Auto Finance News is pleased to announce that Christopher Mitcham, newly appointed head of dealer commercial services at Santander Bank N.A, will join a session on private credit during the inaugural Auto Finance Capital Summit, taking place May 11-12 at JW Mariott in Nashville, Tenn. 

View the full event agenda. 

Mitcham was promoted on March 19 to his new position, in which he leads strategy related to integrated capital and banking solutions for automotive dealers, including floorplan financing, syndicated lending, commercial real estate and treasury services, according to LinkedIn.

Christopher Mitcham

Mitcham had been head of corporate development and service for others at Santander Consumer USA since March 2024, and held multiple senior leadership roles since joining SCUSA in October 2019. 

Mitcham will join a panel “Emerging players and private credit in auto finance” moderated by Nicole Byrns, partner at Dumar Capital Partners, on May 11 at 2 p.m. local time. Also on the panel are: Robert McDonald, managing director and head of credit solutions at Pagaya, Peter Frank, managing director at i80 and Carlos Prevolis, managing director of consumer and small business lending at Bayview Asset Management. 

 The panel discussion will take on: 

• The rise of private equity and venture capital originators; 

• The intersection of capital markets and fintechs; 

• Term deal innovations; and  

• Tips on scalability.  

At yearend 2024, Santander Consumer USA was the ninth-largest auto lender by outstandings with a portfolio of $54.9 billion, according to the latest Big Wheels Rankings data.  

Auto Finance Capital Summit will provide a deep look at trends across funding, securitization and investment in the sector. Through networking opportunities, presentations and panel discussions, attendees will tap into key information to form strategies around capital stress testing, fraud mitigation, risk-based pricing and building successful treasury risk frameworks. 

Learn more about Auto Finance Capital Summit and register here by March 27 for early-bird pricing.