Southern Auto Finance Co. recently appointed Chris Shelley as vice president of collections at the subprime auto finance company’s collections center located in Orlando, Fla.

Shelley has more than 19 years of progressive leadership experience in operations and collections, “and we expect that he will bring a new vision and results-driven focus to our collections department,” SAFCO officials said.

Prior to joining SAFCO, Shelley spent five years at American Credit Acceptance (ACA) as its director of servicing.  His role there as an integral member of the executive team included growing the subprime servicing team to 350 members and more than $1.55 billion in receivables. 

While at ACA, Shelley also was instrumental in developing new, effective processes and department objectives.

Prior to his post at American Credit Acceptance, Shelley worked at Wells Fargo Auto Finance in roles of increasing authority, leading up to his role of assistant center director of their Lake Mary, Fla., facility.

During his tenure at Wells Fargo, Shelley focused on team development and process improvement, supervising a team of 650 associates.  He continually improved the Lake Mary center’s performance, resulting in the location placing first out of six centers, a ranking he maintained until his departure in 2010.