Howard Shiebler
President

Howard started with Crossroads Equipment Lease & Finance in January 2017. His background includes positions in corporate finance, fleet services, commercial distribution, intermodal container rental and leasing and corporate aircraft leasing. Most recently, Howard served as President and CEO of GE’s Canadian Commercial Distribution Finance unit where he had overall P&L responsibility and management of a growing multibillion dollar operation. In addition, Howard spent several years in the first dot-com era at an early internet fin-tech startup. He also has an entrepreneurial streak, having been part of several startups over the years, and he started and still owns Protector Boats, a distributor of high end boats, made in New Zealand, which ties with his personal passion for sailing.

Mike Cohen
Chief Risk Officer

Mike has over 20 years experience in equipment finance, including risk and leadership roles with some of the largest players in the country. Prior to joining Crossroads, Mike was most recently the Chief Credit Officer for Mitsubishi HC Capital, providing finance and operating leases on middle-market transactions in a wide variety of industries. He has also held similar positions with CitiCapital and SunTrust. Mike has a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Business from Indiana University in Bloomington.

Andrew Walsh
Chief Financial Officer

Andrew has over 20 years’ experience in finance, including accounting and leadership roles with high profile banking institutions. Most recently, Andrew served as Senior VP & Chief Financial Officer with OneUnited Bank where he was responsible for overseeing accounting, treasury, finance, and planning operations.

Brent Russell
Senior Vice President, Trailer Leasing

Brent is a 1991 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He spent over 20 years with The General Electric Company in various Sales Leadership and Marketing roles. His last role at GE was the Commercial Leader for their GE Capital Trailer Fleet Services business.

Brent also spent time at Premier Trailer Leasing and Terex Corporation as their Sales and Marketing Leader. He recently was Executive Vice President at Contract Leasing where he helped more than double the business in six years.

Brent Stout
Senior Vice President of Sales

Since joining Crossroads in 2012, Brent Stout has become a leader in vendor sales, managing teams that cover the Southwest. Prior to Crossroads, Brent was Branch Manager for Arrow Truck Sales.

Brett Weeks
Vice President of Sales

Since joining Crossroads in 2015 as a Business Development Manager, Brett Weeks has become a leader in vendor sales, managing relationships with our partners Velocity Vehicle Group and Daimler Truck Financial. Prior to Crossroads, Brett served as commercial account executive with Arrow Truck Sales, and later as a sales representative with Volvo Construction Equipment.

Suzann Fakhoury
Vice President of Operations

Suzann Fakhoury has been with Crossroads Equipment Lease & Finance for 10 years, starting out in our Credit Department as well as working in Documentation/Funding before becoming the Credit Manager. She was also the Operations Manager for Crossroads’ Carrier Program for 2 years before returning to Credit and Documentation. As VP of Operations, Suzann oversees all areas of the business.

Suzann earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1993. She began her career in the credit/commercial lending arena over 27 years ago with LaSalle Bank NA (ABN AMRO Bank) and Heller Financial before moving on to GE Capital. In May of 2019, she became a Certified Lease & Finance Professional (CLFP).

Goutham Balaraman
Chief Technology Officer

Goutham most recently served as the Chief Information Officer at Cartiga, where he led digital transformation efforts to improve operational efficiency and enabled the organization to leverage data to make strategic decisions. Prior to joining Cartiga, Goutham held technology leadership roles at loanDepot, a leading mortgage lender. His extensive background in financial services and technology, including cloud strategy, data analytics and application delivery is well aligned with Crossroads' goals of optimizing operations and delivering superior solutions to its customers.

As the CTO, Goutham will lead Crossroads' technology team, focusing on enhancing application delivery, developing data and analytics strategy, and ensuring the company remains at the forefront of technology trends in the equipment finance sector. His role will be pivotal in driving innovation, efficiency, and growth.

Goutham holds a Ph.D. in Physics from Georgia Institute of Technology. Outside of work, he likes to read and spend time outdoors hiking and biking. He resides in Los Angeles with his wife, two sons and his two pet cats.