A few days after reinforcing its engineering department, this week F&I Sentinel bolstered its product credentialing team by adding Michelle Covin, Sam Barnes and Alexander Bitar.
F&I Sentinel said through a news release that Covin, Barnes and Bitar will serve alongside a distinguished group of experts that continuously monitor legislation, regulatory developments, and litigation regarding F&I products to ensure that the finance companies and their customers are protected in connection with the financing and resolution of F&I products.
“The regulatory environment surrounding the financing and resolution of F&I products is ever-changing, and our credentialing team is essential for customers grappling with navigating these complex waters,” F&I Sentinel founder and CEO Stephen McDaniel said.
“Michelle, Sam, and Alexander are exceptional additions to the F&I Sentinel team who will use their extensive knowledge and experience to further our company’s core purpose of protecting consumers and lenders by facilitating a compliant F&I product marketplace,” McDaniel added.
F&I Sentinel might have its platform based in the cloud, the service provider is making sure it has the human resources it needs to function correctly.
This week, F&I Sentinel announced the addition of experienced software engineers Ryan McCauley and Kevin Ye, who will join the company in key roles to support the cloud-based CITADEL SaaS platform.
F&I Sentinel’s CITADEL SaaS platform is designed to be an efficient turn-key compliance solution that can protect finance companies, dealers and consumers by lessening reputation, financial, litigation and regulatory risks in connection with the sale and financing of vehicles and insurance products.
McCauley is a former USA Computing Olympics competitor, a globally recognized competitor in the Carnegie Mellon Informatics and Mathematics Competition and a first-place winner of the Florida State University Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Programming Contest.
Before joining F&I Sentinel as a software engineer, McCauley worked with Mission Mentor, a branch of the Harvard Innovation Labs Venture Program, the Harvard Computer Society Builder Incubation Program, and MIT Spark, working with a team of developers to create and maintain a student-based mentor startup and implementing front-end software logic.
Prior to joining F&I Sentinel, Ye worked with Echo Global Logistics as a software engineer, where he designed and implemented back-end systems to support quoting, tendering, and load tracking functionalities. He also built CI/CD pipelines using Microsoft Azure Pipelines to automate testing and deployments to develop and stage environments and implemented data orchestration and streaming pipelines for analytics. Ye is certified in CompTIA Security+ and is an expert in technical support.
“F&I Sentinel offers cutting-edge solutions, and the addition of these three exceptional talents will help push us even further ahead,” said Stephen McDaniel, founder and CEO of F&I Sentinel.
“Ryan’s extensive accomplishments in computer science so early in his career enable him to lead F&I Sentinel’s platforms, while Kevin’s well-established professional experience in software engineering aligns with our innovative technology products and solutions,” McDaniel added.
EFG Companies announced the expansion its C-suite leadership on Tuesday.
Coming aboard as chief information officer to reinforce company’s commitment and support of the rapidly evolving consumer protection product industry is Joe Vide.
According to a news release, Vide will set the vision for EFG’s technology capabilities to fulfill strategic business objectives, improve efficiency, and enhance customer satisfaction.
With more than 35 years of executive leadership experience, Vide will lead EFG’s technological expansion in support of the company’s commitment to bring about more opportunities to offer diverse consumer protection products in the marketplace.
EFG highlighted Vide has a strong record of serving as a strategic visionary, leading sustainable, high-performing, and multi-national technology teams for organizations such as AT&T, T-Mobile, EDS, Hypercom and Hewlett-Packard.
Over the last several years, EFG has invested a significant amount of time and resources into fortifying the company’s technology infrastructure and evolving its cyber-security protocols to protect both clients and contract holders.
Currently, EFG is certified as compliant with both Service Organization Control 2 (SOC 2) and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). EFG is also certified as compliant with New York Codes Rules and Regulations surrounding data security.
EFG went on to say it has long recognized the value of providing seamless technology integration with clients and contract holders. This investment and commitment resulted in the development of the company’s platforms such as EFG’s client portal, DRIVE.
“While our clients are undergoing significant changes in the digital realm, it is incumbent upon us to stay at least two steps ahead,” EFG Companies chief executive officer John Pappanastos said in the news release.
