On Wednesday, Cherokee Media Group proudly announced this year’s honorees for Women in Auto Finance, an awards program presented by American Recovery Service (ARS).
The highest total of nominations for the 3-year-old honors initiative arrived this year as women who thrive in specialties such as technology, law, accounting, sales and human resources all are in the spotlight in the current edition of Auto Fin Journal as well as during Used Car Week, which begins Nov. 15 in Las Vegas.
This year’s honorees include:
Danielle Fagre Arlowe, Senior Vice President, American Financial Services Association
Tamika Barrera, Senior Vice President, Enterprise Project Management Office, Exeter Finance
Chris Brady, CIO & CCO, Kinetic Advantage
Colletta Bryce, Senior Director, HR Business Partners, NextGear Capital
Amy Castell, General Counsel, United Auto Credit Corp.
Tricia Francis, Senior Vice President, Customer Experience Operations, GM Financial
Amanda George, Chief Product Officer, RouteOne
Vickie Judy, Chief Financial Officer, America’s Car-Mart
Janelle Kennedy, Executive Director, Customer Solutions, Ally Financial
Keri Price, Business Manager, Andy Mohr Ford
Sona Shakoory, Risk Operations Manager, CIG Financial
Suzi Straffon, Director, Finance Company Markets, Allied Solutions
Teri Robinson, SVP of Sales and Originations, Consumer Portfolio Services
Each of the honorees described their industry experiences and more in this special section of Auto Fin Journal that’s available here.
The women also will be a part of panel discussions and a leadership luncheon at Used Car Week at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas. To join them, simply register via this website.
Nominations are now open for the 2021 Auto Finance Innovators Award: Top 100, aimed at recognizing auto finance professionals that have made significant technological contributions to their company and the industry.
The awards, sponsored by Lightico and Auto Fin Journal, come on the heels of significant innovation in the auto finance industry during the last 18 months.
“The last year and a half have forced us all to rethink how we do business both from a customer perspective and from a business continuity perspective. Today it is all about digital completion —getting the entire lending experience done digitally and efficiently,” said Zviki Ben Ishay, chief executive officer and co-founder of Lightico.
“The hard work, creativity and guts required to innovate during such a complex time are deserving of praise and we’re proud to be recognizing those professionals who went above and beyond in leading and continuing to lead their teams forward,” Ben Ishay continued.
Here are the details:
• Nominations are open through October 11th and can be submitted online via this website
• Top 100 innovators will be judged based on number of separate nominations by peers
• Top 10 finalists will be judged by an independent panel who will determine winners based on impact, leadership and level of change
• Winners will be announced in November
• Top finalists will also be entered to win a grand prize (to be announced)
• Judges panel will be announced in October
“In a challenging industry like ours, it is important to take a moment and recognize our peers’ incredible achievements,” said Nick Zulovich, senior editor of Auto Fin Journal. “We’re proud to be working together with Lightico to shine the spotlight on the leaders who have taken risks and pushed for innovation to improve our industry.”
After being named a finalist in three categories, Tresl claimed a pair of honors in the US FINTECH Awards program, presented by FinTech Intel.
During the pre-recorded US Fintech Awards ceremony held last week, the web-based platform for buying and selling vehicles was named the recipient as the Employer of the Year, while marketing manager Mitchel Janssen was named Rising Star of the Year.
FinTech Intel divided awards into 25 categories to cover a full spectrum of products, services and solutions and also recognize the achievements and successes of the firms and the commitment of leading individuals of the industry.
“We were truly honored to be a finalist in the three categories in which we applied, and we are incredibly excited to bring home two of those as wins,” Tresl president and chief executive officer Christine Pierson, herself one of last year’s Women in Auto Finance honorees.
“These are wins for our entire organization and having our team recognized for their resilience and dedication to our mission throughout the difficulties of COVID-19 and its impact on so many, means the world,” Pierson continued in a news release.
“We believe that when you put your people first, they’ll do the same for your customers, and that philosophy has continued to prove itself true every single day. Tresl is beyond grateful to be recognized alongside so many other esteemed and notable organizations,” she added.
“Congratulations to all of our team Tresl associates for their dedication, hard work, and continued commitment to delivering a value driven, customer-centric experience,” she went on to say.
Another eight companies are being honored, as Cherokee Media Group on Monday released the third collection of honorees in the Emerging 8, an award program presented by Westlake Portfolio Management and designed to honor companies that aim to improve a specific aspect of the automotive industry through technology.
Along with being profiled in the current edition of Auto Fin Journal, the Emerging 8 also will be recognized during this month’s Automotive Intelligence Summit, one of the fastest-growing events focused on fintech, digital retail, mobility and other elements of the auto tech evolution.
