Full List of Webinar Speakers

Chief Information Officer, Harris & Harris

Bryan Albertson

Bryan Albertson is the Chief Information Officer at Harris & Harris where he leads the IT organization and has responsibility over day to day IT operations as well as data security. He possesses over 17 years of IT experience, much of that focused on the Accounts Receivables Management space working for some of the largest companies in the industry in addition to being data security and IT consultant. Bryan focuses on process automation as well as making sure his organization is building technology solutions to increase efficiencies while reducing risk and overall cost.

President, Hawthorn Recovery Services

Bonnie Allen

Bonnie Allen is the president of Hawthorn Recovery Services, a company she founded in 2008. Holding both the Scholar and Fellow Designations for continuing education from ACA International, Bonnie is a past president of the Missouri Collectors Association and is on the Board of Directors and Sponsorship Chairman for the Show-Me Chapter of Healthcare Financial Management Association. Bonnie has spent more than three decades in the credit and collection industry, working her way up from a computer programmer to owning her own firm.

Founder & CEO, Pairity

Greg Allen

Greg Allen is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pairity, a company that was founded on the idea that advanced technology could solve the consumer debt crisis for everyone: lenders, collectors, and individuals who are repaying debt. With modern artificial intelligence, rapid machine learning, and new products launching soon, Pairity helps real people recover. Greg founded Pairity in 2017 after working at a start-up data and analytics company. Greg studied Applied Mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Finance and Applied Mathematics at the University of Maryland.

Chief Security and Technology Officer, TECH LOCK

Steve Akers

Steve Akers is TECH LOCK’s Chief Security and Technology Officer, where he leads the consulting division. He joined the company in 2019, bringing more than 20 years of experience as a serial entrepreneur in cyber security and managed security services. Mr. Akers previously worked as the Chief Technology Officer for Change Dynamix where he oversaw the R&D of its behavioral analytics security platform. Additional experience includes leading a team of security consultants at TruArx and growing Managed Security Services at Netrex, which later became part of IBM Global Security Services. Prior to working in the private sector, Mr. Akers served in the U.S. Army, Military Police Corp. Special Investigations Unit.

Chief Compliance Officer, Ontario Systems

Rozanne Andersen

Rozanne Andersen is the chief compliance officer for Ontario Systems. She is is responsible for driving the company’s consumer financial law compliance program, designing innovative compliance solutions for Ontario Systems’ products, and leading the company’s Compliance Consulting Services and Compliance Outsourcing programs. Her two decades of experience in the ARM industry make her one of the most respected experts in the industry.

Vice President of Talent Management, ERC

Jessica Andriola

Jessica Andriola is the Vice President of Talent Management for ERC and oversees the company’s domestic recruiting and global leadership development. Before joining the ERC family more than a decade ago, she worked in the real estate field specializing in sales and marketing for developers. Seeing the growth potential in the industry and the company she started as an agent with ERC and have held positions in the Talent Management, Talent Development, and Leadership Development departments throughout my tenure. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with friends and family and playing with her dogs, Nikki and Brie.

CEO, G2 Consulting

Gary Anzalone

Gary Anzalone owned and operated Credit Management Control, Inc., a nationally licensed collection agency of 90 people, for nearly three decades, until he sold it in 2007. He has been a long-time member of the ACA and served on the Wisconsin Collectors Association liaison board with the Wisconsin Department of Finance. Since 2005, he has run G2 Consulting LLC, which helps companies focus on business-critical aspects such as improving cash flow through optimization in account management, improving sales and marketing techniques, integrating technologies and improving operational processes.

Chief Operating Officer, DCM Services

Tracey Bannochie

Tracey Bannochie is the Chief Operating Officer of DCM Services and brings 25 years of call center management experience to the DCMS team. Her experience includes customer care through late-stage recovery call center operations, in addition to first-party and third-party roles. She has managed multi-location call centers, including new center acquisitions and integration.

Director of Risk Management-Licensing, Cornerstone Support

Christy Barger

Christy Young Barger is the Director of Risk Management-Licensing with Cornerstone Support. Prior to working at Cornerstone, she was a Paralegal who specialized in estate, civil, corporate and real estate law. In 2005, she started at Cornerstone Support, Inc. as a Renewal Specialist. This position allowed her to work with both clients and regulators directly with each state, to ensure the clients’ business licensing was done correctly and on time. In her current role as the Director of Risk Management-Licensing, she speaks with the collection industry’s leaders to navigate clients through new licensing based on agency activity, statutory compliance notifications regarding corporate changes, and overall client expansion and development.

CEO, DKB Innovative

Keith Barthold

Keith Barthold is the CEO of DKBInnovative. Keith is a proven leader focused on driving business goals including cybersecurity/compliance, operational efficiency, revenue growth and enhanced profitability. While establishing DKBInnovative, Keith enjoyed a 10+ year career at Perot Systems / Dell Services with a number of notable accomplishments including growing a $20M application portfolio and leading delivery for Tenet Healthcare’s hospital EMR & patient management applications.

Attorney, Barton Law Group

Dennis Barton

Dennis J. Barton III is the managing attorney of The Barton Law Group, LLC. He specializes in collection litigation throughout Missouri and Illinois, nationwide consumer law defense, compliance, and is on ACA’s CNR letter review panel. Dennis graduated from the Indiana University School of Business in 1996 and the Washington University School of Law in 2003. He is the Missouri Collectors Association’s past President and Missouri’s ACA State Compliance Chair. Dennis is also a member of ACA’s MAP Committee, Education Committee, and an ACA Certified Instructor that presents nationwide on collection strategizes, defense tactics, and compliance issues.

President & Chief Operating Officer, Valor Intelligent Processing

Gordon Beck

Gordon Beck is the President and COO of Valor Intelligent Processing, a new organization in the ARM Industry specializing in BPO and 3rd Party Collections. Gordon has 22 years of experience with expertise in the recovery of Wireless, Landline, Cable, Satellite, Internet, VOIP and Financial Institutions. Gordon is known as a motivator, educator and great public speaker in the industry; participating in panels, debates and several individual speeches at industry related events as well as contributing articles and content to several call center publications. Gordon was recently named one of the 50 most influential collection professional’s in the Industry and his trademark is driving un-matched performance through his treatment of his employees and the incredible culture in his call centers. On September 24th 2018, Gordon became the youngest ever inductee into his High School Alumni’s Hall of Fame specifically as a result of his accomplishments in the ARM Industry.

Chief Operating Officer, MRS BPO

James Beck

Jim Beck is Chief Operating Officer at MRS BPO. He joined MRS in May 2018. As COO, Jim oversees all of MRS’s first- and third-party collections across three domestic locations and for 56 clients. Jim’s primary responsibility is integrating MRS’s cutting-edge technology, which includes the industry’s first fully functional conversational IVR with proven collections success, with traditional collections. Jim previously worked at ARS National Services in Escondido California, where he ran ARS’s Operations. Jim has a proven successful track record, analyzing risk and adjusting operations to be financially successful while delivering quality results.

Bedard Law Group

John Bedard

John Bedard is a nationally recognized authority on the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act. He serves as counsel to several professional trade associations, including the Georgia Collectors Association. John is a former member of the Board of Directors of the industry’s leading professional trade organization, ACA International. He serves as the State of Georgia Compliance Chairperson for ACA International and is a former Chairperson and Program Designation award recipient of ACA International’s Members Attorney Program.

Head of Data Science, TrueAccord

Sophie Benbenek

Sophie Benbenek is the Head of Data Science at TrueAccord – a fintech startup working to reimagine debt collection for the customer focused digital age. Sophie developed and designed TrueAccord’s machine learning based decision engine and now oversees TrueAccord’s data initiatives across the company. Her analysis on internet usage trends in China earned her honors from the University of Chicago where she holds a BA in Political Science and East Asian Studies.

Chief Strategy Officer & General Counsel, BCA Financial Services

Leslie Bender

Leslie Bender has spent more than 30 years handling compliance, regulatory, transactional and legal matters for hospitals and financial services companies. Recognized as a national expert on HIPAA and other information privacy and security laws, she was one of the first privacy officers internationally accredited as a Certified Information Privacy Professional. Currently Leslie is the Chief Strategy Officer and General Counsel for BCA Financial Services, Inc., a Miami, Florida headquartered financial services company. Bender is a Past President of ACA International, serving as ACA’s President in 2013-14, and as an officer of its Board of Directors from 2011-2015. She earned her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and her Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Notre Dame.

Senior Director - Self-Pay Operations, Professional Account Services

Dennis Bennett

Dennis Bennett is the senior director of self-pay operations at Professional Account Services. He has spent the past 16 years at the company, working in customer service, quality assurance, and litigation along with the self-pay operation. Dennis has spent nearly 30 years in the collections industry, all of it working in the healthcare field.

President, My GovWatch

Nick Bernardo

Nick Bernardo is and has been president of MyGovWatch.com (the d/b/a of Net Gain Marketing) since 2003. The MyGovWatch.com portal is the company’s flagship service offering and serves some of the best-known large and small companies and in the collection industry today. The 2018 relaunch of the site for the first time allows anyone to create a free account with pay-as-you-go options or to access detailed information on government contracts on an unlimited basis. His 20-year career includes broad-based experience in business-to-business marketing, information services development, professional services marketing, third-party reselling, and non-profit fundraising. He is also the managing member of Fed Cetera, a “business development organization” as the term is used in Federal regulations that works with companies seeking to participate in Federal contracting and subcontracting opportunities in collections.

Founder, CMS Services

Irwin Bernstein

Irwin Bernstein has over 30 years in the financial services industry. Irwin is the founder of CMS Services and developer of the CMS Services Compliance Portal, a tool for gathering, monitoring and sharing of compliance material. He also conducts CFPB readiness exams on behalf of creditors and debt buyers. Irwin is also the CEO of Allgate Financial, a provider of outsource management, wind-down and back office services. His experience has been developed by participating in the acquisition or management of nearly $10 billion of consumer debt portfolios. Irwin is a licensed as an attorney in Illinois. He currently serves as a board member of the ACA Education Foundation and as a member of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation Collection Agency Board.

Co-Founder, Chief Technology Officer, TCN

Jesse Bird

Jesse Bird is the co-founder and chief technology officer at TCN, Inc., a leading provider of cloud-based call center technology for enterprises, contact centers, BPOs and collection agencies worldwide. In his role, Jesse spearheads the software development, implementation and execution of TCN’s Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and call center technology, while leading the company’s strategic direction and global expansion. Since co-founding TCN, Jesse has played a vital role in establishing and developing what has now turned into a global, multi-million-dollar technology company.

Executive Vice President, TCN

Darrin Bird

Darrin Bird is the Executive Vice President at TCN Inc., a leading provider of cloud-based call center technology for enterprises, contact centers, BPOs and collection agencies worldwide. Within this role, Darrin is responsible for overseeing all business operations, establishing best practices across sales and account management teams and driving execution. With more than 20 years of experience in the IT and software industry, Darrin has a proven track record of building and mentoring high performing teams, increasing capital, creating strategic plans and implementing organizational structure.

