Gary Silverhardt, a veteran of the finance industry, has been appointed as the chief executive of Speed Leasing effective immediately, Powersports Finance has learned.
Silverhardt will serve as the successor to Hasham Malik, who left the company in April, according to his LinkedIn account. Malik was the founder and chief executive of Speed Leasing since Jan. 2017.
In addition to his new role at Speed Leasing, Silverhardt is the current president of 777 Equipment Finance, a division of Speed Leasing’s parent company, 777 Partners.
Silverhardt has 30 years of experience working in the finance industry and has owned and led many equipment finance companies. Previously, Silverhardt was the owner and chief executive of Equilease Financial Services; co-owner and president of North Mill Equipment Finance; and chief financial officer of ICON Capital and Federated Capital Corp.
Silverhardt’s background and experience in developing vendor and dealer origination channels in the equipment finance industry will be “instrumental” in the growth of Speed Leasing, Steven Pasko, co-founder and managing partner of 777 Partners, said in a release provided to PSF.
Headquartered in Miami, 777 Partners is a private investment firm with more than $2 billion of assets across various verticals including insurance, consumer finance, and litigation finance. The company has been an investor in Speed Leasing since 2017.
Additionally, Speed Leasing was provided a $60 million senior credit facility by the credit investment firm Comvest Credit Partners in December 2018. Comvest had no comment on Malik’s departure from Speed Leasing.
The Dania Beach, Fla.-based Speed Leasing provides leases for Harley-Davidsons and Indian Motorcycles. The lessor works with 400 dealers across 22 states.
This article was originally published by PowerSports Finance.
