Sales & Marketing

Jim Hines

Vice President - Sales

Jim Hines manages our inside sales force and leads the new businesses generation efforts in Coin-op Amusement and Vending industries. Jim works closely with the leading manufacturers and distributors to develop competitive financial programs that help operators and locations get the equipment they need affordably. He has been with the company since 1994, and worked his way through credit and sales before becoming an officer in 2000.

Jim earned his bachelor’s degree from Stonehill College. Among his affiliations, he is on the board of American Amusement Machine Association Charitable Foundation, is a member of Equipment Leasing & Finance Association and Foundation (ELFA) and of the Stonehill College Alumni Association. He lives in Maynard, Massachusetts with his wife and three children. Jim spends much of his free time coaching his children in baseball, basketball, and soccer and is the President of Maynard Youth Soccer.

Tony Costanza

Assistant Vice President, Sales

Tony Costanaza is the sales leader for Carnival and Amusement Parks. As part of his role, Tony travels the country meeting with show owners and operators, learning about their business. He uses this information to customize financial products such as seasonal loans that meet the unique needs of the outdoor amusement industry. He has been with the company since 1997, and worked his way through collections, credit, and sales before becoming an officer in 2008.

Prior to joining Firestone, Tony worked as a sales person for Northern States Tire and was on the production line at General Motors, he also studied at St. Bonaventure University. Among his affiliations, he is a member of New England Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, the Pennsylvania Parks Association and the Outdoor Amusement Business Association. He and his wife have two sons and Tony enjoys coaching his boys in baseball, football, and soccer.

Sal Cifala

Assistant Vice President, Sales

Sal Cifala has been an integral part of Firestone’s team since 1996 having worked in several different areas of the company including Sales, Credit and Asset Management. Sal’s role for the organization includes managing strategic relationships with our manufacturers, distributors and operators in the amusement, vending and gaming industries.

Prior to joining Firestone, Sal worked for Robert Half and Associates and Putnam Investments.  He studied at Bentley College and attended the AMOA Notre Dame Management Program. He has three children and enjoys coaching their various activities including basketball, soccer and softball.

Carol Francis

Marketing Director

Carol Francis has a 20 year track record in sales and marketing in the financial services industry. Her focus for Firestone is on expanding the company’s social media and web presence, working with channel partners on developing compelling promotions, and integrating a streamlined customer relationship management system. She is also leading initiatives related to traditional marketing including tradeshows, email marketing and public relations.

Carol earned her B.A. from the University of Massachusetts – Lowell, and her MBA from Babson College. She has held marketing posts at TimePayment / MicroFinancial, Deutsche Financial Services, AT&T Capital Leasing Services, and Bayer Financial Services. She was also a Managing Partner of consulting company, Opus Lease Advisors Corporation. She and her family live in the Boston area and her favorite job of all time has been being a Mom to her young daughter.

Carolyn Collins

Sales Executive – Fitness

Carolyn Collins has 24 years of expertise in the Equipment Lease Financing Industry as a Sales/Account Representative. Her past employers include Popular Leasing, US Express Leasing and Southern Leasing. She has spent the last 15 years working primarily in the Fitness Industry, and has funded over $75 million of fitness equipment purchases during her career. Carolyn joined Firestone Financial in August, 2010, in order to develop the fitness division.

Carolyn lives in Gulf Shores, AL, with her husband of 25 years and 17 year-old son, along with their three dogs. Her hobbies include scuba diving, fishing, water skiing, and target shooting.

Spencer Norton

Sales Executive

Spencer Norton joined Firestone Financial in 2005 as an inside sales representative and has worked his way up within the sales organization. He plays a critical role for the organization in developing and growing relationships with our manufacturers, distributors, operators, and family fun centers in the amusement and vending industries.

Prior to joining Firestone, Spencer was an executive recruiter with Commonwealth Resources, responsible for recruitment and placement of commercial general contractors in New England. A native of Peaks Island, Maine, Spencer earned his BS degree in Finance from Babson College. When he’s not helping clients with financing needs, he enjoys cooking, skiing, and sailing.

Helen Mooney

Senior Inside Sales Professional

Helen Mooney is one of the company’s prime examples of employee loyalty that seems to be the long term trend at Firestone. Helen has been with the company since 1986 allowing her to witness and be an integral part of the company’s growth over the years. Having come to Firestone from a prior work experience in elementary education and a family retail liquor business, Helen learned the finance industry from the bottom up. She learned the ins and outs of the industries we serve from the late Ed Yaffe, Firestone’s first employee. Through on the job experiences with distributors and manufacturers, as well, Helen has established herself as a vital piece of the Inside Sales team.

Helen loves to travel, as well as read and cook. She is a person with a big heart, and works with the homeless in and out of the city, as well as volunteers her time to women’s shelters. Above all things, however, Helen has a big soft spot for animals!

Peter Aldrich

Inside Sales Professional

Pete Aldrich has 25 years of front-line experience in the Financial Services industry. He has been a vital member of the Firestone Financial Inside Sales team since 2001. Prior to joining Firestone, Pete was the Operations Manager for 13 years at Leasecom.

Among his many business and professional affiliations are: Boston Banking and Financial Services Professionals, Equipment Leasing Professionals, Equipment Leasing & Finance Association and Foundation (ELFA), Outdoor Amusement Business Association, and the University of Phoenix Alumni Association.

Pete studied Finance at the University of Phoenix. Among his outside interests that he enjoys with his family are coaching youth soccer, exercising, reading and basketball.

Kurt Engelhardt

Associate Sales Executive

Kurt Engelhardt brings several years of experience in sales for financing equipment, leasing of equipment, customer service, and establishing customer and vendor relationships to his role as Associate Sales Executive at Firestone Financial. Since 2006 Kurt has worked directly with our customers to generate new loans, handling and closing large transactions within the carnival, vending, amusement, and video lottery industries.

Kurt has held financing posts with such companies as TimePayment Corp and GE Healthcare Financing Services. Kurt studied Sociology at St. Anselm College where he was also part of the 1st Team All Conference for soccer. Outside of work, Kurt is the dad to two small boys, and enjoys spending time with them as well as water skiing, snowboarding, hockey, and golf.

Samantha Hermann

Inside Sales Professional

Samantha Hermann, better known as Sam around the office, joined the inside sales team in 2006. She left behind the bright lights and movie stars of Los Angeles, where she worked for GN Mortgage as the Wholesale Mortgage Sales Rep, to join the Firestone Family. In her time here she has establish herself as a vital piece of our inside sales team. She is the jack of all trades within the department, being the only sales team member who is cross-trained in every area of financing we offer from fitness to carnival to coin-op amusement, to vending, to laundry, to home rec and all that falls in between.

Sam is an active member of the Emblem club (aka the “Lady Elks”). She also has a very special place in heart for the furry and four legged, and sporadically fosters dogs in her home when needed.