Director of Data Systems and Contact Strategy, Valor Intelligent Processing

Robert Blair

Robert Blair is currently the Director of Data Systems and Contact Strategy at Valor Intelligent Processing. At Valor, Robert is responsible for managing the data systems and driving the contact strategy. He has been in the ARM industry for over 10 years and is focused on using analytical data to increase performance, efficiency and revenue.

Vice President of Compliance and Quality Assurance, Radius Global Solutions

Renee Bogar

Renee C Bogar is the Vice President of Compliance and Quality Assurance for Radius Global Solutions with 15 years of overall experience in the call center industry. She manages Compliance and QA internationally for both first and third party operations throughout the United States, India, Jamaica, and Panama for more than 1,200 collectors and agents. Key responsibilities focus on fortifying the company’s sustainability through solid Compliance Management Systems, creation and implementation of policies and procedures, and reinforcement of both through call monitoring and auditing.

Chief Compliance Officer, Receivable Solutions, Inc.

LaDonna Bohling

LaDonna Bohling is the Chief Compliance Officer with Receivable Solutions, Inc. She has over 20 years of Operational and Compliance experience in third party debt collections experienced in all verticals serving creditors and debt buyers. LaDonna is a certified instructor for ACA International and was named one of the 25 most influential women in Collections by Collection Advisor in 2016, Who’s Who in Compliance in 2018 and ACA International Certified Instructor of the Year 2019l

Director of Operations, JP Recovery Services

Mark Boich

Mark Boich (Director of Operations Manager, JP Recovery Services, Inc.) has accumulated 18 years of leadership experience in the Accounts Receivables Management industry at national firms such as OSI Collections, Transworld Systems, AMO Recoveries, and Asset Acceptance Capital Corporation. Since starting at JP Recovery Services in January 2011, Mark has advanced into his current role of Operations Manager where he is responsible for the strategic and day-to-day production of services. In additional to being a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Mark is currently pursuing his MBA at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management. Mark is a 2016 Ontario Systems Hall of Fame Award recipient for Innovation.

CEO, Credit Collection Partners

Rick Bonitzer

Rick Bonitzer presides over Credit Collection Partners (CCP), a collection agency specializing in collecting government debt that is located in central Illinois. CCP has grown from four collectors when Rick joined the company to having four times as many now. CCP is also in the process of rolling out health insurance benefits to his staff. Rick, who earned a BS in Business Administration from Columbia College of Missouri, is married with three kids, presently 5, 7, & 9.

Chief Operating Officer, Creditor Advocates

John Brown

John Brown is the COO of Creditor Advocates. John is an Army Veteran, has Bachelor degrees in Engineering and Sciences, is a former Six-Sigma Black-Belt instructor with leadership experience, and has been a featured speaker on A/R compliance. John is an expert in automation, analytics, integration, and providing solutions to hard-to-solve problems. John enjoys spending time with his family in Prior Lake, hockey, fishing, and hunting.

President & CEO, CSI Group

Ron Brown

Ron Brown has more than 45 years of experience in the field of locating and recovering lost and missing people and assets. He is internationally recognized as one of the leaders in the Tracing and Recovery Industry and spends much of his time acting as an instructor for various credit and collection entities. Having received the ACA International “Fred Kirschner Instructor Achievement Award” for instructing 250 ACA Seminars, he was also three times selected by ACA International as the “ACA Certified Instructor of the Year”.

Analytics Manager, TrueAccord

Tony Caballero

Tony has been the analytics manager at TrueAccord for a year where he and his team are responsible for generating insights into customer behavior and optimizing conversion of clients’ portfolios. Previously, Tony worked at Optimizely and Intel, serving in Business Intelligence roles at both. While at Intel, he obtained his black belt certification in Lean Six Sigma and is passionate about combining analytics with process improvement. He grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and graduated from Cornell University with a B.S. in Operations Research Engineering.

Partner, Katten Muchin Rosenman

Claudia Callaway

Claudia Callaway leads the firm of Katten Muchin Rosenman’s newly formed Platform Lending Initiative. In this role, she focuses her practice on defending clients against state and federal class actions regarding consumer protection and consumer finance laws, representing clients before the Consumer Financial Protection Board (CFPB), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and state banking agencies, and assisting clients in adhering to the dynamic landscape of platform and peer-to-peer (P2P) lending.

President, Solutions by Text

Mike Cantrell

Mike Cantrell serves as President for Solutions by Text (SBT) and oversees all aspects of operations for the product umbrella including: Consulting, Text Message Serve, Text Pay & Strategic Partnerships. SBT has consulted the consumer finance, utilities, auto finance, insurance and other industries for over 8 years and continues to accelerate the mobile industry through advanced technology.

Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing, MRS BPO

Misty Carson

Misty Carson is the Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing, MRS BPO, LLC, which means she leads the Sales and Marketing Team at the company. Over the past 21 years in the contact center industry, she has accumulated extensive experience in Outbound & Inbound Contact Center Solutions including: Telesales, Customer Service, First Party Collections and Third Party Recoveries. Misty’s background includes leadership roles in Operations, Client Services, and Sales. Misty has partnered with many Fortune 100 clients in multiple vertical industries including, Financial Services, Auto Deficiency, Fintech / Marketplace Lending, Private Student Lending, Cable / Telecommunications, Utilities, and Medical. Misty joined MRS in 2010 as a Vice President of Sales. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree from West Virginia University. Go Mountaineers.

Senior Manager of Brand and Content Strategy, TrueAccord

Vivan Chau

Vivian Chau is the Senior Manager of Brand and Content Strategy at TrueAccord. Previously, she has held lifecycle marketing positions at mission driven technology companies, in industries as different as healthcare and online legal services. Her background in psychology and sociology drives her to seek meaningful work through companies that will make a social impact.

Executive Vice President, Collection Coach

Debra Ciskey

In her nearly 40 year career in the collection industry, Debra Ciskey has been an active contributor on many levels. She served on the ACA Board of Directors from 2012 to 2018—elected in the first board election under the new governance structure, serving 2 terms. An ACA Certified Instructor since 1983, Debra has taught nearly 200 ACA seminars and has been instrumental in the development of the Credit and Collection Compliance Officer program, the Trainer Specialist program, FDCPA seminars, and numerous others. After serving ACA members as an ACA staffer, Debra worked in training and development and compliance roles for prominent industry members, and now works as a consultant as Executive Vice President of Collection Coach, LLC.

Chief Operations Officer, Frost-Arnett

Alan Clayton

Alan Clayton is the Chief Operations Officer at Frost-Arnett. He is responsible for all facets of Operations, including First Party, Third Party, and Shared Services for the company’s offices in Nashville, Campbellsville, and Houston. Alan has more than 30 years of Customer Service, Collection, and Project Management experience in a variety of fields, including healthcare, credit cards, near-shore outsourcing, regular outsourcing and insurance.

Attorney, Messer Strickler

June Coleman

June D. Coleman is a defense litigator with more than 20 years of experience. Her areas of emphasis include defense of consumer rights actions involving the FDCPA, TCPA, and FCRA. She has a deep understanding of permissible debt collection conduct and how best to defend claims and minimize liability in the collection industry. She is the CAC Attorney Chair and a member of the ACA MAP Attorney steering committee. She is also a director for the National Creditors Bar Association. Since 2008, Ms. Coleman has been voted by her peers onto the Law & Politics’ Northern California Super Lawyers list, Sacramento Business Journal’s “Best of the Bar” list and Sacramento Magazine’s “Top of the Bar” list, as well as one of 14 attorneys recognized by Collection Advisor in 2018 as the top attorneys in the collection industry. Ms. Coleman is a Martindale Hubbell AV Preeminent rated attorney.

Trust Manager, AMCOL Systems

Krystal Collins

Krystal Collins started her career in the debt recovery business in June 2005. After 3 ½ years on the collection floor, she transferred to the Trust Department. She currently manages 3 employees and has trained each one for their specific tasks at AMCOL Systems. Krystal is responsible for maintaining relationships with the company’s third-party payment processing vendor. She works closely with the I/T Department to obtain files from clients and is responsible for weekly/monthly payment reporting to all clients. Krystal’s department posts and deposits all funds received from patients. She assists others at AMCOL with new client implementation ensuring that all processes are correct prior to loading new business.

Account Executive, State Collection Service

Beth Conklin

Beth Conklin has over 24 years in the collection industry starting out as a Collector, Team Leader and Supervisor of Collections before moving into the role as the Manager of Training and Regulatory Compliance. Beth is currently an Account Executive with State Collection Service, Inc. Prior to that, Beth was the Director, Training and Development at McCarthy, Burgess & Wolf. Beth has the TSP and CCCO designations as well as is a Certified Instructor for the ACA. Beth has earned the Fred Kirschner Award in March, 2013 and 2015, as well as being recognized as the ACA Certified Instructor of the Year for 2012 and 2016. Beth has contributed to multiple magazine articles and was recognized as one of 32 Top Collection Professionals in the industry in 2014.

Chairman & CEO, Capital Collection Management

Jake Corlyon

Jacob Corlyon is the Chairman & CEO of Capital Collection Management, LLC, which is located in Syracuse, NY. He also serves as the Vice President and Education Chairman for the New York State Collectors Association. Jacob has been in the debt collection industry for 10 years and has received the Professional Collection Specialist, Credit & Collection Compliance Professional and Scholar designation through ACA International.

Vice President - Network Management, Resurgent Capital Services

Jay Coulter

Jay Coulter is the vice president of network management at Resurgent Capital Services. Jay has spent more than 12 years working at Resurgent. Prior to joining the company, Jay spent 11 years working at Capital One in a variety of positions on the call center side of the company.

Attorney, Cove Law

Andrew Cove

Andrew Cove is a former Senior Assistant Attorney General for Florida and the author of the bill which created Florida’s Telemarketing Act. He has been representing telemarketers and other businesses on regulatory compliance and regulatory defense matters since he left the AG’s Office in 1989. His firm, Cove Law, P.A., represents clients nationwide and has significant experience handling state licensing, TCPA/TSR compliance, state and federal investigations, FTC/AG enforcement actions and private TCPA actions.

Director of Collections, BCA Financial Services

Mike DeCarpio

Mike DeCarpio is the Director of Collections at BCA Financial Services. With over 25 years in the ARM industry, Mike joined BCA Financial Services in 2018. Mike’s core focus has been staff development and motivation and the paramount piece to that has been identifying the right people up front. Mike does a terrible job of describing himself and writing bios, don’t be like Mike!

