(As first seen in Leasing News and the NVLA LeaseWire)
The National Vehicle Leasing Association held its 2025 Annual Meeting in Clearwater Beach, FL on April 9-10. It was a high energy meeting after the fall meeting was postponed due to Hurricane Milton.
The meeting kicked off on April 9th with the usual golf outing and a buzzing poolside social hosted by Women in Leasing. That evening, NVLA held a Welcome Reception and the President, Tarry Shebesta, gave awards to: Doug Moore – Clemons-Pender Lessor of the Year Award; Gary Mott – Samuel J. Lee Memorial Award; Tom Kontos – Lifetime Achievement Award; Mark Van Nest and Suzanne Fedie, CAE. NVLA Executive Director – President’s Award.
As always, Charlie Vogelheim was the emcee for the festivities. Charlie has had an amazing 40-year career in the automotive industry, and he brings incredible insights and a huge amount of levity to an action-packed meeting.
One of the highlights of the morning of April 10th, was the keynote speaker Michelle “MACE” Curran. Ms. Curran had an impressive career as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force. From 2019-2021 she was the only female pilot that flew with the Air Force Thunderbirds. Her address: “Flying Through Fear: How Vulnerability Fuels Success” was inspirational. Ms. Curran talked about her fears during her flights and a job search. She overcame her self-doubts to become a confident fighter pilot and instructor by summoning the courage to start something even when she did not feel ready. The key is knowing that you will figure it out along the way. She said most people like to play it safe, but she encouraged everyone to be bold and take action. Courage comes from overcoming fear and doing something anyway.
Next, Charlie Vogelheim spoke about AI, the Risks, Rewards and the Road Ahead. He described various autonomous vehicles from Aptera, Hyundai, Waymo and more. AI is moving so rapidly that 92% of all Fortune 500 companies are using it and it greatly increases the intelligence of the user of a system. Sam Altman predicted in the summer of 2024 we would have Artificial General Intelligence (“AGI”) meaning a system of artificial intelligence that can perform any task that a human being can perform in 1000 days. We are not quite there, but it is coming fast. There are still many issues to work out including hallucinations, i.e., AI giving the wrong answer, bias by default and many answers that are America forward as the development is U.S. driven.
Jessica Gonzalez, a V.P. from Informed, spoke enthusiastically about AI Innovations in Auto Leasing. Informed’s AI facilitates retail credit decisions, streamlining the process of collecting documentation for credit review. The AI process designed by Informed provides feedback to the lender as to documents that are missing or irregular based on parameters preset by the lender such as contracts, gap insurance, checking VIN numbers, driver’s licenses, pay stubs and bank stubs. This can greatly speed up credit decision making. The process is geared towards consumer credit and sole proprietorships but not commercial credits.
The last item of the morning was my Legal and Legislative Update. The first topic up was Commercial Finance Disclosures. I reminded the crowd that each state has different legal requirements, and the disclosures vary by state. These disclosures are currently required in CA, CT, FL, GA, KS, NY, UT and VA (sales-based financing only). States that are currently considering new law or amending that on the books are: CA, IL, KA, MD, NJ, NY, NC, MI, MO and TX. Next, I advised that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FINCEN”) issued an interim final rule in March of 2025 that required filing with FINCEN only for entities formed under foreign law (not U.S. domestic entities). On the non-compete front, I explained that in April 2024 the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) had issued a rule banning non-compete clauses with a few exceptions. As a result of litigation pending in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, enforcement of the rule has been stayed—this could change and may mean that non-compete agreements may become unenforceable. Compliance with the Dodd-Frank Section 1071 Small Business Collection Rule also has been stayed by the 5th Circuit for the litigants and intervenors in a case challenging the rule. Congress likely will repeal the rule. The Consumer Financial Protection Board has indicated they may issue a new Section 1071 rule. In another legal battle the FTC CARS Rule—requiring significant increased disclosure to consumers on the premise of eradicating unfair and deceptive practices by dealers—has been vacated by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Among the activities prohibited by the rule are “bait and switch” advertising. While the rule is no longer in play, I warned that there were 19 state attorneys general (“AGs”) that had joined the lawsuit in favor of the FTC CARS rule. With so much federal law in a state of flux, it is likely that the AGs will become vigilant in upholding laws that protect consumers, especially as federal agencies have been diminished in this new presidential administration. Substantial state AG enforcement actions joined by the FTC have occurred in the last few years against dealers and several states have also added or are entertaining legislation aimed at lessor and dealer disclosure and advertising. Moreover, state AGs have the ability to enforce federal laws including the Truth in Lending Act, Regulations M and Z, the Equal Opportunity Credit Act and Regulation B and the Electronic Funds Transfer Act. All of which means that lessors and their lenders need to be vigilant about regulatory compliance.
