Wintrust Specialty Finance President and Chief Executive David Normandin said he motivates employees to adopt AI by encouraging them to engage in problem solving.
Another key to success, according to the equipment finance CEO, is avoiding the term “AI,” which he said causes anxiety and fear of job displacement or disruption.
Normandin, who was part of a panel discussion at the recent FinAi Lending Summit in Las Vegas, said he instead refers to Rosie, Wintrust’s internal AI assistant, to personalize the technology and reduce AI anxiety.
The FinAi Lending Summit is hosted by FinAi News, a sister publication of Equipment Finance News.
Normandin said this subtle difference aligns with Wintrust’s AI strategy, which centers on solving real business problems.
Now when employees bring up friction points or challenges, company leaders ask, “‘How are we working with Rosie on solving this problem?’” he said.
“I wanted people to feel like they could embrace and trust leadership in what we’re doing.”
Listening to employees
Encouraging employees to engage with Rosie has created a “host of different ideas and use cases and many of them [are] incredibly valuable,” he said.
Deploying AI for credit adjudication, for example, helped the lender’s team of 34 people originate more than 4,000 deals worth roughly $500 million through the first half of 2026 — an amount that would have previously required double or triple the number of employees, according to previous FinAi News reporting.
Other equipment lenders are using employee feedback to maximize AI initiatives as well.
For example, Meridian OneCap Credit used an internal survey that cited “wasted time and effort” as a top challenge among employees.
President Hugh Swandel previously told FinAi News that the feedback helped the company better understand how it could deploy AI to address repetitive tasks.
“You need to show people that you’re listening to them and getting rid of that work,” he said. “When that’s done well, people sort of hop on the bandwagon.”
Stay up to date with all the news coming out of FinAi Lending Summit 2026 here.
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