Senior Director of Communications Solutions, Neustar

Marybeth DeGeorgis

Marybeth C. Degeorgis is a Senior Director of Communications Solutions at Neustar. She has more than 35 years of experience in the Communications Industry. She has been with Neustar the past nine years and is currently Sr. Director in Neustar’s Communications Solutions Organization with product management responsibility for the evolution of Neustar’s Caller Identity Services; a suite of solutions ensuring secure, accurate and enriched identity for the voice communications ecosystem. Over the course of her career, Marybeth has launched a number of critical solutions for Carrier, MSO and Utility market clients, both here and abroad, spanning network interconnection, provisioning, billing, numbering, and now identity. She has also served in leadership positions for Standards development bodies here in the US and internationally [e.g. ATIS, ECTA, and GSC]. Prior to joining Neustar, Marybeth held technical and managerial positions with Telcordia Technologies and Verizon.

Co-Chair of the Cannabis Law Practice, Ford Harrison

Keya Denner

Keya Denner’s legal practice is devoted to the counsel and defense of employers in labor and employment law, executive compensation, and cannabis law. Keya is Co-Chair of the Cannabis Law Practice at Ford Harrison and has extensive experience helping multi-state employers navigate the new and evolving laws and regulations throughout the country related to medical and recreational marijuana. He provides regular counsel to employers faced with marijuana-related employment issues, including advising on accommodation concerns for employees who use medical marijuana, and drafting and refining employers’ drug testing and enforcement policies. In 2017, the New Jersey Law Journal recognized Keya as its “New Leader of the Bar” for his extraordinary accomplishments and potential in the legal profession. Keya also lends his legal skills to several charitable and not-for-profit groups, serving on the Board of the Community Visiting Nurse Association and the personnel committee for the YMCA of Metuchen, Edison, Woodbridge, and South Amboy.

General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer, Harris & Harris

Ari Derman

Aryeh (“Ari”) Derman serves as General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer for Harris & Harris. Ari is the company’s key legal strategist on all major business transactions and complex compliance matters. As part of his role, he advises executive management on regulatory issues within the industry, drafts and negotiates client and vendor contracts, spearheads all legal defense efforts for the company, and oversees the selection and management of all outside counsel. Furthermore, under Mr. Derman’s direction and supervision, Harris’ Legal Compliance Department researches new collection legislation and case law, handles corporate licensing and insurance matters, and facilitates training for account representatives.

Founder, American Profit Recovery

Jeff DiMatteo

Jeff DiMatteo is a founder and partner at American Profit Recovery with Locations in Massachusetts and Michigan. Jeff is a long time industry advocate currently serving as the President of the New England Collectors Association and Chairman of ACA Internationals Unit and State Affairs committee. Jeff is actively engaged in State and Federal legislation lobbying while promoting financial literacy and “Debt Collections Done Right!” Jeff has been an expert guest on Fox News and other media outlets over the years and has shared his experience with other agencies about how to proactively use social media and other PR tools to promote the positive aspects of the collection industry.

Attorney, Maurice & Wutscher

Tom Dominczyk

Tom Dominczyk is an attorney and principal of the law firm of Maurice Wutscher, LLP. He focuses his practice on various aspects of financial services law, with an emphasis on consumer financial services litigation. Tom is based in the firm’s New Jersey office and supports the firm’s litigation matters in its New York and Pennsylvania offices. Tom is admitted to the State and Federal Courts in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania as well as Second, Third, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeal.

General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer, I.C. System

Michelle Dove

Michelle Dove is the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for I.C. System Inc. in St. Paul, Minnesota. She has served the ARM industry for nearly 15 years and is admitted to practice law in Minnesota and Wisconsin. She has represented her company and clients in numerous federal and state regulatory audits and litigated matters.

Collection Specialist, American Profit Recovery

Ethan Drain

Ethan Drain is a Work Team Leader at American Profit Recovery in Farmington Hills, Michigan. He has been with the company for five years and is passionate about collecting in a compassionate way. He says his favorite part of collections is how individualized it is and how your results depend completely on how much work you put in.

Chief Operating Officer, State Collection Service

Tracy Dudek

Tracy Dudek is the Chief Operating Officer for State Collection Service, responsible for overseeing the organization’s production and support areas including the company’s Extended Business Office and Third Party Collection divisions as well as Patient Engagement, Business Intelligence, Client Services, and Human Resources, among others.

Tracy has been involved in the receivables industry for over 20 years.  Tracy’s accomplishments include the implementation of advanced speech analytics for all of the company’s call center operations, leading to State Collection Service being awarded the Speech Technology Implementation Award in 2014 and again in 2017.  She has been instrumental in enhancing the technological tools that put State Collection Service ahead of many others in the healthcare receivables space.  Additionally, she has played a key role in the growth of State Collection Service’s multiple locations.  Under her leadership, the company has maintained a strong trajectory of success

Tracy was recently named to the Becker’s Healthcare list of Female Revenue Cycle Management Leaders to Know (2018).  She is regularly asked to speak at conferences around the country.  She has been a judge and member of the Steering Committee for the Wisconsin BBB Torch Awards since 2009 and is a member of the Healthcare Financial Management Association.  Tracy earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Marquette University and holds Fellow and Scholar degrees from ACA International.

Ombudsman, Williams & Fudge

Bob Duenkel

Possessing 30+ years of experience in the collection industry, Bob Duenkel has transitioned from a primary role of training and development to the position of Compliance Officer/Ombudsman at Williams & Fudge. In addition to ensuring that the compliance requirements of the industry have a positive effect on the success of Williams & Fudge by imparting the professional and ethical concepts of proper collection techniques, Bob creates a balance of performance incentives with compliance objectives; Bob oversees the Compliance Management System, identifying and managing risk in consumer dispute resolution / complaint handling, policies and procedures, as they pertain to daily operations and training.

President, First Collection Services

Chris Dunkum

William “Chris” Dunkum is President of First Collection Services (FCS), a receivables management firm serving clients nationwide since 1969. Chris has more than 30 years’ experience in the collection industry serving in Sales, Operations, and Executive Leadership. Chris has received industry honors including having been named “Top 25 Most Influential Collections Professionals” by Collection Advisor Magazine and Hall of Fame induction by Ontario Systems, the industry’s largest software provider. He is a past-president of his state Collector’s Association, and he is active within ACA International. Chris volunteers in his community as a Commissioner for the North Little Rock Housing Authority, and he is a member of The Rotary Club 99 of Little Rock, Arkansas.

Chief of Analytics, FLOCK Specialty Finance

Damon Edmondson

Damon is from the Atlanta area and earned his Bachelor of Arts from The Citadel. He and his wife have three sons. He enjoys tennis, hiking and kayaking. Damon is a volunteer with the Boy Scouts of America, holding multiple positions within the Organization.

Managing Compliance Attorney, Harris & Harris, Ltd.

Jeffrey Endebak

Jeff Endebak is the Managing Compliance Attorney at Harris & Harris, Ltd. He conducts legal research, counsels the company on regulatory issues, and oversees its compliance management program. He also manages regulatory compliance audits and assists with the company’s legal defense efforts in coordination with outside counsel.

President & Chief Compliance Officer, Phillips & Cohen Associates

Howard Enders

Howard Enders is President and Chief Compliance Officer of Phillips & Cohen Associates, Ltd., the globe’s leading compassionate, deceased account management business, and its debt-buying subsidiary, Invenio Financial.

Howard has over 20 years’ experience in the credit industry and is currently responsible for all back office and compliance aspects of the US operation. He further oversees compliance and operational support for all international entities, which include the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Spain.

President & CEO, Team Recovery, Inc.

Roy Engle

Roy Engle is co-founder, President and CEO of Team Recovery, Inc., which has been located in Stow, Ohio, since 1999. He personally oversees the consulting and servicing of the corporation’s credit-granting clients. Roy has been in the debt collection industry since 1989, and his second job out of college was selling a collection service! He, along with co-founder and COO Leslie Engle, have overseen the creation of a unique and highly effective debt-collection platform. Roy has held various board positions with organizations such as the American Association of Healthcare Administrative Management and the Ohio Receivables Management Association. He is a graduate of The College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. Roy and his wife Leslie live in Stow, Ohio where they have raised three children and a Westie named Pippin.

Chief Architect, Monica

Kevin Epstein

Kevin Epstein is a professionally certified AWS Solutions Architect, DevOps Engineer, Developer, and SysOps admin at Onica. He spends his days obsessing over designing and deploying the most resilient, performant, secure, and cost-effective infrastructures for customers in the AWS Cloud. Kevin also leads the Los Angeles AWS Users Meetup Group with 2,000+ members.

Supervisor of Recruiting, CBE Companies

Barb Findley

Barbara Findley joined CBE in July 2014, but began her career in Recruiting in 2004 in the staffing and recruiting industry specializing in high volume recruiting. As Supervisor of Recruiting for CBE, Barb leads our team of Recruiters in the Texas and Iowa locations, and is responsible for end to end recruiting and assuring a positive applicant experience. Barb works with many different advertising sources to creatively promote CBE with the focus of filling the applicant pipeline with qualified candidates. Barb majored in sociology at Texas Women’s University in Denton, TX.

Chief Personnel Officer, Wilber Group

Cortney Fleming

Cortney is a graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University with a BA in Risk Management and Financial Services. Cortney will be completing her MBA in Leadership as of 2020. She holds the multiple collections, training, and compliance designations from the ACA where she is also a “Fellow” and “Scholar”. Cortney also holds the Associates in Claims and Associates in General Insurance designations from The Institutes. In her role as CPO, Cortney oversees recruiting efforts for open positions to include job postings, relevant assessments, and interview process. Her area ensures a smooth onboarding process for team members; having consistency through recruiting, training, role integration leading to handoff, which will be followed up by continued support with timely and relevant reviews in an effort to see that all team members are setup for success. Cortney collaborates with the CEO for growth of Wilber leadership as well as organizational health and culture. Success in this role will be demonstrated by an ability to inspire employees to live up to their potential and optimize their productivity.

Founder, FLOCK Finance

Michael Flock

Michael Flock, the Founder and CEO of FLOCK Specialty Finance, has been involved in the credit, collections debt buying, and outsourcing businesses for more than 20 years, beginning with Dun & Bradstreet and more recently as a financial advisor and investment banker.

In 2007, he founded Flock Advisors to provide M&A advisory and capital funding services to these same industries. In 2013, Flock Advisors became FLOCK Specialty Finance. This change enabled the company to provide more funding solutions to current clients. The change also gave FLOCK the ability to expand its offerings in to more market segments that have been under served by traditional banking.

Prior to founding FLOCK, Michael provided M&A advisory support to private equity firms, helped companies reengineer their operations, and led a successful recapitalization of a consumer collections agency where he was interim CEO. He was also an advisor to Croft & Bender, a middle market investment bank.

From 1993 to 2000, Michael was President of Dun & Bradstreet’s Receivables Management Services subsidiary in North America. At D&B, Michael engineered a major turnaround of his division, achieving dramatic growth in revenue and profitability. It was then spun off as RMS and is the largest commercial receivables management company in the world.