During the lunch break, Women in Leasing (“WIL”) held its third annual roundtable during which we planned our sessions and course for the next year. We meet on the third Wednesday of every other month on Zoom. I serve as chairperson of WIL and we have a dynamic group of women from all facets of NVLA membership including, banks, independent lessors, manufacturers’ fleet teams, and computer software vendors, among others. We discussed our focus for the next year including adding sessions covering succession planning and retention in business, mentoring, developing a social media presence for NVLA and more. We are also completing a series of five sessions on wellness for women in the workplace including topics such as career development and pay parity.
The afternoon session started with To EV or Not EV the Great Debate with Charlie Vogelheim as moderator and Elena Cicottelli and Jimmy Douglas for EVs and Nick DiPrima and John Possummato against EVs. Issues raised about EVs are possible ending of the $7,500 federal tax credit for EV purchases, the challenge of setting the residual value and battery life and disposal. Other issues are range of vehicles and rate of charging. Of course, low maintenance other than tires makes EVs attractive. Aside from environmental issues, the EVs are at the beginning of their evolution and there is much more to come!
FBI Cyber: Imposing Risks and Consequences addressed the problems of protecting the business environment in the face of state sponsored actors that attack networks and adjacent accessories such as routers. Currently, there is an increased threat of phishing attacks and other methods of infiltrating systems. As a result, businesses must be careful to develop strong password methodology and to build systems and employee awareness to be careful with online activities. Cyber attacks, ransomware and AI cloning are real threats. Businesses must be vigilant and update all systems and software as recommended including anti-virus programs.
Navigating the Future of Vehicle Leasing – Market Insights and Emerging Trends was next up, and the participants delved into the pending tariffs and providing insights. Eric Lyman spoke of the potential tariff impact and projections that BlackBook just put together. Notably, he said used cars will keep elevated values above pre-2020 levels, residual forecasts will be in the mid-50% range and total sales will be 16.4M with the seasonably adjusted annual rate dropping to 12.9M. Melinda Zabritski of Experian indicated that new vehicle leasing continues to rise and lease return volumes are projected to increase for 2026. She stated that EV vehicle sales were approaching 10% of new vehicles in Q1 of 2025 with leasing surging to almost 58% of all new vehicles. And EVs reached over 23% of all new leasing in Q1 2025. Overall retention for both EV and ICE vehicles is expected to increase.
Finally, Gail Rubenstein of Retail Resilient provided an engaging session on Automotive Social Media and made the case for the importance of using this in the leasing business. The organic pillars of social media advertising are: sales posts (why lease with us? keep your fleet up to date), customer posts (testimonials, success stories), relationship posts (meet the team, your specialty in the market), store promotions (limited time offers, company news, contests) and fun posts (holiday posts, shoutout local business, memes). She also talked about paid social media advertising and how this may enhance a business’ advertising activities.
Overall, the meeting was highly engaging, and the sessions were topical and on point.
Sloan Schickler is a partner in the commercial finance law firm, Schickler & Schickler PLLC. Schickler, a veteran vehicle leasing, finance and bank attorney and the attorneys in her firm have decades of experience representing and protecting lessors, banks, captive and independent finance companies in all facets of the vehicle leasing and financing business. She has served as the NVLA Legal and Legislative counsel since 2017, is currently the only woman on the NVLA board of directors and is a supporter of Leasing News and sits on its Advisory Board.
Sloan can be reached at: sloan.schickler@schicklerlaw.com or 212-262-5297.