2002, he
was named to head Commercial Banking.
Gaffney received a bachelor's degree in economics from Vanderbilt
University in 1977 and also is a 1988 graduate of the Stonier Graduate
School of Banking at the University of Delaware.
Active in numerous organizations, Gaffney is a board member
of the St. Vincent's Hospital Foundation, Samford University Business
School of Advisors, Birmingham Urban Revitalization Partnership, Mountain
Brook City Schools Foundation and the Central Alabama Council of Boy
Scouts. He is also active with Highlands United Methodist Church.
Yoder joined AmSouth in 1995 from Mellon Bank Corp. of Pittsburgh,
where he served as assistant general counsel. He also served as general
counsel of The Boston Company and Boston Safe Deposit & Trust Company,
subsidiaries of Mellon. Before joining Mellon, he was a partner at Reed
Smith LLP in Pittsburgh, specializing in banking and corporate finance
law.
Yoder holds a bachelor's degree in political science from
Duke University and a law degree from Northwestern University School
of Law.
Yoder is chairman of the Vulcan Park Foundation and is currently
serving as chairperson of the Birmingham "Walk as One" community
walk event of the National Conference for Community and Justice. He
also serves on the boards of the EyeSight Foundation of Alabama and
the Birmingham Historical Society. He serves on the Advisory Boards
of Birmingham-Southern College and the Center for Banking and Finance
of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
About AmSouth
AmSouth is a regional bank holding company headquartered
in Birmingham with $40 billion in assets, 600 branch banking offices
and more than 1,200 ATMs. AmSouth operates in Tennessee, Alabama, Florida,
Mississippi, Louisiana and Georgia. AmSouth is a leader among regional
banks in the Southeast in several key business segments, including consumer
and commercial banking, small business banking, mortgage lending, equipment
leasing, annuity and mutual fund sales, and trust and investment management
services. AmSouth also offers a complete line of banking products and
services at its web site, www.amsouth.com.
Sites of Reference:
http://www.amsouth.com
(courtesy ELAonline.com)
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Oh, No! Mr. Bill!! Deion Sanders arrives at Raiders camp
today
By John Ryan
San Jose Mercury News
Deion Sanders is expected to arrive at Raiders camp today
to discuss joining the team for the playoffs, a team source said.
Sanders, 35, last played in 2000 for the Washington Redskins
and has been working as a CBS studio analyst for the past two seasons.
He made seven Pro Bowls as a cornerback and won two Super Bowls -- with
the 49ers after the 1994 season and with the Dallas Cowboys the following
year -- in 12 seasons.
``I may come back to a playoff team,'' he said on CBS. ``I've
made contact, I have spoken to my attorney, we have spoken to the Oakland
Raiders.''
Raiders senior assistant Bruce Allen said, ``No, I can't
say it's false. Yes, he did say that, didn't he? I think he's always
liked the Raiders. I think he's having some fun imagining the possibilities.
Everything is possible. Earlier in the week, we were short on corners.''
The team source said the word last week was that Sanders
would join the team if it clinched a playoff appearance Sunday. The
Raiders won their third consecutive AFC West championship by beating
Denver 28-16 and can clinch the conference's top seed -- and a week
off and home games throughout the playoffs -- by beating the Kansas
City Chiefs on Saturday.
Cornerback Charles Woodson, who had missed the previous two
games because of a cracked right fibula, played briefly in the first
quarter Sunday but changed out of his uniform at halftime. He said after
the game that he definitely won't play next weekend and probably wouldn't
be ready until the second week of the playoffs.
(I was at the game Sunday, and the Raider’s don’t need “Neon”
Deion, although
he has a lot of ex-49er friends on the time. I’ll be there
next Saturday
when they beat the Kansas City Chiefs---sorry, Rob Yohe,
the Chief’s
will go down!!! Kit Menkin).
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