“Digital retailing both by our clients and by EFG will only increase as a focus for our company and the entities we serve,” Pappanastos continued. “Additionally, our successful and ongoing effort to diversify will be dependent upon our ability to deploy valuable consumer protection products into new segments while also driving cost efficiencies.”
The leadership transformation of Primeritus Financial Services continued with an announcement the provider of recovery management, skip-tracing and remarketing shared on Monday.
Already with a new chief executive officer and chief financial officer in place, Primeritus said it has promoted Justin Conners from senior vice president of operations to be chief operating officer.
According to the news release, Conners will have the responsibility of managing all of operations for all the Primeritus family of companies.
Primeritus said in the news release that the changes came following the resignation of former CFO Nick Kates and CEO Chris McGinness, who had previously been with the company since 2013.
“I am very excited to be back in the industry and to be working with such great customers and employees we have here at PFS. We are committed to be the leading provider of repossession, skip and remarketing services in this market,” Norwood said in the news release.
Last week, Norwood spent some time to appear on the Auto Remarketing Podcast, elaborating about his return to executive leadership as well as his primary work agenda.
Portfolio likes the work done by Jim Cunha, so this week the provider of reinsurance and F&I programs to auto, RV and powersports dealers appointed him as a managing director for sales and agent development.
The company highlighted Cunha brings a wealth of experience to the role, having served as an F&I director, dealership principal, agency principal, platform president and reinsurance specialist.
“I am excited to expand my 14 years of creating wealth for our dealer partners through Portfolio’s industry-leading platform for the benefit of our dealer and agent partners and their families,” Cunha said in a news release.
Prior to his promotion, Cunha served as executive vice president for Mansfield, Mass.-based Resources Management Group, a leading Portfolio agency, where he partnered with independent Portfolio agencies and managed 125 affiliated reinsurance companies for auto, RV and powersports dealers.
Cunha spent more than 20 years in the retail space, serving as F&I director and dealer principal for a large, publicly traded dealer group and then starting his own agency prior to joining RMG in 2008.
“Jim’s contributions to Portfolio’s success and that of our dealer partners can’t be measured only in terms of dollars and cents,” said David Neuenschwander, the company’s chief sales officer. “He drives real results and builds lasting partnerships with innate leadership qualities, hard work and expertise in every area of the dealership enterprise. We expect great things from him in the next chapter of a storied career.”
On Thursday, Prestige Financial Services, a portfolio company of the Larry H. Miller Company, announced the appointment of Pepo Tsvetanov as its new chief financial officer in a move that was effective on Tuesday.
According to a news release, Tsvetanov replaces Eric Bennett, who now will serve as CFO at Advanced Health Care, another Larry H. Miller portfolio company.
“After an extensive national search, we are pleased to welcome Pepo Tsvetanov to Prestige,” said Rich Hyde, president of the Utah-based auto finance company. “Having spent most of his career helping to build one of the country’s largest full-spectrum auto lenders, Pepo will now help us to build on our own successful track record. We’re excited to add his experience, talent and vision to our leadership team.”
Prestige highlighted Tsvetanov will oversee all finance functions, drive strategy development and support Prestige’s strong organizational culture.
Tsvetanov brings 19 years of experience in automotive financial services to the role, serving most recently as CFO of the Auto Navigator product at Capital One Auto Finance, where he also held positions in analytics, revenue, platform automation, forecasting, cost management and risk.
“I’m grateful for the chance to work with this excellent team as we further refine and execute our growth strategy,” Tsvetanov said. “Prestige is committed to providing opportunities for people to build a better financial future, and I’m eager to support this purpose.”
This summer certainly has been a season of change for Primeritus Financial Services, which now has a new chief executive officer and chief financial officer.
Taking on the CEO post is Steve Norwood, who previously led Consolidated Asset Recovery Systems (CARS) until it was acquired by Primeritus in the spring of 2019.
Norwood brought a key executive with him, as Jennifer Turnage has been named as Primeritus’ new CFO. Turnage served in the same capacity with CARS.
Norwood spent part of Tuesday afternoon chatting with Cherokee Media Group senior editor Nick Zulovich for an episode of the Auto Remarketing Podcast, explaining why he’s now leading Primeritus and what the top tasks on his new work agenda are.
To listen to the conversation, click on the link available below, or visit the Auto Remarketing Podcast page.
