Clayton Ferrer

Founder & CEO

Clay was first introduced to CrossFit while on vacation in Southern California in 2011. Like many people who have yet to experience it, he was initially skeptical of the ability to get a killer workout in only a few minutes time. The 2011 CrossFit Games quickly changed that view, and ultimately, his entire life. Anxiously awaiting the challenges posed by the next event, Clay was astounded by what these athletes were able to do and enjoyed the camaraderie and competitive atmosphere in which they were doing it. In the months and years that followed, CrossFit became much more than just a training regimen and hobby for Clay - it was a growing passion and a new lifestyle, and one that would be constantly reinforced by the amazing community around him. 

Clay is a CrossFit Level 1 Trainer and member of the coaching staff at Ballston CrossFit in Arlington, Virginia, where he was one of the first members when it opened in early 2012. Over the last three years, Clay has witnessed the growth of an incredible community at Ballston CrossFit and has seen countless examples of peoples’ lives changing for the better as a result of CrossFit. It is this aspect of CrossFit, one that may not have been immediately visible to Clay when first watching the CrossFit Games (but which was certainly present!), that led to the creation of Rigquipment Finance and Clay's desire to help strengthen and expand the CrossFit community.  

Clay was previously an Associate with Milestone Advisors, a boutique investment bank dedicated to serving national specialty lending businesses with specific expertise in advising middle market financial services companies. Clay joined Milestone in July 2008 as an Analyst and has significant experience working with commercial finance, consumer finance, and mortgage finance asset classes. During his five years at Milestone, Clayton participated in completed transactions totaling more than $600 million of deal value and comprising over $45 billion of underlying assets, including his role as project manager for the sale of ~$200 million of single family residential mortgage assets on behalf of the FDIC. At the end of 2012, Milestone was acquired by Houlihan Lokey, a leading global investment banking and restructuring firm, where Clay continued his Associate role prior to resigning to start Rigquipment Finance.

Clay graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.S. in Commerce from the McIntire School of Commerce with a concentration in finance.

Joseph Cormier

Founding Partner

Joe found CrossFit in early 2012 and is an avid participant in the CrossFit community. After years of struggling to achieve the same fitness level he had when playing Division I-AA college football, Joe saw the immediate benefits of the CrossFit methodology and was hooked. He trains at CrossFit Verity in Dulles, VA, is a CrossFit Level 1 Trainer, and has a passion to grow the CrossFit community through Rigquipment's unique business model.

Joe is also the Chief Financial Officer and Co-Founder of Galeos Group, a private equity backed government services platform business in DC metro region. Previously he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for a Sotera Defense Solutions, a national security contractor with $400 million in revenue and 1,500 employees. While in that role, Joe helped take the company private and engineer its strategic growth plan that doubled the size of the company in two years through organic and M&A growth. Joe was responsible for directing the fiscal functions of the company in accordance with its strategic objectives and was responsible for the Company’s merger and acquisition (M&A) program, leading the execution of capital markets transactions. In previous roles, Joe was Senior Vice President, Corporate Development for ManTech International Corporation, a roughly $3 billion revenue and 10,000 employee firm. He joined ManTech in 2005, when it was $800 million in revenue and 4,000 employees, where he was the corporate officer who led and executed ManTech’s M&A, capital structure and investor relations programs. Before ManTech, Joe was the Vice President, Corporate Development for DigitalNet, which was sold to BAE Systems, North America in 2004 following its IPO in 2003. Prior to DigitalNet, Joe was an investment banker in the Technology Group at Banc of America Securities, LLC.Joe currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) National Capital Chapter, a global community for business leaders, middle market M&A dealmakers and capital providers focused on driving growth. The National Capital Chapter serves the fourth largest economic region in the country. He is an executive advisor to Data Tactics Corporation, Enlightenment Capital and Restoration Capital.

Joe has a B.A. in Economics/Political Science from Columbia University, N.Y.

Chelsea Ferrer

Vice President, Business Development

Chelsea's path to CrossFit is an anecdote shared by many in the CrossFit community - it was her ear drums that were first exercised by the CrossFit methodology. As her husband (Clay) became more involved with CrossFit, Chelsea experienced a flood of acronyms, descriptions, and discussions revolving around CrossFit. It would not be long before she was ready to experience it for herself. Three years later, Chelsea is still training alongside Clay at Ballston CrossFit. Chelsea is excited about the prospect of combining her professional sales background with her passion for CrossFit to help Rigquipment Finance reach affiliate owners across the United States.  

Chelsea began her career in sales as a pharmaceutical sales associate for Cornerstone Therapeutics Inc, a specialty pharmaceutical company headquartered in Cary, North Carolina that was founded in 2000. At Cornerstone, Chelsea was responsible for establishing the Northern Virginia market as a new territory for the company. A large part of her job focused on educating medical practitioners and pharmacists about Cornerstone’s pharmaceutical products, which had not previously been marketed in the region. At the time she left Cornerstone, Chelsea was ranked in the Top 10 nationally for new product growth rates.

Chelsea then pursued a new sales opportunity with H.Bloom, a corporate floral start-up founded in New York City in 2010. Chelsea joined H.Bloom as one of the first employees in the Washington, D.C. market when it opened in 2011. Her role as a senior sales associate was to secure floral contracts with hotels, commercial properties, professional service providers, and restaurants in Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia. Much of her time was spent educating potential customers on the differentiating benefits of the H.Bloom model as well as managing closed accounts to minimize the potential for turnover. Prior to resigning to join Rigquipment Finance, Chelsea had closed accounts totaling more than $900,000 of annual contract value, which ranked her as number one in company history (across all markets, which had grown from two to eight during her tenure).

Chelsea graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.A. in Psychology and Biology.

Justin Swietlik

Director of Credit & underwriting

Justin began his CrossFit journey in 2012 when he joined Ballston CrossFit in Arlington, Virginia. He had always been a very active person and enjoyed many aspects of health and fitness, but knew very little about the CrossFit world when he jumped into it. He was amazed to find an environment that he considered ideal for learning, building confidence, and staying in shape. Justin enjoys the camaraderie of CrossFit, as well as continually pushing his limits and progressing mentally and physically. He is a firm believer that there is always something new to learn! When he’s not in the box, Justin is likely to be found in the mountains on his bike enjoying the outdoors.

Previously, Justin served as Accountant at Pivot Cycles, a boutique mountain bike brand, in Tempe, Arizona. In his role, Justin handled accounting and bookkeeping, forecasting, inventory, and numerous other functions. Justin also volunteered at the National Interscholastic Cycling Association’s Arizona chapter high school mountain bike races.

Prior to that, Justin held various positions – most recently Vice President – in Comerica Bank’s Technology and Life Sciences division, which focused on venture capital and private equity-backed technology, life science, and healthcare businesses throughout all lifecycle stages. While at Comerica, Justin deployed over $250mil of capital, including leading a $35mil syndicated financing that bridged an education technology company to its IPO.

Justin is a Certified Public Accountant in the Commonwealth of Virginia and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in finance from James Madison University.