Life Insurance and Banking Veterans Join Element's Board of Directors

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Dec. 16, 2014) - Element Financial Corporation (TSX:EFN) ("Element" or "the Company"), one of North America's leading equipment finance companies, announced that Mr. William W. Lovatt and Mr. Richard E. Venn have been appointed to the Company's board of directors effective December 16, 2014.

Mr. Lovatt brings to Element's board nearly 40 years of investment and senior management expertise. Mr. Lovatt acts as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Great-West Lifeco Inc., Great-West Life Assurance Company, London Life Insurance Company and Canada Life Assurance Company. Mr. Lovatt joined Great West-Life in 1979 serving in various positions in the insurer's investments department. Mr. Lovatt worked at the Bank of Canada from 1975 to 1979.

Mr. Lovatt served as a member of the Accounting Standards Oversight Council from 2000 to 2006 and in 2009, following the global financial crisis, was asked to serve the Canadian Government on the Department of Finance's Advisory Committee on Liquidity in the Financial Markets. Mr. Lovatt received his Bachelor of Commerce (Hons.) degree from the University of Saskatchewan in 1975, his Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1983 and became a Fellow Certified General Accountant in 2003.

Mr. Venn joins Element's board following a 40-year career with the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce ("CIBC") where he led CIBC's investment banking and merchant banking operations. Mr. Venn served for seven years as the Chairman and CEO of CIBC's Canadian dealer and led CIBC's Corporate Development Group for more than a decade. He was instrumental in the formation of CIBC Mellon and CIBC FirstCaribbean and served as a board member with those companies for many years.

Mr. Venn is a director of The Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Sons Ltd. He currently serves on the Foundation Board of Mount Sinai Hospital and is Chair of the United Jewish Federation of Toronto. He received a BA Sc. (Engineering Science) in 1973 from the University of Toronto and completed his MBA at Harvard (Scholarship) in 1975.

"I'm very pleased to welcome both Bill Lovatt and Richard Venn to Element's board," noted Steven K. Hudson, Element's Executive Chairman and CEO. "Both of these seasoned financial services veterans have gained deep experience over the last four decades building global insurance and financial services companies. That experience will be invaluable to us as we move through the next stage of Element's growth," noted Mr. Hudson.

Mr. Lovatt will join Element's Audit Committee, along with current director Joan Lamm-Tennant and existing Audit Committee Chair Harold Bridge, as well as the Credit Committee. Mr. Venn will Chair Element's Risk Committee and will also join the Compensation and Corporate Governance Committee.

The Company also announced that Mr. Phil Arthur and Mr. Stephens Lowden have retired from the Company's board of directors. As former employees of the Company's current auditor, Ernst & Young, LLP, Mr. Arthur and Mr. Lowden retired from the board to position Element and its auditors to be responsive to audit independence standards in the United States.

"On behalf of the board of directors, management, our employees and our shareholders, I would like to thank Phil Arthur and Stephens Lowden for the great contribution that they have made in building this enterprise," said Mr. Hudson. "The wise counsel that Phil and Stephens provided to the board helped to guide Element through a remarkable period of transformation and growth," added Mr. Hudson.

About Element Financial Corporation

With total assets in excess of $10.5 billion, Element Financial Corporation is one of North America's leading equipment finance companies. Element operates across North America in four verticals of the equipment finance market - Commercial & Vendor Finance, Aviation Finance, Rail Finance and Fleet Management.