Ameris Bank Equipment Finance Executive Team
Meet the talented financing professionals who are responsible for running our company.
Phil Silva
President
Phil Silva, president of Ameris Bank Equipment Finance, brings nearly 30 years of experience to his leadership of our sales divisions. His impressive career includes establishing our company’s highly successful Vendor Services Group and developing our online sales management platform, Portal360™. Additionally, he has managed sales professionals and played a key role in developing and restructuring equipment segments within the equipment financing industry. Before joining our company, Mr. Silva started and ran the National Accounts Group for American Express® and served as general manager of the health care, franchise, and business capital loan and marketing divisions. In addition, he was responsible for field sales at Dana Commercial Credit. Mr. Silva earned his Bachelor of Arts in business management from Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington. Phil likes spending time with his wife, their children and their granddaughter. Mr. Silva is an avid fan of sports and superhero movies.
Jim Grant
Senior Vice President
James (Jim) Grant is vice president of Portfolio Management for Ameris Bank Equipment Finance. In this role, he focuses on growing our company’s commercial financing, working capital loan and equipment vendor financing business. Mr. Grant has more than three decades of experience in portfolio management and customer service. This includes successful tenures at Quick Bridge Funding, LEAF Commercial Capital, People’s United Equipment Finance Corporation, and American Express®, among others. Jim enjoys traveling, spending time with his wife, and training K9 dogs. You can call Jim directly at (949) 316-3837 or email him at jim.grant@balboacapital.com.
Michelle A. Chiongson
Vice President, General Counsel
Michelle A. Robertson is vice president and general counsel at Ameris Bank Equipment Finance. In this role, she manages our company’s team of in-house attorneys and paralegals, and oversees our legal functions and operations. These include ensuring the proper timing and flow of the legal process, managing outside counsel, and revising company documents when required. Ms. Robertson has been with our company for more than 18 years and is an experienced attorney and executive with an extensive background in construction defect claims and general liability. She received a Juris Doctor from the Chapman University Fowler School of Law, a Bachelor of Arts in criminology, law & society, and a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of California, Irvine. She is an active member of the California State Bar. Outside of work, Ms. Robertson enjoys spending time with her husband of 20+ years and their foxhound. She also likes traveling in Europe and cruising in the Caribbean.
Sophia Fields
Senior Vice President of Operations
Sophia Fields was appointed senior vice president of Operations in September 2024. In her role, she is responsible for managing all facets of our company’s day-to-day operations, including strategic planning and execution, customer channels and experience, and business continuity and growth. Ms. Fields works closely with all company departments and management teams to establish and implement best practices and protocols to enhance operational efficiency, accountability and success. With nearly 20 years of experience in senior management roles — two as vice president of documentation and funding and 17 as director of operations — Ms. Fields brings a wealth of knowledge to her position. Before joining our company, she served as operations manager at American Express Business Finance for eight years. Outside of her professional life, Sophia enjoys spending time with her husband and two daughters, as well as traveling to new destinations. She is also an avid ice hockey fan.
Heather Parker
Senior Vice President of Loan Relations
Since joining Ameris Bank Equipment Finance in January 2018, Heather Parker has held several key positions, including controller, chief financial officer and risk manager. She currently serves as senior vice president of Loan Relations, overseeing onboarding, payment processing, commercial vehicle titling, customer service, sales, property tax and accounts payable. Earlier in her career, she held senior-level positions at Go Capital, LLC, Bank of America and Arthur Andersen LLP. Ms. Parker has a B.A. in quantitative economics from Stanford University, an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA, and is a certified public accountant. She likes traveling, hiking, kayaking and going to the beach with her two daughters in her free time. Ms. Parker also enjoys cooking.