Cherokee Media Group, leveraging guidance from the Auto Intel Council and other industry leaders, compiled this year’s Emerging 8, which include:
A2Z Sync
Automotive Titling Company (ATC)
Darwin Automotive
DealerPolicy
E-DealerDirect
Privacy4Cars
Remitter
SparkCharge
These exciting companies are on the cusp of innovation in fintech development. They are all “on to something” that could turn the dial on their respective aspects of fintech.
“Each company has a unique offering and story that already resonate throughout the auto fintech and digital retailing worlds,” Cherokee Media Group president Bill Zadeits said.
“The Emerging 8 is set to be a significant part of the upcoming Automotive Intelligence Summit, which is designed to provide a setting for entrepreneurs and experts to gather so even more breakthrough ideas can germinate,” Zadeits added.
Profiles of these companies can be found in the digital edition of Auto Fin Journal that’s available on this website.
GM Financial recently received more recognition for its work outside of originating vehicle leases and installment contracts and collecting monthly payments.
The captive for General Motors has been awarded the U.S. President’s Volunteer Service Award for its commitment to Junior Achievement USA. The company received the award in recognition of its hundreds of employees who volunteered time to Junior Achievement in support of its educational initiatives.
According to a news release, this is the seventh consecutive year that JA has recognized GM Financial for its volunteer efforts.
The award was presented to the company on Feb. 3 during the nationwide JA Volunteer Summit virtual event, which celebrated corporations that promote Junior Achievement’s mission to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in the global economy.
In the past, GM Financial said it has received this award for the more than 5,000 hours that company volunteers served during the school year. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, that number was reduced to 1,000 for the 2019-2020 school year.
GM Financial highlighted that its team members volunteered to offer students financial literacy education, help with resumes, career readiness training, mentoring and other forms of assistance.
“This honor is an incredible source of pride for us at GM Financial because it highlights the importance of helping to educate, train and mentor the people who will become the business leaders of tomorrow,” said Mark Bole, chief administrative officer and president of international operations for GM Financial.
“And, it is an important recognition of the time, effort and expertise that our team members throughout the company have dedicated to this mission since the 1990s.” added Bole, a longtime and passionate supporter of Junior Achievement who served for nine years on the board of directors of the organization’s chapter in southeast Michigan.
GM Financial employees in Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina and Texas contributed hundreds of hours, despite the pandemic, to assist with this educational outreach.
The U.S. President’s Volunteer Service Award is a presidential recognition program created during President George W. Bush’s administration by the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation for people who contribute significant amounts of time for volunteer service.
In 2006, Junior Achievement became an official certifying organization for this award because of its reach and national significance. This certification allows Junior Achievement to honor corporations in the United States that provide volunteers for Junior Achievement anywhere in the world.
The company mentioned that GM Financial employees in Latin America and Chile also volunteer for Junior Achievement programs.
FICO continues to receive recognition for its fight against fraud.
This week, FICO announced that it has been named the category leader for enterprise fraud solutions in the Chartis 2021 RiskTech Quadrant report for the third year in a row.
FIC highlighted that the report ranks the financial services industry’s leading financial crime risk management systems based on Chartis’ analysis of market trends, expenditure patterns and best practices, which is validated through several phases of independent verification.
FICO said in a news release that it was recognized for both market potential and completeness of solution offering.
“FICO’s ranking as category leader reflects its best-in-class enterprise fraud management solutions, which had the highest possible ratings for advanced fraud detection techniques, libraries of pre-packaged fraud rules, and card fraud,” said Phil Mackenzie, senior research specialist at Chartis Research.
“FICO also delivers advanced fraud-detection capabilities in mobile fraud, electronic payments fraud, and real-time transaction monitoring, via an integrated cloud-ready platform,” Mackenzie continued.
FICO mentioned that its fraud solutions protect more than 9,000 financial institutions, telecommunication organizations, auto financers and government agencies from financial losses as well as damages caused by criminal behavior.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company said more enterprises are relying on FICO’s analytics software platform to make smarter decisions, streamline operations, and protect organizations against the latest fraud and financial crime threats.
“FICO is proud to have its cutting-edge solutions recognized by Chartis as the category leader in financial crime risk management systems,” FICO vice president of product management Tim Van Tassel said.
“At FICO, we are committed to helping our clients use our award-winning solutions to prevent fraudulent activity as well as developing an industry leading AI, machine learning and analytics platform,” Van Tassel continued.
Published annually, Chartis’ RiskTech Quadrant reports are prepared by analysts with extensive hands-on experience of selecting, developing, and implementing risk management systems for a variety of international companies across multiple industries including banking, insurance, capital markets, energy and the public sector.