From 1997 to 2000, Michael added the presidency of D&B’s companies in Canada, Asia-Pacific and Latin America to his responsibilities. He substantially improved profitability in these markets by transforming the business model to one based on partnerships.

He earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia as an Echols Scholar and graduated Phi Betta Kappa. During his college years, he served as a White House Intern and later worked as a Fulbright Teaching Assistant in France Michael also did graduate work at the Institut d’Etudes de Sciences-Politiques in Paris, and received a Masters of Business Administration in finance from Fordham University.

Chief Compliance Officer, Gulf Coast Collection Bureau

Laura Frechette

Laura Frechette is the Chief Compliance Officer at Gulf Coast Collection Bureau since July 2017. I have been in the collection industry for seven years. I am a licensed attorney in RI, MA and FL. I hold two certifications with ACA International: Credit and Collection Compliance Attorney (CCCA) and Credit and Collection Compliance Officer (CCCO). I love to play golf and pool. I am a member of the American Pool players Association (APA) and the LPGA Amateur Golf Association (Manatee Chapter).

Partner, Malone Frost Martin

Mike Frost

Mike Frost is a partner at Malone Frost Martin PLLC. His legal practice is primarily focused on providing regulatory compliance, general counsel and litigation defense services in the accounts receivable management (ARM) industry. Prior to joining the firm, Mike worked at CBE Companies, Inc. as its Chief Compliance, Sales Officer and General Counsel. He has 18 years of experience in the ARM industry and is currently serving his second term on the Board of Directors at ACA International, Inc.

President, Stoneleigh Recovery Associates

Steven Fuernstahl

Steven Fuernstahl is the President of Stoneleigh Recovery Associates, LLC, a debt recovery solutions company. Steven is responsible for the strategic initiatives, operations, and executive management. Steven has been actively involved in the credit and collection industry for the past 27 years. Stoneleigh Recovery Associates is a mid-size 1st and 3rd party debt collection agency serving the industry for 11 years.

CEO, Prodigal

Shantanu Gangal

Shantanu Gangal is the CEO of Prodigal. Prodigal improves compliance and boosts revenues by running Artificial Intelligence (AI) models on the richest source of data — the phone calls the team makes to your members. Each month, Prodigal analyzes nearly 5 million borrower interactions to find insights for customers as well as continuously refine the models further. Prodigal is backed by Y-Combinator and other leading Venture investors from the Bay Area.

Chief Revenue Officer, TrueAccord

Joe Gelbard

Joe Gelbard is the Chief Revenue Officer at TrueAccord, a high growth fintech business disrupting the collections industry as we know it. TrueAccord uses Machine Learning and automation to optimize the collections process for some of the world’s largest financial institutions. Prior to joining TrueAccord, Joe was one of the first team members at LiveVox and served as the Executive Vice President of Sales.

Vice President of Legal & Compliance, ERC

Shelly Gensmer

Shelly Gensmer is the Vice President of Legal and Compliance for ERC. She has been with the company for the past two years. Shelly holds the CCCO designation from the ACA International and has more than 13 years of litigation and collections experience, ranging from first party, third party, legal, to deceased collections. As she says, I’ve about seen it all.

Attorney, Law Office of Boyd Gentry

Boyd Gentry

Boyd Gentry is an experienced litigator and compliance attorney. Boyd has extensive experience, representing debt purchasers, third-party agencies, and law firms in federal and state courts. He has litigated hundreds of FDCPA cases throughout the midwest since 1999.

Assistant Vice President & Bursar, Temple University

David Glezerman

David R. Glezerman is the assistant vice president and bursar at Temple University. He has overall responsibility for billing, collections, and management of student finances. David has worked in higher education receivables management for 39 years. David is the founding chair of the National Association of College and University Business Officers Student Financial Services (SFS) Council, and was awarded the association’s initial Student Financial Services Award in March 2018. David, who has co-authored two books on collections, is also a certified instructor for ACA International, and is a past recipient of ACA’s Member of the Year, Charles F. Lindemann Instructor of the Year, and Fred Kirschner awards.

President, Action Collection Agencies

Jay Gonsalves

Jay Gonsalves is president of Action Collection Agencies, Inc. In Middleboro, Massachusetts. Action Collection Agency of Boston is a 51-year old collection agency and ACA Revenue Systems is its 1st-party ARM company. The companies service healthcare providers in New England and nationally. Jay is a past president of ACA International and just concluded a term as board member for the association. He is an ACA Certified Instructor. and holds IFCCE and MCE designations, a Bachelors degree from UMass and Masters degree in Healthcare Administration from Salve Regina College.

Managing Attorney, Barron & Newburger

Tom Good

Tom Good is the Managing Attorney at the law firm of Barron & Newburger. Prior to joining the firm in 2014, Tom spent a decade as general counsel at two of the largest participants in the industry — SquareTwo Financial and Asset Acceptance Capital. For both companies he directed all legal affairs, negotiated both debt and equity financing and made legal decisions for the client relating to compliance and regulatory matters.

CEO, WebRecon

Jack Gordon

Jack Gordon is the CEO of WebRecon, which protects creditors, collection agencies and call centers from lawsuit-happy consumers. A former agency owner, Jack has been involved in the collections industry for nearly two decades. Actively involved in both the Michigan chapter of ACA International and the national association, Jack’s insights and professionalism stand out among the most respected members of the industry.

Partner, Katten Muchin Rosenman

Christina Grigorian

Christian Grigorian, a partner with Katten Muchin Rosenman, works with clients in all matters related to banks, bank holding companies, and state-licensed consumer and commercial lenders. She is experienced in credit card and electronic payment networks, network processing and network participation agreements, and innovative uses of electronic funds transfers in areas such as state-funded childcare provider reimbursements.

General Counsel & Regulatory Editor, insideARM

Katie Grzechnik Neill

General Manager of Digital Solutions, LiveVox, Inc.

Boris Grinshpun

Boris Grinshpun is the General Manager of Digital Solutions at LiveVox, Inc. Boris has 18+ years of experiencing developing strategy and products focused on driving Customer Engagement and Digital Relationship Management. His specialties include online customer experience, cross-channel enablement, and CRM implementations. Prior to joining LiveVox, Boris was the VP of Strategic Planning and Online Banking at US Bank and founder of Terafina, a leading provider of Omni Channel Sales Solutions with integrated Analytics & Mobile Capabilities.

President, State Collection Service

Tim Haag

Tim Haag, President of State Collection Service, is the third generation to helm this national leader in the receivables management industry.  Grandson of State founder, Hilding Haag, a Swedish immigrant, he has been with the company since 2009, starting out as a Sales Executive and quickly moving into roles as Director of Client Services and Vice President of Support Services.

Haag has played a pivotal role in State’s exceptional growth over the nearly 10 years he was been with the company. During his tenure, the company has implemented cutting-edge technology solutions, continued its commitment to helping consumers around the country, and enhanced its reputation for being a premier receivables partner to healthcare providers around the United States. State currently employs nearly 700 individuals, providing revenue cycle services to over 300 healthcare facilities around the country.

Haag holds a Credit and Collection Compliance Officer designation from ACA International and is very involved with the association. Additionally, he is on the Board of Directors of the Great Lakes Credit and Collection Association, currently serving as President. Haag was awarded the ACA International Kurt Swersky Leadership Award in 2013 and was recognized as one of Madison’s 40 outstanding professionals under 40 by InBusiness Magazine in 2015. He was also closely involved with helping State Collection Service win the 2014 Wisconsin Family Business of the Year Award as well as being named to the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest growing private companies (2015, 2017). One of his most-recent accomplishments is helping the company be named one of the country’s Best Places to Work in Call Centers annually since 2015.

Haag holds a degree in Business Management from Northern Michigan University and has been involved in various aspects of the ARM industry for nearly 20 years.

Chief Information Officer, Frost-Arnett

Jonathon Harbin

Jonathon Harbin is the Chief Information Officer at Frost-Arnett. Jonathon and his team are responsible for managing the ever-increasing amount of data flowing through the company. Before joining Frost-Arnett, he worked in technology-related fields at Nashville-based healthcare companies for more than ten years. Jonathon earned a bachelor’s degree in information technology from Middle Tennessee State University and is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).

Vice President - Collections, American Profit Recovery

Mike Hiller

Mike Hiller is the vice president of collections for American Profit Recovery. He joined APR more than a decade ago as an entry-level employee. He is a licensed Collection Manager in Michigan and serves as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) for the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA).

Director - Business Intelligence, State Collection Service

Dave Hintz

Dave Hintz is the Director of Business Intelligence for State Collection Service. He has nearly three decades of experience in the receivables management industry, working with clients across various sectors.

In his current role, Dave oversees the Business Intelligence unit for State’s entire operation. During his tenure with the company, he has enhanced the utilization and accuracy of scoring and segmentation strategies will refining workflow dynamics to further encompass the usefulness of segmentation. He and his team have implemented numerous technological enhancements throughout the organization and continued to refine the company’s suite of vendors to ensure the best-possible resources for client portfolios.

In his free time, Dave enjoys various outdoor activities including fishing and hunting as well as coaching youth athletics.

Associate, Fineman Krekstein & Harris

Graeme Hogan

Graeme Hogan is an associate in the firm’s litigation group, representing clients in matters involving commercial and business disputes, consumer financial services, insurance defense, insurance coverage and bad faith, and premises liability.

Work Team Leader, American Profit Recovery

Angela Holthus

Angela Holthus has been with American Profit Recovery since 2015 and now is one of the companies Work Team Leaders. She obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Baker College.

During her years with the company she has used her skills to move up the ranks within the company. She has demonstrated that settling for what’s expected of you isn’t an option. Her favorite motto is “Leaders Make Leaders.”

Senior Product Manager, TrueAccord

Julie Hughes

Julie Hughes is a Senior Product Manager at TrueAccord. She works across teams to launch strategic product updates while maintaining a high level of compliance. During her time at TrueAccord, she has worked on many aspects of the product, from building enterprise integrations to managing payments processing. She currently oversees the consumer experience, which includes their interactions on the TrueAccord website.

The Law Office of Stephen Iglesias

Stephen Iglesias

Stephen Iglesias is an attorney in Tampa, representing creditors in courts throughout Florida in commercial and consumer debt collections, with a practice emphasis on healthcare reimbursement. Stephen’s practice includes all aspects of legal collections, including post-judgment enforcement, garnishments, and collateral recovery. Prior to entering into private practice, Stephen served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Florida Attorney General’s Economic Crimes Division and Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. For Medicaid fraud cases brought in the Central Florida, Stephen was lead counsel in asset seizure and forfeiture efforts. Stephen has over 20 years of experience in state and federal court litigation. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan, Columbia University in New York, and Southern Methodist University.

Partner, Ballard Spahr

Stefanie Jackman

Stefanie Jackman is the leader of Ballard Spahr’s Debt Collection Team and partner located in Ballard’s Atlanta office. Stefanie is nationally recognized for her expertise in collections compliance and litigation across all segments of the financial services industry, including traditional financial products, fintech and online lending, healthcare, and student lending.

