Along with welcoming three replacements, the American Financial Services Association added four new members to its board of directors.

Joining the organization in this capacity are:

— James “Tom” Hudgins, president and chief operating officer, Western-Shamrock Corp.

— Pat St. Charles, president and chief executive officer, Citizens Savings & Loan Corp.

— Nicholas Stanutz, senior executive vice president, Huntington National Bank

— Andrew Stuart, president and chief executive officer, TD Auto Finance

Hudgins joined Western-Shamrock Corporation in 2007 as vice president of operations and was promoted to president and COO in 2011. Hudgins is directly responsible for all operations of the company and for recruiting and maintaining the management team. He also plays a lead role in the company’s regulatory and governmental relations department.

Hudgins currently serves as the president of the Independent Finance Institute of Oklahoma and serves on the board of several other state associations as well as the National Installment Lenders Association.

St. Charles joined Pat St. Charles Company, a family real estate business, in 1975 and was primarily involved in real estate management and appraisals from 1975 through 1982, then commercial real estate brokerage and management from 1982 through 1992. He was elected to Citizens Savings & Loan Corp.’s board of directors in 1979 and appointed treasurer in 1992. He was elected to chief executive officer in 2003, then president in 2009.

St. Charles is currently president of the Tennessee Consumer Finance Association. He is past president of the Chattanooga Association of Realtors 1990 and former president of the Southeast Tennessee Certified Commercial and Investment Member Real Estate Council. St. Charles served on the AFSA Independents Section Advisory Board from 2011 to 2014.

Stanutz is managing director of one of Huntington’s five major lines of business, which includes auto finance, asset based lending and the commercial real estate group. These three business groups combined account for approximately 30 percent of Huntington’s total loan and lease portfolio. Stanutz has been in the banking industry for 36 years and with Huntington 28 years.

He is a member of the bank’s executive leadership team and is nationally recognized as an industry leader in auto finance. He was the chairman of the Consumer Bankers Association Auto Finance Committee from 2000-2005. He has been a member of the AFSA Vehicle Finance Board since 2012 and is an active member of AFSA.

Stuart leads all aspects of TD Auto Finance in the U.S. Prior to his current role, he was president and chief executive officer at VW Credit. During the past 20 years, Stuart has held various positions of increased responsibility in the automotive field. He started his career at Volkswagen Group Canada as a district manager in the Atlantic Provinces. Since then, he has held various management positions with the Volkswagen Group, in sales, marketing, product planning and financial services.

Stuart was a member of the AFSA board from 2009 to July of this year and the AFSA executive committee from 2012 to 2014 while employed with VW Credit, and also served as the AFSA Vehicle Finance Division chair from 2012 to 2014.

In addition, AFSA welcomed three replacement members to its board of directors:

— Don Gottwald of KAR Auction Services has relinquished his AFSA board seat due to increased responsibilities. John Hammer, chief executive officer and president, Automotive Finance Corp. (AFC) will take his place. As CEO, Hammer is responsible for the strategic leadership of the company’s objectives and growth. He joined AFC in April 2009 as chief operating officer, and assumed his current role in March of this year.

— Andrew Traeger of John Deere Financial has relinquished his AFSA board seat due to increased responsibilities to Matthew Haney, deputy chief counsel of John Deere Financial. Haney is responsible for legal services for John Deere Financial in the U.S. and manages its litigation, compliance, archival services and financial services knowledge center groups. Following graduation from law school, Haney joined Lewis, Rice & Fingersh in Kansas City, where he practiced law for five years. He later became chief legal and compliance officer for Aviva Investors North America, Inc. and vice president, corporate legal & government and regulatory affairs for Aviva USA Corporation. He worked for Aviva and its predecessor companies for 18 years. He joined John Deere Financial in 2013 in his existing role.

— Robert Carter, president & CEO, Regency Finance Co., is stepping down from the AFSA board of directors and will be replaced by Jeffrey Chepkevich, senior vice president and director of operations at Regency Finance. Chepkevich joined Regency Finance Company in April 2012 with more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, with additional work in the mortgage and retail banking areas. He spent the majority of his career, from March 1987 through May 2009, with Beneficial Consumer Discount Co./Household Finance Corp., a subsidiary of HSBC Bank. Chepkevich is a member of the AFSA Independents Section Advisory Board and the AFSA Operations & Regulatory Compliance Committee.