David L. Sexton
Vice-President, Director of Credit Operations
David L. Sexton is a highly experienced credit and finance professional with more than 38 years of industry experience. As vice president and director of Credit Operations, he leads the Ameris Bank Equipment Finance Credit Operations team and oversees all aspects of the company’s credit-related functions, ensuring their efficiency and effectiveness. Before joining our company in 2013, Mr. Sexton held two senior management positions. He was the operations manager at Freight Capital for more than two years and the vice president of Credit and Sales at Wells Fargo for 23 years. Mr. Sexton graduated from the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business with a bachelor’s degree in finance. He enjoys golfing, tennis and running in his free time. Mr. Sexton is also a professional drummer and avid music fan.
Todd Edson
Senior Vice President, IT Operations Manager
Todd Edson has been with Ameris Bank Equipment Finance for more than 26 years. He initially served as our company’s Portfolio and Operations manager for two decades before being promoted to senior vice president and IT Operations manager. In his current role, Mr. Edson works closely with our business, operations, and technology leadership teams to explore emerging IT initiatives and technologies, assess their impact, recommend new strategies, and ensure they meet compliance guidelines. He holds a B.A. in business administration and management from California State University, Chico. Outside work, Mr. Edson enjoys spending time with his wife and two sons, their Labrador retriever and traveling. He is also an enthusiastic sports fan who attends local sporting events.
Patrick Ontal
Senior Vice President of Sales
Patrick Ontal is the senior vice president of Sales at Ameris Bank Equipment Finance. In this role, he is responsible for leading all our company’s business sales divisions, including Vendor Services, Direct Sales, Franchise Finance and Equipment Broker. In addition, he oversees our company’s Executive Recruiting division. A recognized industry expert with more than 40 years of experience, Mr. Ontal has held successful sales management roles at AT&T Capital, Key Equipment Finance, Sony Financial Services and US Express Leasing. He was instrumental in establishing and leading our company’s Vendor Services division and helping drive the strategic direction of its sales processes and online sales management platform, Portal360™. Mr. Ontal holds a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from La Salle University in the Philippines. When he’s not working, he enjoys spending time with his wife, children and granddaughter, Charley. His hobbies include playing golf and traveling.
Jeanette Rafferty
Vice President, Booking, Title, & Customer Service
Jeanette Rafferty was appointed assistant vice president, Booking, Title & Customer Service in January 2023. In this multifaceted role, she is responsible for optimizing internal booking, titling, and customer service processes and procedures to drive innovation and provide a best-in-class customer experience to Ameris Bank Equipment Finance’s vendor partners and customers. Before this promotion, Ms. Rafferty served in two leadership roles at our company, including Funding manager for the Vendor Services team and team lead for the Commercial Vehicle Vendor division. Her dedication, commitment, and strong performance record have earned her multiple quarterly and annual awards. Ms. Rafferty enjoys spending time with her family and contributing to her local community in her spare time.
Cheryl Baker, CLFP
Director of Strategic Initiatives
Cheryl Baker joined Ameris Bank Equipment Finance in November 2022 as director of Strategic Initiatives. In this role, she oversees our company’s Vendor Management team and works with each department to develop and implement key strategic initiatives. Before joining our company, Ms. Baker was director of commercial finance operations at Crestmark (now Pathward) for five years, where she successfully created and managed the company’s small-ticket leasing division. Ms. Baker also spent 20 years as operations manager at Lease Corporation of America (now Milestone Bank). She has been a certified leasing and finance professional (CLFP) since 2022. Ms. Baker enjoys spending time with her husband, family and their two German Shepherds. She also likes golfing, swimming, traveling and watching football.
Arthur Rea
Assistant Vice President, Portfolio Management
Arthur Rea has more than 20 years of experience in the finance industry, with a focus on customer service and portfolio management. He was promoted to assistant vice president, Portfolio Management at Ameris Bank Equipment Finance in 2024 after successfully managing our company’s Customer Service division. In his current role, Mr. Rea oversees and manages daily operations in portfolio management to ensure they meet or exceed expected performance service levels, targets and goals. Additionally, he recommends and helps develop essential operational tools and resources for our company’s portfolio management team to streamline daily tasks and responsibilities. In his free time, Mr. Rea enjoys spending time with his wife and sons, and is an enthusiastic collegiate and Olympic wrestling fan.