Owner, RightAway Consulting

Nick Jarman

Nick Jarman is the owner of RightAway Consulting & Coaching. Jarman recently served a three year term on the Board of Directors for ACA International and is the past President of the Missouri Collectors Association. Nick has also been recognized by ACA International with the International Fellowship of Certified Collection Executives.

Director of Risk Management, Cornerstone Support

Ben Johnson

Since 2007, Ben Johnson has served as the Director of Risk Management for Cornerstone Support. He specializes in business insurance for collection agencies, debt buyers and collection attorneys. He lives in Woodstock, Ga., with his wife and twin daughters. Cornerstone Support is the premier provider of insurance and state licensing services for the accounts receivable management (ARM) industry. Since 1998, the company has assisted thousands of collection agencies, debt buyers and collection law firms with their risk management needs. Cornerstone’s clients are located in all 50 states and around the globe. The company is based in the Atlanta suburb of Roswell, GA.

Partner. Carlson & Messer

David Kaminski

David Kaminski is the Chair of the Financial Services and Class Action Litigation Group at Carlson & Messer LLP in Los Angeles, and focuses his practice in the defense of banks, credit grantors, collection agencies, and asset buyers in all areas of financial services litigation. He is recognized for his work in defending claims brought under consumer protection statutes, including the FDCPA, TCPA, the FCRA, and all other federal and state consumer protection laws and regularly gives presentations at leading industry trade organizations throughout the U.S. He has substantial experience in defending class action and MDL litigation.

David was the 2015 ACA Int’l. Attorney of the Year, and was the 2013-2015 Chair of the Attorneys Division of the ACA, Int’l. He serves on the ACA Judicial Committee, the ACA Education Foundation, has served on the ACA Regulatory Committee, the ACA Education Committee, and was an ACA Delegate.

David serves as outside compliance counsel to numerous companies throughout the U.S. and has developed policies, procedures and training programs to enable clients to stay compliant with the law and minimize risks of liability.

David successfully defends clients throughout the U.S. in investigations initiated by the CFPB, the FTC, the CA Atty. General’s Office, the Arizona Attorneys General’s Office and Dept. of Financial Institutions, and other Federal and State government and regulatory agencies.

Vice President of Compliance, Project and Risk Management, Solutions by Text

Nada Kassem

Nada Kassem serves as the VP of Compliance, Project and Risk Management for Solutions by Text and ensures that SBT operates compliantly and abides by all applicable laws and regulations. Nada also oversees the Risk Management Framework and activities and is an advocate for a healthy compliant culture. Prior to joining SBT, Nada served as the Director of Compliance Program Management and oversaw the remediation of regulatory issues throughout the organization. During her tenure at Exeter she has lead the execution of over 100 corrective action strategies and built a Governance, Risk Management and Compliance (GRC) framework from the ground up.

David Katz

David Katz is a partner at Adams and Reese, a national law firm. David’s practice encompasses privacy law and compliance, data security, data management and data governance, vendor management, corporate governance, crisis management, regulatory compliance and ethics. He works closely with clients, counseling on the development, management, and oversight of privacy and compliance programs and vendor management programs. Prior to entering private practice, David served as senior legal counsel and privacy manager in the corporate law department, advising Aaron’s, Inc. He also served as a Senior Assistant District Attorney for the Office of the District Attorney for Fulton County, and as a Senior Assistant State’s Attorney in the Office of the State’s Attorney for Baltimore City. David also served his country as Captain in the Judge Advocate General Corps in the United States Army Reserves.

President & CEO, The Preferred Group of Tampa

David Kelley

David Kelley is an equity owner and the chief vision caster for Preferred. Davis has served in many different roles during his 20+ year career with the company. David has a B.S. degree in Business Management and Marketing and has Masters and Doctoral level degrees associated with leadership development. He is a past-president of the Florida Collectors Association and past chairperson for ACA International’s Healthcare Services Committee. David also serves on numerous charitable boards. Through Preferred IMPACT, Preferred’s teaching and professional development division, David shares his passion for teaching and encouraging business and leadership best practices. He also coaches high school baseball and is involved in serving and leading in a variety of mission trips.

Chief Officer for Information, Development and Compliance, The Preferred Group of Tampa

Matt Kiefer

Matt Kiefer is the Chief Officer for Information, Development and Compliance for the Preferred Group of Tampa. Matt earned his B.S. degree from the University of Central Florida (Go Knights!) and his M.B.A. from the University of Phoenix in Maitland, Florida. He is a past President, (and current Vice President again), and Education Chair of the Florida Collectors Association. He served on the Board of the National Healthcare Collections Association, was a member of HFMA and MGMA and is also an ACA Scholar and Fellow. He has been in healthcare and collections since 2001. Matt enjoys shooting, MMA, cross fit and politics. He is also not known for being politically correct.

President & CEO, BCA Financial Services

Pam Kirchner

Pamela Kirchner is chairman and CEO of BCA Financial Services. She has been employed in the ARM industry for more than forty years, and was a member of a task force assembled by HFMA and ACA International to develop consensus practices to bring clarity, fairness, and consistency to medical account resolution. She is currently a member of ACA International’s Board of Directors, served on ACA’s Council of Delegates and numerous ACA committees; advocates on behalf of our industry on Capitol Hill; participates in ACA’s Committee of 100; and has earned an ACA Fellow and Scholar designations. She volunteers her time to the board of her local unit, the Florida Collectors Association, and has served a term as unit president.

Attorney, Bassford & Remele

Michael Klutho

Michael Klutho is a shareholder with the Minneapolis law firm of Bassford Remele, P.A. A significant part of Michael’s practice involves the defense of collection attorneys and collection agencies facing FDCPA, FCRA and TCPA lawsuits. Michael has defended thousands of consumer lawsuits brought against collection professionals. His practice in this area also includes the defense of claims brought by governmental regulators overseeing entities involved in the credit and collection industry, and risk management audits and advice. Michael chairs the firm’s Consumer Law Defense Practice Group. He presents frequently on the FDCPA, FCRA, TCPA and related issues and is a Certified Instructor through ACA International. Michael is licensed in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Missouri, as well as many federal jurisdictions.

Vice President of Legal & Compliance & Associate General Counsel, TrueAccord

Kelly Knepper-Stephens

Kelly Knepper-Stephens is Vice President of Legal & Compliance and Associate General Counsel for TrueAccord. Her work focuses on government regulation, compliance, and civil litigation. Kelly serves on the Board of Directors for the Receivables Management Association International and is an ACA Certified Instructor. She also served as a SER for the Arbitration and Debt Collection Rulemakings. Her podcast Two DEBTicated Attorneys can be found on podbean. Collection Advisor Magazine named Kelly one of the 20 Most Powerful Women in Collections in 2018.

Chief Compliance Officer, Investment Retrievers

Lexi Knight

Lexi Knight is the Chief Compliance Officer at Investment Retrievers. Investment Retrievers works with creditors to provide a partner for the divestiture of accounts receivable portfolios. Investment Retrievers provides a compliant solution focused on assisting consumers with resolving outstanding accounts.

Chief Compliance Officer, Gulf Coast Collection Bureau

Laura Knights

Laura Knights is the Chief Compliance Officer at Gulf Coast Collection Bureau. She has worked at the agency since July 2017. She has been in the collection industry for seven years, and is a licensed attorney in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Florida. She holds the Credit and Collection Compliance Attorney (CCCA) and Credit and Collection Compliance Officer (CCCO) designations from ACA International. She loves to play golf and pool. 

Vice President - Organization Development, CBE Companies

Kelli Krueger

Kelli Krueger is the Vice President of Organizational Development and Training for CBE Companies. Kelli has 22 years’ experience in training and development and currently oversees all matters relating to employee development and engagement. Kelli Krueger has been with the CBE on and off since 1996 and specializes in sales, persuasion, customer service, recovery, and management training. Her trainings focus on the development of human talent, utilizing the latest innovations in Human Performance Technology.

Founder, Corporate Advisory Solutions

Michael Lamm

Michael Lamm is a Founder of Corporate Advisory Solutions. He oversees the firm’s M&A, strategic consulting, valuation, compliance and regulatory business practices and is responsible for CAS’ corporate direction and growth plan.

Director - Campus-Based Collections, Williams & Fudge

Paul Lankes

Paul Lankes is the Director of Campus-Based Collections at Williams & Fudge, Inc. located in Rock Hill SC. Paul has been involved in the collections industry for 17 years, and working with the current organization for 14 years. Paul provides Leadership, support and direction towards building/maintaining a best-in-class collections platform.

CEO & Managing Member, Convergence Acquisitions, LLC

Patrick Lausen

Patrick Lausen is the CEO and Managing Member of Convergence Acquisitions, LLC. Patrick has 15 years of industry experience starting as a collector while an undergraduate. Patrick has a passion for technology and automation and works daily at those tasks. Currently Patrick oversees Convergence Operational Processes and Business Development.

Chief Operating Officer, Healthcare Collections, LLC

Christian Lehr

Christian Lehr is the Chief Operating Officer of Healthcare Collections, LLC, a third-party collection agency in Phoenix, Arizona. Christian is also the Arizona Unit Director for ACA International and a former president of the Phoenix West Rotary Club. Having been involved in this industry for a number of years, but not nearly as long as Christian, I can say that he is one of the most knowledgeable and approachable individuals in the ARM industry. I learn something from him every time we talk and I am very excited to have him participating today.

Senior Vice President - Finance, DCI

Raf Leszczynski

Raf Leszczynski is the Senior Vice President of Finance at Diversified Consultants, Inc. Raf has worked closely with DCI’s three up-front skiptracing vendors on fine tuning the matching logic deployed for each of our Clients, and we have increased our companywide Right Party Contact rates for 12 consecutive Quarters!

Chief Compliance Officer, DCI

David Linares

David Linares heads up the legal and compliance team at DCI, along with several other support areas within the organization. David is well versed in both the regulatory and legal landscape as well as operations and its challenges, having lead teams in both realms. Able to draw from his experience, David develops his teams to rely on forward thinking methodologies in order to face industry challenges head on while adjusting to the ever changing minefield that is the ARM regulatory landscape.

