About Us
Our management team is comprised of fitness enthusiasts and CF-L1 trainers dedicated to helping you provide the best service to your members and clients. We created Rigquipment Finance to provide a reliable funding solution for gym owners. With our specialty lending service, our team has a deep understanding associated with operating a boutique fitness facility, and we will customize a financing package specifically to meet your gym’s need.
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 2 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.
Value to Our Customers
See what our customers had to say about their experience working with Rigquipment Finance.
“We view Rigquipment as a long term partner”
“We had a great experience working with Rigquipment Finance to open our first box, CrossFit Outbreak, in 2014. So when we started to look at opening our second location, which ultimately required us to move very fast to secure the facility and get the doors opened, it was hugely beneficial to have a relationship with a lender that shared our vision for the Outbreak community. We have since worked with them for our third and fourth location. Their team understands this industry and genuinely cares about your success as a small business owner. We view Rigquipment as a long term partner and would highly recommend them to any gym owner who is looking for funding.”
Adam Sturm & Shimi Litkowski, CrossFit Outbreak 1, 2 , 3 and 4 (Brooklyn, NY)
“They are CrossFitters who understood our type of business”
“It all started with a sign. Like most CrossFits we were pretty hidden and everyone kept telling us we needed a sign. When we went to apply for a permit it kicked open a pandoras box of zoning issues that in order to keep the place open we needed to make some upgrades to the building. Upgrades that we had no chance of financing on our own. We loved our location and knew we were not going to find a better spot with cheaper rent so we decided that building out was our best option. We first went with the obvious of trying to get a loan from a bank. In every instance our contact person was very helpful but every time we started through the underwriting process we ran into some department somewhere that would make the loan fall through. When we thought we had exhausted all possibilities Joe and Clay at Rigquipment pulled us out of the fire. They were CrossFitters who understood our type of business and the dilemma we were in and walked us seamlessly through the entire process while communicating full confidence in their investment in us. Since getting us our funding they have been in constant contact with us with support and encouragement. I really can’t express enough our gratitude and satisfaction with the speed at which they took care of the major tasks as well as the small personal touches along the way.”
Dave Rice, CrossFit Buffalo (Buffalo, NY)
“Rigquipment was able to beat all of their rates”
“I just opened up a new affiliate and needed financial help in doing so. Rigquipment made this process not only smooth and easy, but didn’t make me feel like I was signing my life away like some banks make you feel when taking out a loan. Anytime I had a question, they were there to answer it, and in general the response was very quick. They never made me feel like I was bothering them with ‘trivial’ questions, that I’m sure are going to arise with any new box owner. I also checked around with other companies to lease my equipment from, and Rigquipment was able to beat all of their rates. Overall, I’m very satisfied with Rigquipment and would recommend them to anyone needing help financing an affiliate.”
Billy Etter, CrossFit Wreckage (Charlotte, NC)
“They give you options to structure your payments so you have time to get up and running”
“We sent Rigquipment our Christmas list of equipment we wanted and they made it happen. One of the best parts of Rigquipment is that they are CrossFitters and understand the business and our needs. They give you options to structure your payments so you have time to get up and running without paying a bulk of money up front for all the equipment. They also write up a business plan for your box to show you potential growth and where you should be in the next five years. Not only did this help us just to know where we were, but also helped us out greatly when applying for a commercial space, we already had a built-in business plan to deliver. If anything changes number-wise, we just hand it over to Rigquipment and they change our plan to reflect it, genius idea. I like to CrossFit and train, numbers aren’t my thing, they make my box’s life much easier.
The way they check up and maintain a strong relationship with their boxes is amazing. You will never get that from a bank or any other type of investors. CrossFit is a community and Rigquipment make you feel like you are a part of the family. I would recommend this company to anybody I knew trying to open a box, small or big, Unites States, overseas, wherever; these guys have a good thing going.”
Scott Shirey, CrossFit Verity (South Riding, VA)
“Great advice that they have gained from partnering with CF boxes around the country”
“When Ballston CrossFit hit 300 members, we expanded our box to nearly 6,000 square feet and purchased a bunch of new equipment. Rigquipment was a critical partner to finance our growth in the business. The process was smooth and easy, and Rigquipment was able to offer attractive financing rates as well as great advice that they have gained from partnering with CF boxes around the country.”
Tucker Jones, Ballston CrossFit (Arlington, VA) & CrossFit Route 7 (Vienna, VA)
“Got us approved and funded within days”
“The folks at Rigquipment have been extremely helpful for us. When we were going through our facility expansion and trying to lock down a loan, everything looked great until our finance company pulled out at the last moment. Thankfully the vendor we were dealing with knew of Rigquipment and connected us to Chelsea. They were extremely mindful of the compressed time frame we were working on and got us approved and funded within days.”
Chris Ecklund, Prevail Conditioning (Santa Barbara, CA)
“Working with Rigquipment was easy and seamless”
Working with Rigquipment was easy and seamless. The helped us with every question along the way. Their support and hands-on approach really made the great experience of opening our box, that much more enjoyable! Thanks guys, you rock!
Ryder Champouillon, CrossFit DHP (Port Jefferson Station, NY)
“The fact that they understand the CrossFit gym model”
“When we upgraded to a bigger & newer location, not only did we need to complete a build-out, but we also wanted some new equipment to add in. Instead of spending all of our cash or skipping the new equipment (& waiting), we decided to do a small loan just for the equipment. Rigquipment had no problem taking care of us. They finance small projects and big projects. What I loved most… well, there’s so much to love: fast & easy loan process; constant contact & communication; great rates; lots of payment options for short term or long term; and the fact that THEY understand the CrossFit gym model. So much easier than a bank loan with so many more options!! In the future, if I need a loan, big or small… I’ll be sure to do it with Rigquipment again! It’s a no brainer!! As a bonus, I met them all personally at the CrossFit Games in 2015… these are some legit good people providing a great service to others! And I’ve been around a while.”
Monique Ames, Director on CrossFit RRG Board, CrossFit Evolution Est. 2007 (Longwood, FL)
“They helped us from day one and continue to do so”
“Although it may seem easy, it’s very difficult opening a CrossFit box. When you want the best and demand for the best, it takes a lot of of money to grow and build that business. Rigquipment, and especially Clay, helped us outfit an awesome CrossFit box with brand new equipment. We weren’t going to be able to do it by ourselves and they helped us from day one and continue to do so. They helped us get the right gear, the right amount, they helped us with financial projections, and what would be the best investment. Rigquipment has helped us so much that we are able to move to a bigger location. We financed additional equipment through them and there lies a loyalty that you won’t find anywhere else. When we open other locations, there’s no question who to call.”
Ruben Nieves, VidaUna CrossFit (San Juan, PR)
“We could not find the right fit until we talked with the Rigquipment team”
“Rigquipment has been so amazing to work with. We are a new affiliate, and were so nervous about the huge investment in equipment. We talked with many financing companies, and could not find the right fit until we talked with the Rigquipment team. They eased our minds with their structured payment options. Chelsea and the whole team provided us with multiple payment plans and were so supportive throughout the entire process, and still are! Abby and I at CrossFit HideOut would highly recommend Rigquipment.”
Abby Graham & Dana Heinsen, CrossFit Hideout (Mickleton, NJ)
Our Partners
As part of our comprehensive approach to financing, we work with companies that we believe will help our customers optimize business performance and offer their members the best experience possible.
Equipment Vendors
Business Resources
Competitions & Events
