Paul Menzel is semi-retired after 45 years in the equipment leasing and finance industry. He is currently providing advisory services to the finance and banking industries under INTEGRA Capital Services, LLC. He formerly served as Vice-Chairman to The Alta Group, the largest international advisory practice in the equipment leasing & finance industry. He also serves on the advisory board of Dealer Credit Resources, a venture stage fin tech in the equipment leasing industry.
Paul arranged the sale of Financial Pacific Leasing as its President & CEO to Umpqua Bank in 2013, establishing a bank leasing subsidiary operating in all markets of the leasing industry, from small-ticket to larger, middle-market transactions in the third-party origination, vendor and direct channels. He continued as President and CEO, and also then was appointed President and CEO Umpqua Bank Equipment Leasing and Finance. Umpqua has $26 Billion in assets and Financial Pacific Leasing, with over 200 employees, has over $1.5 Billion in assets, having grown six-fold in six years since being acquired by Umpqua.
He joined Financial Pacific in 2008 after a 33-year career managing a small ticket leasing portfolio operation in Santa Barbara, California, having been recruited to serve as President/CEO by Allied Capital, a publicly trade Private Equity owner. Paul was quickly challenged to navigate FinPac through the financial fallout of the Great Recession of 2008. He preserved relationships with the syndicate of bank lenders; adjusted operations to new economic realities; managed private equity acquisition turnover; all the while maintaining profitability and stability. In 2010, FinPac was acquired by Flexpoint Ford from Ares Capital and later sold in 2013 to Umpqua Bank for four times Flexpoint’s original investment.
Paul started in the leasing industry in 1975 with Puritan Leasing Company in Santa Barbara. He then managed the operation and its acquisition by Cal Fed Credit in 1986, then by Pacific Capital Bank NA (fka) Santa Barbara Bank & Trust in 1996, and by LEAF Financial Corporation in 2007. As SVP of Community Lending for Pacific Capital Bank, he oversaw the Leasing, Small Business and Indirect Auto Lending units of the Bank managing over $750 MM in assets. He is past Board Member of the Equipment Leasing & Finance Association, having chaired their Code of Fair Business Practices and SmallTicket Business Council Committees. He also served on the Industry Future Council. In 2005, Paul was named “Leasing Person of the Year” by Leasing News. He became a CLP (now CLFP-Certified Leasing and Finance Professional) in 1990. He participated in the development of the CLP Handbook by writing the original chapter on Portfolio Management.
He earned an AA from Santa Barbara City College where he was all-conference in basketball and a member of the 1971-72 team that was runner-up in the California State Championship. He was also a State finalist in the high jump and finished 3rd in the State Decathlon Championship.
He earned a BS in Business Administration from UC Berkeley in 1974, while lettering in track & field, and an MBA in Management from Golden Gate University. He is a member of the San Marcos High School and Santa Barbara Athletic Roundtable Halls of Fame.
In Santa Barbara, he served on the Organizing Committee of the Easter Relays; founding President of the La Playa Community Sports Association (which raised $750,000 to build a state-of-the-art track facility at SBCC); Goleta Boys and Girls Club, past-President (he spent a lot of time there as a kid); United Boys and Girls Clubs past-president and board member ; the non-profit Balance Bar (SB Volleyball Club), founding past-President; Parks and Recreation Community Foundation; Public Education Foundation; and the SB Athletic Round Table, past-President 1993-95.
He and wife Karen (de la Torre) Menzel have been married for 48 years and have three children, Marisa, Erica, and Jeffrey, along with five grandchildren. Karen obtained her AS in Radiography from SBCC in 1972 and had a career as an X-Ray Technician thereafter.
