EAEL was founded in 1979 with nine independent companies and four service firms joining together to form the Eastern Association of Equipment Lessors, Inc. EAEL was established to meet the expressed needs of the independent lessor and their service firms and concern itself with the concerns, opportunities and well-being of its members and the leasing industry as a whole. Since its auspicious beginning, EAEL has grown into a vital, dynamic force within the leasing industry. Its membership tops 200 firms comprising of leasing companies, brokers, banks and their service firms (including attorneys, consultants, insurance firms and others involved in the leasing industry).

The EAEL will be eternally grateful to the following persons that were the original signers of our 1979 Declaration of Independents: