Sentry Financial | Company History

About Us

Company History

Sentry Financial Corporation was organized on June 17, 1986 by two young lawyers transitioning to businessmen. Initially without an office of their own, their mentors (Sudhir Amembal and Terry Isom) invited them to use the exercise facility in the Amembal & Isom office building. So, for the first couple of months (as Jonathan and Scott were locating office space), they conducted Sentry’s business while employees of Amembal & Isom were working out!

Sentry was off to a great start, moved into its first office in December, 1986 (at 3450 South Highland Drive, Suite 104, Salt Lake City, UT), and hired its first employees (Deborah Vise followed shortly thereafter by G. Stephen Browning). By then, Scott had decided to go back into the practice of law – which he did until Jonathan convinced him to return to Sentry in July, 1998.

Sentry began as a lease broker: buying residual-oriented equipment lease transactions with Fortune 500 companies that had been originated by large leasing companies like CMI, CIS, Forsythe McArthur, and GE Capital, and then selling the leases to banks and other large leasing companies. Over time, Sentry began purchasing leases for its own account, and established great relationships with banks and other institutional funding sources, many of which relationships exist still today.

In 1987, Jonathan persuaded Mark D. Hood (who was the Director of Equity Placement at CMI Corporation) to resign from CMI and join Sentry as its CEO. Jonathan and Mark made significant progress at Sentry through 1992, when Mark decided to pursue other interests. Since 1992, Jonathan has been Sentry’s CEO.

As a result of its involvement in providing capital to businesses, Sentry dabbled in a variety of transaction types, ranging from its core equipment leasing and financing activities to international transactions, to investing in real estate and in small companies with significant growth potential. Those experiences provided the platforms for Sentry’s Real Estate, Private Equity, and Structured Transactions Divisions, as well as the Vendor Finance Program segment of the Equipment Financing Division.

After Jonathan and Scott (as outside counsel to Sentry) completed Sentry’s first lease of corporate aircraft in 1991 (which was a horrifically complex transaction), Sentry decided to hire the counsel for the lender on that transaction. So, Jerry Rosen and his wife Cindy moved to Salt Lake City from New York City where Jerry became Sentry’s General Counsel. Jerry remained in that position for five years and then was lured back to his home state, where he now splits his time between the practice of law, commercial aircraft leasing, and residential real estate.

At the same time that Jerry joined Sentry, so too did another high caliber professional: Jeffrey L. Brimhall. Jeff became immersed in highly complex and structured transactions, primarily involving energy and international transactions (Jeff spent three weeks in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1993 working on a gas utility transaction for the country of Bulgaria). Jeff’s role with Sentry initiated Sentry’s pursuit of international transactions. Jeff also remained with Sentry for five years, and then left to become the founder and Chief Operating Officer of IKANO, a consolidator of internet service providers.

Recently, Jeff and Sentry have teamed up again regarding some leading edge technologies and business models that Jeff is Managing.

Gibb Marsh joined Sentry as its Chief Credit Officer in July, 1995 bringing with him vast amounts of banking and related experience. Gibb remains a critical member of Sentry’s management team today.