“Recognition as the category leader for three years in a row further highlights FICO’s ongoing investment in innovation, our close partnership with clients and our dedication to delivering the industry standard for enterprise fraud solutions,” FICO chief marketing officer Nikhil Behl said.
For more information, you can download the complete Chartis report on this website.
FICO learned of two upbeat developments this week.
First, FICO was named a leader by Forrester Research because the firm “leaves no decisioning stone unturned.”
Then, FICO said it received official notification from the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, regarding a matter that surfaced in the spring when the pandemic began to take hold.
On March 15, the company issued a statement in response to being notified that the Justice Department had opened a civil investigation into potential exclusionary conduct by FICO.
Then on Tuesday, the company said the Department of Justice informed FICO that it has closed that investigation.
“As a result, no enforcement action is being taken,” FICO said in this week’s statement.
At the time the investigation became publicly known, FICO said it intended to cooperate fully with the Department of Justice while looking forward to “a constructive dialogue about the state of competition in our industry.”
FICO elaborated about that assertion in that March statement, saying:
Lenders have multiple choices of analytic models to use in credit decisioning and are free to choose the credit score that works best for them. In a competitive marketplace, the FICO Score is chosen because it is trusted to be independent, predictive and reliable, and because FICO is constantly innovating to enable lenders to responsibly extend access to credit. FICO has also earned the trust of consumers through programs like the FICO Score Open Access initiative, which provides customers from more than 200 financial institutions with free access to the FICO Scores used to manage their credit accounts.
FICO is confident the department will conclude that it has not engaged in any exclusionary conduct. To the extent the Department’s inquiry was initiated based on TransUnion’s antitrust claims in the parties’ ongoing private litigation — claims TransUnion made only after FICO filed its lawsuit to recover millions in unpaid royalties from TransUnion — we are equally confident the department will find them to be without merit.
Digital decisioning accolade
In other company news, FICO was named leader in this report, The Forrester Wave: Digital Decisioning Platforms, Q4 2020.
FICO explained this market has continued to grow as large enterprises look to evolve and transform their businesses to deliver exceptional customer experience in the new digital economy. FICO pointed out the challenge for enterprises is not necessarily a lack of investment, but how to ensure that their digital transformation will deepen their relationships with each individual customer.
FICO highlighted that it combines decades of data analytics knowledge, deep industry sector expertise and modern software technologies to build platform-based solutions that can break down enterprise data siloes and realize the maximum value that massive data sources can provide.
According to the report, “FICO leaves no decisioning stone unturned. There are no holes to poke in FICO Decision Management Suite (DMS) — it provides all the tools necessary to manage and deploy digital decisions which will standup to the highest standard of regulatory rigor.”
The report notes that, “FICO shows strengths across all evaluation criteria and stands out by offering native and integrated mathematical optimization engine – a rarity in this market segment.”
FICO chief marketing officer Nikhil Behl shared the company’s reaction to this accolade in a news release
“We are honored to be named by Forrester as a leader in the growing market of digital decisioning platforms,” Behl said. “The FICO Platform provides a decisioning foundation critical for enterprises’ digital transformation by helping businesses respond quickly to customers’ immediate needs and anticipate their future demands, resulting in deeper, more engaging customer experiences.”
Forrester used a 22-criterion evaluation of 13 digital decisioning platform vendors and named FICO a leader. Forrester went on to state, “FICO customers can enhance decision logic with native predictive analytics, machine learning and a highly performant mathematical optimization engine.”
To download the full report, go to https://www.fico.com/forrester-wave.
It’s been an award-winning autumn so far for Constant.
A week after it received a 2020 AI TechAward, the fintech and automated loss mitigation provider announced on Wednesday that it has been named to the 2020 Benzinga Global Fintech Listmakers.
Constant highlighted that the official Benzinga Fintech Listmakers comprises 250 carefully vetted and renowned companies and executives who are striving to revolutionize the fintech industry. From deeply established companies to the newest startups, this group is impacting sectors such as payments, banking, investing, technology and financial literacy.
Constant said it was recognized for its contribution to fintech in the Innovation During COVID-19 category. Driven by pandemic-related, call center chaos, Constant repurposed software it built to automate hardship relief for its own borrowers, to a robust self-service, loss mitigation software platform that could be used by other lenders to serve their customers.
The company’s cloud-native, Software as a Service platform, Constant+, is designed to eases the strain on consumers, auto finance companies and mortgage lenders by offering faster, more accurate and fully auditable decisions about payment deferrals, contract modifications, recasts, repayment plans and workout alternatives to financially stressed borrowers.
“We’re honored to be recognized as a Benzinga Fintech Listmaker, particularly in the category of Innovation during COVID-19,” Constant chief executive officer Catherine York-Powers said in a news release.