President & Chief Investment Officer, First Financial Asset Management

Matt Maloney

Matthew Maloney, President and Chief Investment Officer

• 18+ Years in Receivable Management, Debt Buying and Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Industries
• Co-Founder, President, and Chief Investment Officer of the FFAM360 Alliance Group of Companies
• Manages $3.0 Billion A/R Annually for Clients (Healthcare, Banking, Consumer Lending, Insurance Subrogation, and Other)
• Acquired $22.5 Billion of accounts receivables (charged-off and performing loans)
• Serves on the Board of Directors for Receivables Management Association International
• Co-Chairman: RMAI State Legislative Committee; RMAI Fundraising Committee
• Contributing Co-Author: Various industry publications and material
• Serves as Counsel Member and Officer of two (2) Non-Profits: Promise686, and Perimeter Church.
• Youth Mentor & Coach
• Founder of CrowdServe
• Education: Bachelors of Science; Finance (FSU)

Founder & President, Mapes Consulting

Jeremy Mapes

Jeremy Mapes is Founder and President of Mapes Consulting, which is one of the very few vendors previously endorsed by ACA International as a “preferred vendor”, and senior executive to Agent-Z, LLC. Jeremy has over twenty-four years in the ARM industry and has successfully headed operations and technology for companies from large to small and has consulted to and supported well over one hundred collection agencies and creditors on technology, automation, telephony, operations, and information security management, as well as consulting directly to multiple receivables software vendors.

Partner, Maurice & Wutscher

Don Maurice

Don Maurice is a partner at Maurice Wutscher representing the financial services industry in compliance matters, trials and appeals of individual and class actions. Don is a Regent of the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers and serves on the Governing Committee of the Conference on Consumer Finance Law. He formerly chaired the Debt Collection Practices and Bankruptcy Subcommittee of the American Bar Association and serves as outside counsel to Receivables Management Association International, the trade association for debt purchasers. He is admitted to the Bars of Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and the District of Columbia and has practiced law since 1988.

Partner, Manatt Phelps & Philips

John McGuinness

John W. McGuinness is a partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP. He represents clients in defending consumer class and individual actions across the country, including issues involving consumer protection, mortgage/financial services, and data security and privacy. John handles litigations, regulatory proceedings and examinations related to both state and federal consumer protection statutes such as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Song-Beverly Credit Card Act, and Truth in Lending Act. Working from both D.C. and L.A., John regularly represents publicly traded companies and emerging businesses in industries that include financial services, retail, media and technology, among numerous others.

Chief Compliance Officer, Afni, Inc.

Alicia Mckeighan

Alicia McKeighan is the Chief Compliance Officer at Afni, Inc. She has been in the industry for ten years and has experience building and enhancing Afni’s compliance management system. She also has experience with FDCPA, TCPA, and FCRA litigation, and regulatory licensing. She is a member of the ACA Federal Affairs Committee and holds a Credit and Collection Compliance Officer designation with ACA.

Product Director - Risk Solutions Product Management, Neustar

Todd Meeks

Todd Meeks is a Product Director, Risk Solutions Product Management, specializing in 1st and 3rd party collections solutions to improve customer interaction sucess.

Todd recently joined Neustar after nine years at CitiGroup as a Senior Vice President of Global Channel Strategies, where he solved outbound dialing, TCPA, and multi-channel communication challenges.

General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, The CMI Group

Christopher Meier

Chris Meier serves as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer to The CMI Group and is responsible for managing all legal aspects of the company’s operations as well as ensuring compliance with all relevant laws and regulations. He joined the company in 2008 after working for an insurance defense firm in Dallas that specialized in defending collection agencies against FDCPA and FCRA lawsuits. Chris is an active member of ACA International and ACA Southwest and has served as a guest presenter at several conferences covering topics such as Legislative Reform and In-House Litigation Strategies. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Arkansas and received his Juris Doctorate from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law.

Partner, Messer Strickler

Joe Messer

Joseph Messer provides comprehensive legal representation to many large and small collection agencies, credit reporting agencies and debt purchasers located throughout the nation in litigation, consumer law compliance and transactional matters.

He has earned a national reputation for defending lawsuits brought under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, Telephone Consumer Protection Act and many other state and federal consumer protection laws.

Collection Manager, American Profit Recovery

Greg Meyer

Greg Meyer is a Collection Manager at American Profit Recovery in Farmington Hills, Michigan. He has been in the indistry for more than two decades. He graduated from Canisius College in Buffalo, NY.

Partner, Maurice Wutscher

Shannon Miller

Shannon Miller is a partner with the law firm of Maurice Wutscher. He has successfully represented financial institutions and law firms for claims filed under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, Telephone Consumer Protection Act and various state consumer protection statutes and common law claims. He is a former prosecutor with the Office of the District Attorney of Delaware County, Pennsylvania where he prosecuted and investigated white collar crimes and various other felonies.

President/CEO, CAB Business Development Center

Kelly Molony

Kelly Molony is President/CEO of the Charleston, SC based CAB Business Development Center, Inc. CAB was founded in 1955 and has a background in Third Party Debt Collection, Extended Business Office and Customer Service. The company sold the debt collection division in 2017 to FDS, Inc. of Wilmington, NC to focus on the EBO & Customer Service areas. The company provides Extended Business Office services to hospitals and physician groups. Customer Service operations are focused on the Identity Theft, Technical Start-up and Internet based sales support.

Chief Operating Officer, TrueAccord

Sheila Monroe

Sheila joined TrueAccord in November 2018 with 30 years of experience in the credit, collection and banking industry. She spent several years at Alliance Data overseeing fraud, credit and collections functions. More recently she held roles at the British based bank, Barlcays, PLC as the Global Chief Operating Officer for Barclaycard and before that, as the Global Head of Collections and Recoveries. During this time, Sheila gained deep operational expertise with lending, servicing, collection and other practices in several countries.

General Counsel, Morgan Financial Group

Heath Morgan

Porter Heath Morgan, is General Counsel for Morgan Financial Group, and a partner with Malone Frost Martin. Heath specializes in providing General Counsel and Compliance services for third party collection agencies. Heath is a third generation collection attorney and has worked in the commercial, medical, and retail AR industry for over 20 years. Heath is licensed in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Wyoming and is a member of the Supreme Court Bar. He is a member of ACA International’s Member Attorney Program, and a founding member of the Colorado Creditor Rights Bar Association, where he serves as a member of the Board of Directors.

President, CEO & Founder, Accounts Receivables Inc.

Melissa Nash

Melissa Nash is President, CEO and Founder of Accounts Receivables Inc. (ARI) based in West Palm Beach, Florida. Since 2007, ARI continues to provide full service collection services for small and medium size businesses for professional services and governmental agencies as well as Home Owners Associations and Condominium Owners Associations.

CEO, ACA International

Mark Neeb

Mark Neeb is ACA International’s chief executive officer. He has nearly 40 years of corporate strategy experience, including 28 years specifically working in the credit and collection industry

Previously, Neeb served as the president and CEO of The Affiliated Group (TAG), a receivables management firm he bought, built and sold over a period of 20 years. Under his leadership, The Affiliated Group won the 1999 Small Business Award from the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce.

In previous positions, Neeb served as audit manager for Clifton, Larson, Allen and as the CFO for a large receivables management firm based in Minnesota. Most recently, Neeb served as CEO of neebEDU, which provided subcontract services for the U.S. Department of Education collection contract.

Throughout his career, Neeb has been very active in the collection industry. He chaired several ACA committees, including the ACA Healthcare Debt Sales & Collection Services Task Force, which developed guidelines for collection agencies and healthcare facilities on best practices on the sale and collection of healthcare debt. He served as 2011/12 ACA president, and has held all leadership positions on the Minnesota Collectors Association board. 

Neeb has won multiple association awards, including the James K. Erickson Continuous Service Award and Warren Siem Award, and earned three ACA professional development designations: the Fellow and Scholar designations and the International Fellowship of Credit and Collection Executives.

Neeb received his B.A in accounting from St. Cloud State University and his MBA in management from the University of St. Thomas. 

Partner, Clark Hill

Joann Needleman

Joann Needleman is leader of the Consumer Financial Services Regulatory & Compliance group at Clark Hill. She is the immediate past President of the Board of Directors of the National Creditors Bar Association (NCBA) and also served on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Consumer Advisory Board.

Partner, Barron & Newburger

Manny Newburger

Manny Newburger is known nationally for his expertise in consumer and commercial law, consulting on FDCPA compliance across the globe and on the defense of FDCPA, FCRA, TCPA, and other consumer law cases across the United States.

Executive Director & Chief Compliance Officer, Credit Bureau of Lancaster County Inc.

Donna Nicholson Stief

Donna Nicholson Stief is Executive Director & Chief Compliance Officer at the Credit Bureau of Lancaster County Inc. Collection Services Division (since 1998) where she oversees financial and operational functions. In addition to working at the Credit Bureau of Lancaster County, Inc., Donna serves the collection industry as vice president of the Mid-Atlantic Collectors Association as well as on the Special Committee on Small Agencies and the Council of Delegates for ACA International. She previously served on ACA International’s Audit Financial Review Committee and ACA International Board of Director for 8 years. She was the recipient of ACA’s Unit Leader of the Year Award in 2010.

Attorney, O'Meara Law Office

Michael O’Meara

Michael O’Meara has been a professional in the collection industry since 1990 and has held virtually every job the industry offers. Michael has been active in the ACA and the Washington Collectors Association and is a past-President of the WCA and his local bar association. He has achieved several designations offered through ACA, including 3CO and IFCCE, and obtaining his Scholar and Fellow Degrees through the ACA. He is a recent recipient of the Kirschner instructor Achievement Award. Michael has been active in several ACA committees and is committed to the protection and growth of the industry and our association.

Vice President - Business Development, FLOCK Specialty Finance

Greg Paulo

Greg Paulo is the Vice President of Business Development at FLOCK Specialty Finance. Greg has 25 years of operational and sales experience in the Accounts Receivable Management Industry. Most recently, Greg worked at Navient as a Sr. Director managing the Campus, State and Municipal collection sales teams.

Director of Business Development, TCN

Bryce Payne

Bryce Payne spearheads all global partner and channel efforts at TCN. With more than 20 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, Bryce has significantly contributed to the company’s rapid growth by successfully building partnerships across multiple industries and acquiring new customers globally.

Chief Compliance Officer, Frost-Arnett

Judd Peak

W. Judd Peak is responsible for the creation, implementation and continual oversight of the enterprise-wide Compliance Management System (CMS) at the Frost-Arnett Company. In this role, he ensures that the compliance program aligns with the overall corporate strategy, business plan and code of ethics of Frost-Arnett. Judd also oversees multiple compliance information, tracking and monitoring systems. Prior to his role as Chief Compliance Officer, Judd spent sixteen years as an attorney in private practice, specializing in employee relations issues.

Vice President of Operations, RGS Financial

Ken Peck

Ken Peck is the Vice President of Operations at RGS Financial. He has spent the past 17 years in the credit and collection industry, working his way up from a collection manager to overseeing the entire collection operation at RGS. Ken has spent the past two years at RGS, joining the company after spending nearly four years as the Director of Business Development at Southwest Credit Systems. Along with his work in the collection industry, Ken is also a motivational speaker.

Attorney, Ballard Spahr

Kim Phan

Kim Phan counsels financial institutions on federal and state privacy and data security laws and regulations including the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and the New York Department of Financial Services Cybersecurity Regulations. Kim’s practice also focuses on providing guidance to clients when navigating supervisory, enforcement, and investigatory interactions with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission, other federal regulatory agencies, and state attorneys general and departments of consumer protection. Kim also has provided extensive e-commerce and mobile counseling with clients, including adapting products and services for the mobile environment, conducting online behavioral advertising assessments of websites in order to update and enhance website privacy policies, and establishing employee training on social media interactions with consumers.

