Marine Mover – Velez joins Key Recreation Lending as yacht financing VP

CLEVELAND – Key Recreation Lending recently appointed James Velez as vice president of the yacht financing area of marine lending, according to a recent statement from the company.

“Jim brings us a tremendous level of expertise and experience in the specialized area of major yacht financing,” said Ken Landon, executive vice president of KeyCorp and CEO of Key Recreation Lending. “He knows this end of the market inside and out, he understands customer priorities and recognizes the complexities and nuances of deals ranging from a few hundred thousand to $25 million.”

Velez has more than 26 years experience in the marine lending industry. He spent the past 12 years at First New England Financial in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and served as president for the last two years. His accomplishments there include writing the company’s yacht loan policy and serving as a senior credit underwriter for marine loans up to $25 million with expertise in areas such as risk assessment, structuring, negotiation of loan transactions, financial analysis, due diligence and formal written loan presentations. Velez also served as a vice president for Security Marine Creditcorp, assistant vice president and area sales manager for Chase/ Horizon Creditcorp, and as operations manager for Yegen Marine.