“It’s especially rewarding to know that what we set out to do at Constant — which was to help lenders drive down delinquency and default, and keep families in their vehicles and homes — is making a real difference,” York-Powers continued.
Benzinga CEO Jason Raznick added his perspective about this year’s honorees.
“We’re recognizing the companies that will define the future of our financial lives,” Raznick said. “Since the inaugural Benzinga Fintech Awards in 2015, our listmakers have closed $300 million in deals and partnered with some of the biggest players in the industry.
“We look forward to honoring these players for years to come, as well as finding the next generation of fintech,” he added.
Constant has a reason to cheer this week.
The fintech and automated loss mitigation provider received a 2020 AI TechAward, which celebrates technical innovation, adoption and reception in the artificial intelligence, machine learning and data science industries as well as the developer community.
Constant said it was selected from among hundreds of applicants to represent the AI industry’s best and brightest in the Consumer AI Technology category. The advisory board to the AI TechAwards selected Constant’s technology based on three criteria:
— Attracting notable attention and awareness in artificial intelligence, machine learning and data science industries
— General regard and use by the developer and engineering community
— Being a leader in its sector for innovation.
The company’s cloud-native, Sofware-as-a-Service platform leverages AI to help lenders drive down delinquency and default to keep families in their vehicles and homes. Its advanced automation can reduce dependence on manual review processes and legacy database.
The Constant+ platform also can provide lenders with a real-time view of a borrower’s financial situation through multiple data sources — avoiding credit blind spots — to determine their ability to pay and to present a sustainable relief option based on investor rules that can be accepted and signed all in minutes.
“We’re very proud to receive this AI TechAward,” Constant chief executive officer Catherine York-Powers said in a news release. “It recognizes our continued commitment to building the most advanced, automated loss mitigation solution and a powerful suite of products that enable financial institutions to mitigate delinquency, expand loss savings and encourage borrower payment performance.
Thank you to the Constant team, our clients and investors for helping us to push the boundaries of this market,” York-Powers continued.
The 2020 AI TechAwards will be presented next week at the 2020 AI TechAwards Ceremony during AI DevWorld Virtual, one of the largest artificial intelligence, machine learning and data science conferences with tracks covering NLP, open source AI, AI for the enterprise, deep AI, neural networks and more.
“Today’s cloud-based software and hardware increasingly runs on systems needing increased data and intelligence, and Constant's win here at the 2020 AI TechAwards is evidence of their leading role in the growth of the AI ecosystem,” said Jonathan Pasky, executive producer and co-founder of DevNetwork, producer of AI Dev World and the AI TechAwards.
Constant recently hosted a free webinar to discuss loss mitigation amid the coronavirus pandemic. A recording of that session can be seen here.
After receiving a significant volume of nominations this summer, Cherokee Media Group on Wednesday announced the third collection of honorees included in Women in Auto Finance, presented by American Recovery Service.
This industry award program is part of the initiatives that honor the most dedicated and talented professionals from throughout the used-car industry. This year’s Women in Auto Finance honorees include:
Claire Carter, Secured Collateral Management
Stephanie Casto, GM Financial
Kelli Edmonds, Santander Consumer USA
Jennifer Gauna, Flagship Credit Acceptance
Michelle Hamilton, Ricart Automotive
Becky Igo, Allied Solutions
Michelle Jackson, Advantage GPS
Mary Leigh Phillips, DriveTime/Bridgecrest
Christine Pierson, Tresl
Nicole Munro, Hudson Cook
Marguerite Watanabe, Connections Insights
Michelle Whatley, Exeter Finance
This contingent of women who derive from throughout the auto finance space will be highlighted in the September/October edition of Auto Fin Journal. They also will be honored during all-digital Used Car Week 2020, which begins on Nov. 16.
Similar to a host of other industry gatherings, Used Car Week is shifting to an all-digital format that will still include the staples of the event — Pre-Owned Con, Auto Fin Con, Repo Con and the National Remarketing Conference. Rather being confined to a five-day span, Used Car Week will be conducted over a longer period with week-long combinations of online workshops and live digital keynotes and panel discussions.
Furthermore, the annual Non-Prime Auto Financing Conference orchestrated by the National Automotive Finance Association will be presented in conjunction with Used Car Week, as well.
Registration is set to open Sept. 16 at www.usedcarweek.biz.
The Used Car Week team is looking for speakers who can deliver relevant insights and innovative real-world strategies for the retail used-car, auto-finance, recovery and remarketing industries. Submissions will be accepted through Friday.
To submit your session idea, got to www.usedcarweek.biz/call-for-speakers.