Partner, Kaufman Dolowich & Voluck

Rick Perr

Rick Perr is the Co-Managing Partner of the Philadelphia office of the law firm Kaufman Dolowich & Voluck. He also chairs the firm’s national Consumer Financial Services Practice Group. He is a nationally recognized authority and lecturer on creditor’s rights, representing creditors, law firms and agencies against individual and class action allegations invoking federal and state consumer protection laws, including the FDCPA, the FCRA, and the TCPA. Rick is a Past President of ACA International and currently sits on its Board of Directors.

Chief Compliance Officer, Finance System, Inc.

Dave Reeder

Dave Reeder is certified by the American Collector’s Association International as a Credit & Collections Compliance Officer, and is the Chief Compliance Officer for Finance System, Inc. Dave has been in the accounts receivable industry for more than 20 years and his experience spans skip-tracing to compliance.

Director of Marketing | National Accounts, InterProse

Aaron Reiter

Chief Customer Officer, MRS BPO

Chris Repholz

Chris Repholz is Chief Customer Officer for MRS BPO LLC, a New Jersey based, nationally recognized accounts receivable management firm specializing in first party servicing and third party recoveries in a variety of verticals. He first started working in the contact center industry in 1994 and co-founded TPG TeleManagement, Inc., a contact center consulting firm, in 1996. In 2004, he joined Zenta, an international BPO. In 2011, after Accenture acquired Zenta, Chris joined IntelliSource as SVP of their call center outsourcing division, managing operations in customer service, collections, fraud management and commercial sales. Chris joined MRS as Chief Operating Officer in 2014 and transitioned to his current role in 2016, where he is responsible for Client Services, Sales & Marketing, Corporate Development and Acquisitions.

President, Creditors Bureau USA

Courtney Reynaud

Courtney Reynaud is President of Creditors Bureau USA and is the 3rd generation to own and operate her company.  Her professional experience is rooted in the healthcare industry, with a special understanding of law and consumer rights.  Courtney has participated as speaker and panelist on multiple Compliance-related in-person and web-based education events. She maintains several active certifications from ACA International, including Credit and Collection Compliance Officer (CCCO), Health Care Collection Management (HCM) and Trainer Specialist Program (TSP) certifications. Courtney was recently named as one of the Top 20 Most Powerful Women in Collections by Collection Advisor. She is currently serving as President of the California Association of Collectors.

Co-Owner, Senior Vice President - Third Party Operations, Chief Compliance Officer, Credit Solutions

Chrissy Rioux

Chrissy Rioux is a co-owner and Senior Vice President of Third Party Operations and Chief Compliance Officer at Credit Solutions. Before coming to Credit Solutions, Chrissy starting working in the collection industry at the age of 16, in charge of collecting television fees for the local hospitals in Lewiston, Maine. Chrissy is certified as a Collector, a Credit and Collection Compliance Officer, a Collection Floor Manager and received a Scholar Designation from ACA International.

Attorney, Venable

Shahin Rothermel

Shahin Rothermel advises clients on day-to-day issues arising out of telemarketing and text messaging promotions. Her familiarity with the ever-changing landscape of TCPA developments helps her provide clients with creative solutions to achieve their goals, while minimizing the risk of regulatory enforcement actions and TCPA class actions.

Attorney, Venable

Ari Rothman

Ari Rothman represents clients nationwide in all aspects of TCPA compliance and litigation matters. His extensive litigation experience includes obtaining a defense jury verdict in favor of his client who faced a $2 billion dollar exposure in a certified TCPA class action, as well as defeating class certification and obtaining other favorable defense outcomes in courts across the country. That experience enables him, based on real life examples that played out in litigation and other adversarial settings, to devise and implement protocols designed to eliminate TCPA risk, negotiate contracts to mitigate exposure, and defend clients in all phases of TCPA litigation.

Director of Training, Williams and Fudge

Greg Ruffino

Greg Ruffino is the Director of Training at Williams and Fudge. Greg has worked at Williams and Fudge for the past eight years, starting as a collector and working his way up the ladder to director of training. Greg recently spoke at ACA International’s conference on the topic of training. He is a certified training specialist with ACA International.

CEO, Acer Capital Recovery

Ed Saleh

Ed Saleh is the owner of Acer Capital Recovery, a collection agency that specializes in medical and healthcare accounts. Ed has been an active member of the collections industry for nearly two decades, having worked his way up to owning his own collection agency. He has played an active role within ACA International and is a very respected member of the ARM industry.

CEO, TrueAccord

Ohad Samet

Ohad Samet is the co-founder and CEO of TrueAccord, a company using machine learning and behavioral analytics to change the debt collection process. He was recently appointed to the CFPB’s Consumer Advisory Board and is serving as an Advisor for Aspen Institute. Prior to that, Ohad headed fraud analytics for FraudSciences, a company that was acquired by PayPal in 2008. After leaving PayPal in 2010, Ohad started two companies. Signifyd is a leading fraud prevention vendor and Analyzd, which developed fraud prevention and risk management strategies for online retailers and payment platforms.

Team Lead, American Profit Recovery

Sabrine Salti

Sabrine Salti has been a member of American Profit Recovery since 2017 and is currently a work team lead at the company. She was awarded Rookie of the Year after her first year at the company, displaying qualities of leadership, integrity, and high level of collections. Prior to APR Sabrine earned a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in Sign Language Interpreting and Deaf Studies at Madonna University. She has worked as an interpreter and maintained a great reputation in the Deaf and Interpreting communities. She has been able to use her trilingual skill to her advantage, collecting on accounts of consumers that are Deaf—through their interpreters, and consumers that only speak Arabic–through her native tongue.

Partner, Barron & Newburger

Arthur Sanders

Arthur Sanders manages the New York office of Barron & Newburger, P.C. and works in the firm’s Consumer Financial Services Law Practice Group. His practice is devoted primarily to the defense of collection agencies, law firms, and creditors engaged in the practice of debt collection. His expertise in compliance issues is a result of over a quarter of a century in representing creditors and debt collectors. He serves as national counsel for certain debt purchasers and law firms, providing advice on compliance, regulatory, and other legal issues.

Senior Counsel, National Consumer Law Center

Margot Saunders

Margot Saunders is currently Senior Counsel to the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) after serving as managing attorney of NCLC’s Washington, D.C. office from 1991 to 2005. Margot has testified before Congress more than two dozen times and has served as an expert witness in over 50 consumer credit cases in more than 20 states. She is a co-author of NCLC’s Consumer Banking and Payments Law, many articles, and a contributor to numerous other manuals. Prior to joining NCLC, she was the consumer law specialist for North Carolina Legal Services. In 1991, Margot was the second recipient of the Vern Countryman Award. She is a graduate of Brandeis University and the University of North Carolina School of Law.

Probate Manager, SIMM Associates

Dawn Schollian

Dawn Schollian began her career in the ARM industry as a Probate Care Specialist in 1989 with deceased collection agency pioneer Estate Recovery Inc. (ERI). ERI was one of the first collection agencies to offer Probate Collection Servicing. Over her career spanning 30 years, Dawn has created multiple databases to assist with recovering estate information as well as systemic processes to handle claim filings against estates based on various State and County laws. Dawn currently holds the position of Senior Collection Manager in the Probate Collection Department of SIMM Associates, Inc. SIMM is a full service nationally licensed ARM company providing best in class deceased care solutions that encompass decedent verification, estate location scrub, proprietary Probate Tracker SM claim filing process and an empathetic survivor recovery solution all performed with brand sensitivity and regulatory compliance in mind.

Attorney, Simburg Ketter Sheppard & Purdy

Andrew Shafer

Andrew Shafer is Of Counsel to Simburg Ketter Sheppard & Purdy in Seattle, WA. Andy is a commercial lawyer with almost 40 years of battle scars. He has defended collection agencies and provided risk management consulting services to the industry since since 2002. He is active in ACA as the Washington Lawyer Representative and is a member of ACA’s CNR Panel.

Chief Compliance Officer, AMCOL Systems

Sam Shannon

Sam Shannon has been in the collection industry for over 35 years. He started as a collector in 1982 for a small lending company in Dallas, Texas. He then helped develop a legal network for OSI Portfolio Services and later was promoted to Senior Manager of Compliance for OSI Collection Services. Sam has served as the Vice President of Legal Compliance for a New York City law firm as well as traveled the country completing pre-CFPB audits with his own company ARM-Consulting. Most recently Sam has taken on the position of Chief Compliance Officer for AMCOL Systems, Inc. Sam is a Certified Internal Auditor; certified Credit and Collections Compliance Officer, and a certified Business Impact Analyst.

Partner, Lewis Brisbois

David Sherman

David Sherman is a partner in the Philadelphia office of Lewis Brisbois. He counsels clients across business sectors on commercially reasonable data privacy and information security practices. Before an information security incident occurs, David facilitates incident response planning and risk assessments to enhance enterprise security posture and mitigate potential exposure. David assesses clients’ existing service provider agreements to evaluate and optimize contractual allocation of risks, rights and obligations set forth in provisions that may give rise to exposure in the event of a data security incident. He holds the Certified Information Privacy Professional/United States (CIPP/US) credential.

President & CEO, Midstate Collection Solutions

Mary Shores

Mary Shores is the president & CEO of Midstate Collection Solutions, a collection agency based in Champaign, Ill. Mary has been the CEO of the agency for nearly two decades and that experience has made her a sought-after speaker and author. Her book, Conscious Communications, was recently published and is rising to the top of the best-seller lists on Amazon.com. The book aims to help people harness the power of words to change their minds, their choices, and their lives.

Partner, Ballard Spahr

John Socknat

John Socknat is the Practice Leader of Ballard Spahr ‘s Mortgage Banking Group, and a member of the firm’s Marketplace Lending Task Force. John also leads Ballard Spahr’s licensing practice. He devotes his practice to counseling financial services institutions on compliance and licensing matters under state and federal law, preparing them for examinations and audits by state and federal regulators, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and defending them in enforcement actions. John assists clients with developing compliance programs and implementing and operationalizing new regulations. John is a frequent presenter at industry conferences and is a member of the Advisory Council to the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators (AARMR), the SRR Industry Advisory Council, and a Fellow of the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers.

Head of Operations Strategy, Best Egg

Rich Stahler

Rich Stahler is the Head of Operations Strategy at Best Egg, an online marketplace lender. Rich was a core member of the small team, who launched the fintech company in late 2013. Since inception, Best Egg has originated over $10 Billion in unsecured, personal loans. Rich and his team of strategy analysts are responsible for enhancing the customer experience, mitigating credit losses, reducing expense, and driving the product roadmap across all of Best Egg’s operational units. Prior to Best Egg, Rich spent nine years at Barclays, holding analytical positions in Customer Care, Collections, and Credit Risk.

