NMLA Conference Attracts Over 140 Attendees

Over 140 attendees representing 73 marine finance and related marine industry businesses gathered September 22-24 for the National Marine Lenders Conference held in Williamsburg, Virginia.

The two-day agenda drew prominent speakers from inside and outside both the finance and marine industries. The educational conference featured a comprehensive line-up that addressed valuable content including industry trends, current economic conditions, inventory updates, identity theft, cybercrime, data breaches and risk management. We discussed the importance of pre-purchase marine surveys, delinquency trends and collection practices and a national legislative briefing.

The lending community of banks, credit unions, and service company lenders accounted for 67% of attendees at the event.  NMLA associate members, an important component of NMLA’s membership base, made up the balance.  Associate member partners include documentation and titling firms, recovery agents, insurers, surveyors, attorneys, consultants, software companies and valuation businesses.

An update on dealer inventory trends, concerns and bright spots was provided by Russell Baqir, SVP Business Development, Northpoint Commercial Finance.  Robert Siciliano, CEO Safr.Me spoke to the latest trends in the areas of information security, social media, business and personal security.   Expanded breakout sessions were packed covering marine portfolio loss mitigation (Stuart Best, Weltman, Weinberg & Reis), effective risk management procedures in our new world of imperfect information (Geoff Kreller, Cornerstone Compliance) and navigating marine surveys (Lloyd Griffin, National Association of Marine Surveyors).   And the event was rounded out with the experienced industry speakers: Gina Martin Adams, Economist with Bloomberg Intelligence, Matt Gruhn, President of the MRAA, and Don Parkhurst, NMLA Legislative committee chair and SVP at M&T Bank.

The conference is just one major event produced for NMLA members and the marine finance industry. Next up on the NMLA calendar is the Annual Marine Lending Workshop (March 2-4, 2025 in Orlando, Florida), a two-day interactive program offering attendees the opportunity to increase their knowledge base with experts possessing over 200+ years of combined marine experience.