Joel Kennedy’s efforts on behalf of the National Automotive Finance Association are set to become even more involved.

The association that exclusively serves the non-prime auto financing industry recently named Kennedy as its next president. Kennedy succeeds Sharon Mancero, who held the post for a two-year term.

As with prior NAF Association presidents, Mancero now assumes the role of chairman.

“We are excited to face the future with Joel as our president,” NAF Association executive director Jack Tracey said. “The NAF Association is known for building trust across all industry stakeholders, and Joel’s impressive experience as a lender, supplier and a graduate of NAF Association’s regulatory and compliance certification make him a fantastic choice to lead us forward.”

Kennedy is presently the chief operating officer of TruDecision, a fintech company focused on making sophisticated analytics accessible to finance companies.

Prior to TruDecision, he was a founder and original investor in Pelican Auto Finance. As a senior executive helped to grow the company from a startup to more than $100 million in auto receivables.

Kennedy also served in senior leadership positions at ACC Consumer Finance, Wells Fargo, Capital One and General Electric. During his more than two decades in the industry, Kennedy has been integrally involved in the origination of more than $6 billion in auto receivables.

Kennedy has been involved in the NAF Association for several years as a very active member. Most recently, Kennedy has led the association’s “Fraud Friday” track of the NAF Association’s annual conferences and has been a key figure in promoting standards across industry groups.

He is also a regular contributor to the Non-Prime Times, the official publication of the NAF Association, as well as Cherokee Media Group’s Auto Fin Journal.

Kennedy's latest commentary about his journey while with a startup is available here.