NORTHBROOK, Ill. -

AR: Tell us a little about growing up. Chicago is where you live now and also where you grew up.

Xamplas: That’s right, and yes it is a little unusual. And it is even more interesting in that I now live in the same house in which I grew up. It’s a brownstone three-flat that my grandfather bought in 1948. It was one of those typical Chicago family buildings where my grandparents lived on the first floor, my parents lived on the second floor and an aunt and her family lived on the third floor. When my grandparents died, another aunt moved into the first floor, so the building has always been in the family.

AR: Isn’t that a European tradition? Isn’t your family heritage Greek?

Xamplas: Yes on both counts.
One of the advantages of that lifestyle is that we were raised by an extended family. There was always family in the building, people you could go to when you needed an answer. Of course, that also meant that there was always someone in the building to keep an eye on you! But I think you ended up with a much stronger relationships with your grandparents and aunts and uncles.

We have grandchildren now; but they live 75 miles away, and we don’t get to see them often enough.

AR: Did you think that having so much family so close by made you feel closed in?

Xamplas: Not really. You have to realize that other kids on the block were in similar environments, and it was a period in history when kids were outside playing until the street lights came on.

AR: You mentioned your grandparents living in the same building. Were they the first in the family to come to the United States?

Xamplas: They were. My paternal grandparents came in the early 1900’s. My father was born in Chicago in 1917. My mother’s parents are Irish, and my mother was born in Ireland. So I joke that I grew up in a rather loud household with Greek and Irish parents!

AR: Did you adopt a lot of your Greek history and culture?

Xamplas: Not really. My father was born in the United States; and as was the practice in a lot of first-generation households in that era, he was totally Americanized. As the next generation, so was I. By the time I was interested in knowing a lot more about my history and culture, my grandparents had died.
It’s interesting that my grandfather was more Greek than American; he was proud of his heritage. He spoke Greek; he had Greek friends; he cooked Greek food. But he was intent on his children fitting in as Americans.

AR: Have you ever gone to Greece to seek out other family members?

Xamplas: The original homestead where my grandfather was born is still owned by my cousin. There are about 80 olive trees on the property. In 2008, we went to Greece and helped harvest olives. We all had a great time.

The economic conditions in Greece are definitely challenging today. When my cousin left the village in the mid 60s, it was a thriving community of almost 3000; but now it only has about 300 residents, mostly elderly people. All of the younger people have left to seek other opportunities.

AR: What type of work did your father do?

Xamplas: He was in the produce business, until he “retired” and started a second career with the Chicago Park District.

AR: What about your Mom? Did she work?

Xamplas: She worked for a telephone answering service. Younger people may not realize that we have not always had answering machines, and at one time, companies hired an answering service to handle their overflow and after-hours calls. She handled mostly physicians’ calls.

AR: What did you like to do growing up?

Xamplas: I participated in sports through the neighborhood Boy’s Club. It is rather interesting because in our Boy’s Club you were on a team, and that team stayed together and played all the sports as one unit. You were always with the same kids, just playing different sports.

In the spring we would play softball — Chicago-style with a 16-inch ball and no gloves. Then we went to hard ball (baseball) in the summer, football in the fall and basketball in the winter. All with the same guys. As you got older, the whole team moved up to the next age bracket.

AR: Were you a good student?

Xamplas: I got good grades, but that’s different than being a good student. Looking back, I realize that I didn’t have to work all that hard to get good grades. I think I graduated in the top 5 percent  of my high school class. Later, in college where my classmates were also from the top 5 percent, I didn’t have the good underlying study habits. That adjustment was rather difficult.

AR: Did you turn it around?

Xamplas: I think I lasted a year! To make a very long and involved story short, I ended up in the Army… first in the infantry and then in the band … greatest stroke of luck ever!

AR: What did you do after the Army?

Xamplas: Tried to find a job! I finished my army “career” at Fort Hood, Texas, and my wife and I decided to stay in Texas.
I remember that I found three job openings; one was at Orkin (pest control), one was selling correspondence courses door-to-door and the final one was at the Household Finance Corporation. I ended up going to work for Household Finance.

AR: They were a very strong company at the time.

Xamplas: And they were a great company to work for with great training. The training was very well done. You were taught the reasons behind the policies and procedures. I can still recite the ten characteristics of a good loan and the five characteristics of a good collection call. It was so basic and still holds true today.