Download and subscribe to the Auto Remarketing Podcast on iTunes or on Google Play.
PAR North America (PAR) promoted a pair of its executives on Thursday, rewarding them for being with KAR Global for more than 20 years combined.
Taking on more responsibility for the business unit whose clients range from the largest banks, captives and auto finance companies to the smallest credit unions are Michael Fischer, who will now serve as vice president of operations, and Nick Reisinger, who will take on the role of director of remarketing and titles.
“Michael and Nick are proven leaders that continue to drive success across our organization and for our customers,” PAR chief operating officer Jessie Herdrich Irwin said in a news release. “We’re excited about their promotions, as they bring a combined 20+ years of experience with the company to their teams.”
As vice president of operations, PAR indicated Fischer oversees repossession operations, vendor management and skip services.
Fischer has been with PAR since 2010 and brings extensive operations and industry knowledge to the role — starting as a skip manager and progressing to his most recent role as senior director of operations.
The company said Reisinger now serves as director of remarketing and titles at PAR — bringing more than 15 years of experience to the role.
With PAR since 2013, Reisinger has managed both internal and field remarketing operations. Prior to joining PAR, Reisinger spent eight years with ADESA U.S. in various fleet and factory supervisory roles.
Flagship Credit Acceptance wants to grow its portfolio through its entry into direct-to-consumer financing, so this week, the company hired Rob McKie as chief direct lending officer to lead that endeavor.
Flagship highlighted through a news release that McKie brings more than three decades of diverse operations and sales experience to the new role, including managing all phases of a business, from operational improvement and efficiencies to market share expansion.
Flagship emphasized that it remains committed to servicing and growing both its dealer network and direct fulfillment partner relationships. The company said its direct financing platform expands its products and services by offering a diverse range of services to consumers.
McKie successfully led Wells Fargo’s centralized operations prior to joining Hourglass Management (IFS) during its formative years. While at Hourglass Management, McKie led three companies under the Hourglass umbrella to record growth and profits.
“The addition of Rob signals an exciting time at Flagship as we expand into the direct-to-consumer space,” Flagship chief executive officer Bob Hurzeler said in the news release.
“While the expansion is important to our long-term plans, I am equally excited about our continued growth with new and existing dealers in the indirect automotive space. Rob has already become a valuable addition to a fantastic team,” Hurzeler continued.
To learn more about Flagship Credit Acceptance, visit www.flagshipcredit.com.
Earlier this week, F&I Sentinel made its fourth major move so far this year, announcing its chief financial officer.
After landing funding from Calera Capital in February and hiring two former F&I Express executives and adding former Hudson Cook partner Rick Hackett to its board in May, the compliance solutions provider said Tim Barchie joined F&I Sentinel as CFO.
The company highlighted through a news release that Barchie is a senior finance executive with significant experience in accounting/finance, operational and systems functions for companies across a broad range of growth stages. Most recently, he served as CFO for GoFan, an event management software company.
F&I Sentinel said Barchie will work closely with co-founder and chief executive officer Stephen McDaniel in developing multi-level growth plans that involve goal alignment, efficient deployment of capital and detailed tracking to plan.
“We’ve grown rapidly over the last two years and it’s the right time to onboard an experienced CFO to lead our company’s accounting, financial management, and operations,” McDaniel said in the news release. “Tim’s track record of success and his CFO experience, extensive financial knowledge and expertise, and outstanding leadership will be a great asset to the F&I Sentinel team as it continues to expand.”
Prior to joining F&I Sentinel, Barchie also served as chief operating and financial officer with HGS Colibrium, an enterprise software company specializing in automation solutions and tech-enabled services for the healthcare payer markets.
Barchie’s background also includes time as CFO with Stonebranch, an international enterprise software company in workload automation and IT operations management, and as CFO with Kinetix, a privately held professional services firm that delivers talent acquisition and human resource consulting solutions.
“F&I Sentinel has quickly established itself as a leader in the F&I compliance space with Citadel, and I am excited to help drive its continued growth,” Barchie said.
F&I Sentinel reiterated that its cloud-based CITADEL SaaS platform is designed to be an efficient turn-key compliance solution that can protects finance companies, dealers, and consumers by mitigating reputation, financial, litigation and regulatory risks in connection with the sales and financing of vehicle F&I products.
