IRVING, Texas -

Another executive recently moved over from Santander Consumer USA Holdings to join the team at Exeter Finance Corp.

On Tuesday, Exeter announced its new executive vice president of strategy and planning is Steve Zemaitis, who served in multiple executive roles at Santander, including chief credit officer and executive vice president of pricing and analytics.

Zemaitis was directly responsible for pricing, credit policy, loss forecasting and scorecard development for retail, lease and personal unsecured loans. He played an instrumental role in developing new channels of business for the auto lender and also led several key business and portfolio acquisitions.

At Exeter, Zemaitis will play a key role in developing strategies to maximize profitability, enhance market position, and evaluate new growth opportunities. Additionally, he will assume direct oversight responsibility for the existing credit, pricing and risk management functions at the company. 

Almost a year ago, Lana Johnson left her role as Santander’s senior vice president of direct originations to become the SVP of consumer originations at Exeter, bringing more than 15 years of experience with her.

Along with making the announcement about Zemaitis, Exeter also appointed A.J. Wagner to its board of directors, increasing the total number of directors to seven. Wagner will serve as an independent director along with Susan McFarland, who was appointed to the board last April.

McFarland previously served as the chief financial officer of Fannie Mae from 2011 until her retirement in 2013, where she played an instrumental role in returning the institution to profitability.

McFarland was subsequently recognized by Fortune as one of the 50 most powerful women CFOs for her role in the turnaround. McFarland’s career in the consumer and retail financial services industry spans more than 25 years and includes leadership roles at Capital One Financial Corp, Capital One Bank, Bank One Corp, and Deloitte & Touche.

Wagner is a veteran of Ford, having held multiple positions over a 33-year career at the automaker until his retirement in 2007.

Prior to his retirement he most recently served as vice president of Ford and as president of Ford Motor Credit North America.

Wagner is currently president and chief executive officer of AJ Wagner & Associates, a financial services consultancy company. He also serves on the board of Walter Energy, as well as Channelnet and Inilex, two privately held companies serving the financial services industry.

Reflecting on the addition of Zemaitis, Wagner and McFarland, Exeter CEO Mark Floyd said, “We are pleased to have these three highly regarded financial services industry veterans as part of the Exeter team. Their invaluable experience and unique perspectives will play a key role in our future success and continued growth.”