Senior Associate, Farella Braun + Martel

Rebecca Stephens

Rebecca Stephens is a Senior Associate in Farella Braun + Martel LLP’s Employment Practice Group. Rebecca counsels clients on all aspects of employment law, including developing and implementing sound workplace policies, conducting investigations, handling challenging leave of absence and accommodation issues, and administering separations from employment. She also represents clients before administrative agencies including the DLSE, the EEOC, and the DFEH. Rebecca also maintains an active pro bono practice, representing and advising several education-focused non-profit organizations in employment matters. Rebecca is the Chair of the Barristers Labor & Employment Section Executive Committee for the Bar Association of San Francisco; a member of the American Bar Association Labor & Employment Section, where she is on the planning committee for the National Symposium on Technology in Labor & Employment; and a Board Member for the Northwestern Law Alumni Club of San Francisco.

Vice President - Market Development, Applied Innovation

Harry Strausser

Harry Strausser is currently a freelance speaker and consultant within the ARM industry. He is a second-generation collection professional and held the position of President of two successful collection firms until they were sold in May 2017. He is President of his own educational and consulting business, Interact Training and Development. He has been active in ACA International for over 30 years in which he is a Senior Certified Trainer. He has served on the ACA International Executive Committee and held the position of President in 2004-2005.

Partner, Messer Strickler

Nicole Strickler

Nicole Strickler focuses her practice in the defense of consumer litigation, including the FDCPA, Fair Credit Reporting Act, TCPA, and the Illinois Collection Agency Act. Her clients include corporations, lending institutions, collection agencies, asset purchasers, lawyers as well as individuals. She is an active member of ACA International, the Consumer Financial Division of the American Bar Association, and holds a position on the Board of Directors of NARCA, The National Creditors’ Bar Association.

CEO, Continental Credit Control

Shawn Suhr

Shawn Suhr is currently the California Association of Collectors Vice President. He is a third generation Santa Barbarain, debtor collector and sports fisherman. Shawn worked on the advisor board of Dakcs Software and as Operations Manager for Continental Credit Control for a decade before becoming CEO and co-owner in 2010.

Attorney, Barron & Newburger

Brit Suttell

Brit Suttell works in the Pennsylvania office of Barron & Newburger, P.C. She is a member of the firm’s Consumer Financial Services Law Practice Group.

Director of Operations and Technology, National Enterprise Systems

Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor is the Director of Operations and Technology at National Enterprise Systems. He has more than 15 years of financial services experience managing large, complex projects. A respected leader, Chris’ expertise in developing, implementing, and integrating processes with technology has positioned him as a top performer in the collection and call center industry. Chris started his career at NES as a developer in July of 2005. His dedication to his position and fellow employees, in addition to his technical savvy, has resulted in a steady increase in responsibility.

Director of Internal Audit, ERC

Paige Tortorich

Paige Tortorich has over 15 years of auditing experience and is a current member of ACA International and InsideARM’s Compliance Professionals Forum. She has been an auditor in different industries but found her home in the vast compliance world of collections – where she has spent the last 6 years. She was an external auditor for over two years conducting remote and onsite audits on 3rd party collection agencies and is now the Director of Internal Audit at ERC. Paige’s time on both sides of the audit table provides her with the experience to know which audits should be done and why.

Compliance Counsel, Performant Recovery

Lauren Valenzuela

Lauren Valenzuela is Compliance Counsel at Performant Recovery, Inc., where she advises on compliance with consumer protection laws, government regulation, licensing, litigation defense, and transactional matters. Prior to joining Performant, she was General Counsel and Director of Compliance for Collection Technology, Inc.

Marketing & Communications Executive, Simon's Agency

John Viggiano

John is the lead marketing and design executive for Simon’s Agency, Inc. for the past 4 years.  He is an all-around marketing professional with a great deal of experience in marketing, graphic design, website design, content management, search engine optimization, and more.  He works directly with the sales team to execute Simon’s overall marketing strategy and works closely with Simon’s brand as well as their online and traditional marketing presence. John has over 15 years of experience in working within the ARM industry.

Chief Technology & Security Officer, State Collection Service

Jim Warner

Jim Warner is the chief technology and security officer at State Collection Service. He provides vision and leadership for all Information Technology & Security activities across the organization. He has worked at State Collection Service for the past 12 years. Prior to joining State, Jim was IT Director at Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce. He graduated from Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. Incorporated in 1949, State Collection Service has continually enjoyed above average growth by preparing for the future and maintaining a firm foundation built upon the trust and confidence of long-standing clients.

President, Southern Oregon Credit Service

Brian Watkins

Brian Watkins began in the collection industry as a salesperson for Southern Oregon Credit Service in 1990. In 2001, Brian and his wife Denise purchased the company when the original owners wanted to retire. Brian has twice served as president of the Oregon Collectors Association, has served on the Legislative Committee for his state unit since 1997, and currently is Chairman. He has twice earned the Unit Leader of the Year Award from ACA International.

COO, CACi

Roger Weiss

Roger Weiss is the Chief Operating Officer of CACi, and also runs The Collections Coach. Roger has been involved in the collections industry since 1992 and is a frequent speaker at events and conferences.

Head of Collections, Credit Solutions

Dwayne Wells

Dwayne Wells has been at Credit Solutions, LLC in Lexington, Kentucky, for 8 years. For the past 5 years he has been the trainer and for the past six years, he has overseen the collections development.

Founder, Xcelsior Payments

David Whitely

David Whitely recently started his own company, based out of Los Angeles, focusing on providing software vendors the first full end to end ACH & card platform with instant settlements and the ability to automate the acquiring/payment processing elements of their business. David started his experience in management, leading top producing sales teams within the telecom, real estate and banking industries before moving into the payments space. Working for major processors such as Global Payments and has worked along side two companies, in risk, underwriting, compliance and operations roles, as the companies scaled and exited or sold their businesses to larger processors.

Partner, Barron & Newburger

Mitch Williamson

Mitchell L. Williamson is a graduate of Rutgers University and New York Law School and manages the New Jersey office of Barron & Newburger, P.C. where he specializes in defense of claims brought under the FDCPA, FCRA, TCPA and other consumer financial related consumer protection laws and regulations as well as representing clients under CFPB and FTC investigations or in litigation.

Partner, Ballard Spahr

Chris Willis

Christopher Willis is the Practice Leader of the Consumer Financial Services Litigation Group at Ballard Spahr. He devotes his practice to assisting financial services institutions facing government investigations and examinations, counseling them on fair lending risk and compliance assessments, and defending them in individual and class action lawsuits brought by consumers and enforcement actions brought by government agencies.

Winn Law Group

Brian Winn

Brian Winn was the first president of the California Creditors Bar Association in 2004. Along with exclusively representing lending institutions, both Commercial and Consumer, for more than 30 years, he is a frequent lecturer to the creditor community with recent presentations on collecting judgments, replevins, and the FDCPA.

Vice President, Columbia Collectors

Ryan Wiswall

Ryan Wiswall is the Vice President and 3rd generation to lead Columbia Collectors, a collection agency in the Pacific Northwest with over 60 years in the industry. Ryan came to join Columbia Collectors after his career in the Air Force. He was first hired on as a collector and he has also held positions as an Account Executive and System Administrator. With his current position as Vice President, he oversees five critical departments within the organization. He specializes in research and development, hiring key talent, developing company strategy and benchmarking for the organization.

When Ryan is not working, he spends his free time with his family. He is married to his wife Ksenia for 12 years and runs a successful photography business on the side with her since 2007. They have a beautiful four-year-old daughter named Mila. Ryan also enjoys many northwest activities such as fishing, kayaking, swimming, and rock climbing. If you’d like to reach out to Ryan, you can reach him via email at ryan@columbiacollectors.com.

Lead In-House Compliance Consultant, Ontario Systems

Sara Woggerman

Sara Woggerman is the lead in-house Compliance Consultant for Ontario Systems. She provides consulting solutions for banks, collection agencies, and other financial service providers to prepare them for regulatory examinations, manage litigation risk, and improve the consumer experience. Sara has spent over 11 years in the accounts receivables management industry, managing nearly 200 collection service providers for debt purchasers and serving as the relationship manager to creditors.

Senior Director, Neustar

Matthew Wolk

Matt Wolk is a Senior Director on Neustar’s Fraud, Risk and Compliance team. He is a 21-year veteran of call center analysis and operations specializing in the outsourcing of collections to improve revenue performance for both clients and vendors. Prior to Neustar, Matt worked at Capital One for 10 years managing the collection agency outsourcing along with legal collection outsourcing. After Capital One, Matt was responsible for the network of attorneys along with strategy and analysis for TRAKAmerica. He most recently was responsible for operations, client management and business development for a division of CBE Companies. Matt has a BBA, along with a minor in Math and History, from Radford University.

Director of Product Engineering, Ontario Systems

Dan Womack

Dan Womack is the Director of Product Engineering at Ontario Systems, where he oversees product development, quality assurance, and technical communications.

Partner. Blank Rome

Scott E. Wortman

Scott E. Wortman focuses his practice on consumer financial services litigation, including individual and class action defense, regulatory proceedings, and administrative investigations. Additionally, he represents and counsels clients on corporate and regulatory compliance procedures in a wide variety of consumer financial areas. Scott is also a strategic advisor to FinTech and other digital business clients on privacy issues, data and cyber security, vendor management, and consumer protection.

Consultant

Mike Wright

With over 15 years of IT and cybersecurity experience focused on the ARM space, Michael Wright is one of the industry’s leading cybersecurity experts. Most recently, Wright served as the Chief Security Officer for TECH LOCK, a firm specializing in financial services and healthcare cybersecurity consulting. He has spent the past decade assisting many of the industry’s leading agencies reduce their cybersecurity risks, improve their security posture and ensure compliance with the myriad of applicable laws and regulations. Today, he is a cybersecurity evangelist-at-large and is uniquely qualified to help organizations address the cybersecurity threats of tomorrow.

Principal, Maurice Wutscher LLP

Brent Yarborough

Brent Yarborough is a principal with Maurice Wutscher LLP, a national financial services law firm, and is based in the firm’s Birmingham, Alabama office. He primarily focuses his practice on regulatory compliance and the defense of consumer law claims.

Executive Director of Identity Risk Solutions, Neustar

Mitchell Young

Mitchell Young is an Executive Director of Identity Risk Solutions at Neustar, where he oversees the Collections, Utilities, Tech/Internet, Call Center and Data verticals. Mitchell has been at Neustar for 15 years helping companies leverage real-time identity data and analytic insights to improve operational efficiencies and manage risk and compliance. Prior to joining Neustar, Mitchell was the Senior Director of Risk at TARGUSInfo, which was acquired by Neustar in 2011, where he helped develop several markets. Mitchell has an undergraduate degree from Penn State and an MBA from New York University.