Eventually, I got my own Household Finance office in Harlingen, a little town outside of Brownsville, Texas. Each office operated pretty much as its own business, so as a manager, you had responsibility for everything that happened in that office. It was  a great business education. I was working at Household Finance when they introduced the industry’s first scorecard — a major milestone in the lending industry.

AR: Obviously you did not stay with Household forever. What happened?

Xamplas: After a year or two in Harlingen, a former supervisor of mine, who used to work at Household, was working for another finance company in Birmingham, Ala., and called me up and offered for me a job. Being young and adventurous, we decided to make the move without too much thought. This job didn’t work out as I expected though, and I decided to look elsewhere.

This was when all resumes were paper, and I must have sent out a 1,000 resumes. I could not find a job in Birmingham, so we ended up moving back to Chicago, and I went to work for a bank. While I was working, I enrolled in DePaul University and completed my degree in accounting. After graduating, I got my CPA (certified public accountant) certificate.

AR: Did you go to work for an accounting firm?

Xamplas: I worked for a small accounting firm on a part-time basis to fulfill my requirements to become a CPA, but the reality was that I was 29 years old and did not fit the profile of a fresh graduate accountant. I was disheartened. I worked for that goal for so long, expecting the world to change when I graduated, and it didn’t. I was still working my bank job during the day and the small accounting firm at night.

One of my college instructors put me in touch with one of his other students who worked for US Leasing. We had some conversations, and I ended up going to work for them. At the time, they were the largest independent leasing company in the country, leasing everything from scientific instruments, rail cars, office equipment, and of course, vehicles.

AR: Why did you leave US Leasing?

Xamplas: Tom Wajnert — a very well respected guy with US Leasing — left to form AT&T Credit Corp. There were several of us that asked Tom if we could go with him, and so I went to AT&T Credit Corp. in New Jersey … I think I was their 20th employee, and it was another incredible learning experience.

AR: How did you manage to get back to Chicago and Donlen?

Xamplas: We were trying to get back to Chicago. But the closest I could get was Wells Fargo Financial in Des Moines. When I was with Bank of America, I had met Pierre Pons (TPC Management Co.) Tom Stewart, also of TPC Management, told me about this job. He encouraged me to go after it, and I did. I have been here since ’07.

AR: You have seen a lot of changes in your career.

Xamplas: Yes, and I’ve lived in 11 different states. One thing I’ve come to understand is change is really constant. Success is dependent on your ability to handle change, adapt and react.

One of the most interesting recent changes is the increase in used vehicles that occurred during the first half of 2011. While it was directly related to the number of new cars sold, it was strange to see used cars worth more in May than they were in April.

When I came to Donlen, I think the SAAR was about 16.5 million, more vehicles than the market really needed. Manufacturers pushed a lot of vehicles into the market, and that accelerated the depreciation of used cars.

Now the quantity in production has certainly dropped, but fleets have also looked for more fuel-efficient vehicles. Everyone has tried to right-size, not only in the number of vehicles in service, but also in the type of vehicle.

AR: How has that change affected Donlen?

Xamplas: Market conditions change but Donlen remains focused on working with the customers to get them the best solution, not just another vehicle. I think we have always had a consultative approach, but that has definitely been enhanced.

Vehicles aren’t a core business for any of our clients. Vehicles are tools they need to do their business. We are a solutions company that helps them achieve their goals. It is a true relationship-driven business.

AR: What do you do when not working? Are you still playing music?

Xamplas: Actually, I’m not. The last time I played was right after the Army. We formed a little group and went to a local club in Texas to play. We were playing a wide range of music, but no country/western. Not a good idea in a Texas club. (laughter) It was a very short night, and that was the last time I played.
One thing I like to do now is cook. I also love to swim, bike and run … I have to, because I like to cook! We have two Harley-Davidson Road Kings, and we like to get out on the road whenever we can.

What we’re concentrating on right now is rehabbing the three flat where I grew up and currently live. That is a challenge.
 
AR: Finally, is it still fun to come to work?

Xamplas: It is more fun to come to work than to go home from work. Wait … before you read anything into that, I’m talking about the commute! The commute!
I leave the house very early in the morning, and it takes me about 40 minutes to get here. But in the afternoons, it can take an hour-and-a-half or more! To help make the commute more enjoyable, I bought a motor scooter which I use most days, at least most days eight months of the year. That means I take all back streets, not the freeways. And the added bonus: It gets 108 miles to the gallon!

And yes, I do love my job!

Gus Xamplas is the vice president remarketing at Donlen.