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ED YAFFE
ESY Financial is named in memory and in honor of Edward S. Yaffe, Larry’s father. Ed was the first employee hired by the original owners of Firestone Financial in 1965. Early in his Firestone career he was instrumental in lending to some local restaurants (Papa Gino’s, Bertucci’s, D’Angelo’s) to help them open their first stores. Ed had previously worked as an account manager at a coin-operated vending manufacturer, and helped Firestone enter the equipment financing market in the vending industry, and then the coin- operated video game business in later years. It was while attending an arcade game trade show that Ed met Bob Cassata and several other members of Bob’s Space Racers. In 1991, BSR encouraged Ed to attend the annual trade show in Gibsonton and be educated about the industry to get Firestone comfortable lending to carnival businesses.
Ed drove the success of the business through developing close relationships with his vendors and customers. He treated them like family and that treatment was reciprocated. The connections were bonded with trust and friendship. This allowed him to learn and understand his customers’ needs and how to best serve them. These relationships cultivated a culture of caring and desire to provide superior customer service to his customers. ESY Financial was created with Ed’s business and personal principles in mind.
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LARRY YAFFE
Larry Yaffe has more than 27 years of experience in the equipment lending industry. During his career he has led the funding of over a billion dollars in equipment financing transactions, at well below average industry loss rates. Prior to founding ESY Financial, Larry was an owner and a member of the Executive Management Team of Firestone Financial Corp, a leading national specialty equipment finance lender. Larry was the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing leading the company’s growth strategy. While in this role, he served on Firestone’s Credit Committee, the company’s credit approval authority; Firestone’s Asset Management Committee, the company’s collection and legal function; and the Sales/Operations Team, which was charged to develop growth strategies while not compromising the company’s risk management position. In addition, Larry successfully led and managed the Asset Management team from 2008-2010 during the United States’ worst recession in modern times. In 2009, the company’s write-off percentage was .009. Throughout his career, Larry has led and participated in collection, repossession, legal, workout, and remarketing strategies yielding Firestone write-off amounts that averaged .5% of total outstanding receivables. He began his career as a credit underwriter, after being an auditor at Arthur Andersen. In 2019, Larry was the Chairman of the Outdoor Amusement Business Association and continues his involvement today as a trustee of the association. He previously served as the association’s Treasurer for 3 years. Larry earned his B.S. at Babson College, and his MBA at Bentley University. After suffering as a Boston sports fan for the first half of his life, Larry is finally proud to be from the City of Champions!
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TONY COSTANZA
Tony Costanza has over 25 years of experience in the equipment lending industry. Over the course of his career, he has funded over a quarter of a billion dollars of equipment loans in the carnival industry. Prior to joining ESY Financial in 2018, Tony was an officer of Firestone Financial Corp., most recently serving as Assistant Vice President of Sales and Product Line Manager of the traveling carnival amusement market. Under Tony’s sales management leadership, annual loan originations grew from $7.5 million to $30 million while the portfolio balance grew from $25 million to $70 million. Tony has established long lasting relationships with customers and vendors throughout the traveling carnival amusement industry for the past 20 years. In addition, Tony worked very closely with the Asset Management and Operations functions in his role as Product Line Manager to assist in resolving collection issues and ensure proper underwriting standards were applied to the loan originations. His efforts in collections contributed to the historically low write-off percentages in this market. Prior to joining Firestone’s sales staff, Tony served as a portfolio collection manager and credit underwriting administrator. It was in his early collection manager role where he started the relationship-building process with traveling carnival industry customers and began to earn their trust. Tony attended St Bonaventure University. Tony is originally from Buffalo, NY and now resides in Hanover, MA with his wife and sons. He enjoys taking his dog for long walks and is a big sports fan. He especially loves watching Buffalo Bills games on Sundays with his sons.
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DEBBIE YAFFE
Debbie Yaffe has been with ESY since its creation. She has owned and operated successful businesses in the past and has a track record of excellent client customer service. She serves as ESY’s Executive Vice President of Administration and provides customer service support after loan closing. She also handles the marketing responsibilities for the company. Debbie has her B.S. in Journalism & Public Relations from Northeastern University and her Master’s in Education from Lesley College. Despite zoning out during all of Tony & Larry’s sports conversations, Debbie is the biggest fan of her children Lauren, Nate & Drew in all of their games.
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BAILEY
OFFICE ASSISTANT
DAISY B.
OFFICE ASSISTANT