SYRACUSE — M&T Bank announced it has appointed Me’Shae Brooks-Rolling to its Directors Advisory Council for the Central New York region. 

The 11-member council meets regularly throughout the year to provide M&T management with insight on a wide range of business, client, and community issues. 

Brooks-Rolling has been owner of the local franchise of EventPrep, Inc. since 2018. The national firm specializes in hotel and vendor contracting and meeting and event planning. She is the first owner/operator of the EventPrep brand in New York state and the Northeast territory. Brooks-Rolling is also a certified educator in personal finance and author of two books on financial literacy. In 2021, she will merge her passions of financial literacy and conference planning by producing the first-ever Financial Empowerment Summit. 

Brooks-Rolling was awarded an Alfred P. Sloan fellowship to pursue her Master of Public Administration degree from the Maxwell School of Public Administration (MPA) at Syracuse University, earning her MPA degree in 1990. She obtained a certificate in meeting and conference management at New York University and worked as a senior events coordinator in the City of New York Mayor’s office. Brooks-Rolling currently serves as executive director for the Upstate Minority Economic Alliance (UMEA), as well as an advisory board member of the WISE Women’s Business Center (Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship) and steering committee member of the CA$H Coalition of Onondaga County. 

“M&T’s Central New York Directors Advisory Council consists of local business leaders who advocate for our region and are actively involved in the community. This group provides a variety of perspectives and solutions for how we can grow, strengthen and improve our community,” Allen Naples, M&T Bank regional president for Central New York, said in a release.

“Me’Shae is an excellent addition to our advisory council. She is passionate about our region and brings a wealth of knowledge on entrepreneurship and financial literacy. With her experience in special events and hospitality, she will help deepen our understanding and inform our advocacy to support an industry that has been severely impacted by the pandemic,” Naples added. 

In addition to Brooks-Rolling, M&T Bank’s Directors Advisory Council for the Central New York region is comprised of: Andy Breuer, Hueber-Breuer Construction; Mara Charlamb, United Radio; James (Jim) Fox, O’Brien & Gere; Karyn Korteling, Pastabilities; Robert (Luke) Lewis, Lewis Custom Homes; Robert H. Linn, formerly with Ernst & Young; Joseph Mancuso, Hancock & Estabrook; Scott Shatraw, Utica First Insurance; Meg Tidd, VIP Structures; and Melissa Zell, The Pioneer Companies. 

M&T Bank’s Central New York regional headquarters manages operations for its 45 local offices, with nearly 500 employees across eight counties (Cayuga, Herkimer, Jefferson, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, and Seneca).

Confidence in the equipment-finance market dipped in October, according to a new national industry report. 

An index measuring overall confidence in the sector slipped to 55.0, down slightly from a reading of 56.5 in September, which had been the highest index number in seven months amid the COVID-19 crisis. That’s according to the October 2020 Monthly Confidence Index for the Equipment Finance Industry (MCI-EFI). 

The index, issued by the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation, reports a qualitative assessment of both the prevailing business conditions and expectations for the future as reported by key executives from the $900 billion equipment-finance sector. 

When asked to assess their business conditions over the next four months, nearly 30 percent of executives responding said they believe business conditions will improve over the next four months, down from almost 36 percent in September. The survey found almost 52 percent believe business conditions will remain the same over the next 120 days, an increase from more than 46 percent the previous month. Meanwhile, 18.5 percent believe business conditions will worsen, up slightly from almost 18 percent in September.

The survey found that 22 percent of respondents believe demand for leases and loans to fund capital expenditures (capex) will increase over the next four months, down from almost 29 percent in September. Nearly 67 percent of respondents say demand will “remain the same” during the same four-month period, an increase from 64 percent the prior month. Meanwhile, 11 percent of industry executives say demand will decline, an increase from 7 percent in September. Full survey results are available at https://www.leasefoundation.org/industry-resources/monthly-confidence-index/.

The foundation also released highlights of its COVID-19 Impact Survey of the Equipment Finance Industry, a monthly survey of industry leaders designed to track the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the equipment-finance industry. It collected 76 survey responses from October 1-12 on a range of topics, including payment deferrals, defaults, and staff analysis. 

The survey found that 56 percent of companies expect that the default rate will be greater in 2020 than in 2019, down from 73 percent in September. Meanwhile, 35 percent anticipate it to be the same compared to 20 percent in September, and 9 percent expect the default rate to be lower, compared to 7 percent a month prior. Only 7 percent of lenders reported having more than 10 percent of their portfolio now under deferral, down from 15 percent of lenders in September. 

Additional survey results and analysis are available at https://www.leasefoundation.org/industry-resources/covid-impact-survey/.