Title: Challenges to Recovery Performance: Creditor and Agency Perspectives

About Dale Bissette:
Dale Bissette is the Executive Vice President of Nationwide Credit, Inc. Mr. Bissette is responsible for all collections operations at NCI including domestic and global services as well as, new business development for contingency and outsourcing projects. He has 30 years of industry experience of which the last 20 have been with NCI. Under his leadership NCI is one of the first receivable management companies to offer a lower cost alternative to its clients by establishing off-shore and near-shore operations. ... Read More » Mr. Bissette has successfully led and developed his staff to practice ethical collections while recognizing client performance demands.

Title: Collections Ecosystems

About Dan Buell:
Dan Buell is the Director of Marketing for Experian’s Consumer Information Solutions Marketing group where he is responsible for the development, management and marketing for Experian’s Collections Products and Solutions.
... Read More »
Mr. Buell began his career in the credit and collections industry with software developer Ontario Systems. He has also served as the Director of Information Services for OSI, Chief Operating Officer for Machol & Johannes, P.C. and President of Americall Group, Inc.

An active speaker at industry events, Mr. Buell recently spoke at the 2004 TSYS Risk Conference, 2004 HSBC User Conference, 2005 Progressive Group Alliance CEO Summit, 2005 and 2006 Collection Technology Summit and the 2006 Telecommunication Risk Management Association Interactive Learning Lab.

Mr. Buell graduated from Ball State University and holds a Masters in Business Administration with honors.

Title: Marrying Data to Better Drive Performance — Squeezing More Juice from Portfolios

About Mark Cavin:
Mark Cavin is Senior Director of Sallie Mae, Inc. and Vice President of the Asset Management Group of Sallie Mae’s subsidiary, Arrow Financial Services. He is responsible for the portfolio and strategic management of $16.5B in purchased assets, with primary focus on agency, law firm, and vendor management, and overall inventory management across all of the Arrow nation-wide operations. Prior to this assignment, Mark was the site VP of the San Diego Call Center, with additional responsibility for many other operational and strategic projects.
... Read More »
Prior to his six years with Arrow Financial Services, Mark spent thirteen years with Union Bank of California where he held various senior level management positions.

Mark's expertise includes managing outsourcing relationships, such as collection agencies, collection law firms, and collection auditing firms. He has significant consumer and commercial portfolio sales experience, as well as extensive experience in consumer debt collection and recovery management, loss mitigation strategies, managing of commercial delinquent problem loan portfolios, and handling real and personal property liquidation(s).

Mark is active in trade and industry organizations, and has spoken nationally and internationally on various banking and debt portfolio sales topics.

Title: Marrying Data to Better Drive Performance — Squeezing More Juice from Portfolios

About Sarah Cavin:
Sarah has been with TransUnion since 1992 and has held a variety of sales, operations and management positions at both corporate headquarters in Chicago and in Southern California. She has recently joined TransUnion’s corporate Collection Solutions Group in a sales advisory role.
... Read More »
Prior to TransUnion, Sarah was employed by Shearson Lehman Brothers, Ameritech and Fedex. She has a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and has a Master’s Degree in business from The Garvin School of International Management (aka “Thunderbird”) in Arizona. Sarah lives with her husband and three children in San Diego.

Title: Managing Poor Performance

About Paula Catterall:
Paula Catterall is Senior Director of Recoveries for Sterling Jewelers, Inc. of Akron, Ohio. Sterling is the nation’s largest retail jeweler and operates under various store names including Kay, Osterman, Goodman, Marks and Morgan, and JB Robinson Jewelers, as well as Jared the Galleria of Jewelry. Sterling offers its own credit programs and services its own receivables. ... Read More » Paula began her career as a credit management trainee for Sears. After learning the fundamentals of extending and collecting credit, she supervised a collection division that was one of the best in the corporation. She also taught inexperienced employees in all departmental positions and presented corporate training programs to all credit employees. Early on, she learned the importance of making training sessions interesting by adding her own creative spin.
... Read More »
As Executive Vice President for A.M. Miller & Associates, Inc., a large national collection agency located in Minneapolis, Paula was responsible for collections, as well as all collection area training and auditing. Under her leadership, the collection areas became top-performers for many national credit card, commercial, and student loan clients. Additionally, she implemented an internal audit program and developed management training modules as well as a management-trainee program.

With partners, Paula started a corporation called Collection Management Network (CMN) and served as its President and CEO. CMN operated a national network of collection agencies using a proprietary internet-based collection system. CMN also offered consulting and training services through its subsidiary, LPR.

Paula Catterall has a Master of Business Administration degree from Drake University and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Iowa. She served as president of the International Credit Association.

Title: Healthcare Bad Debt: Foundations for Success in Provider-Agency Partnerships

About Todd Cole:
Todd Cole has spent his entire 25 year career working in the healthcare industry; from Chief Accountant in a small community hospital to Director of Patient Registration in a large urban hospital, Senior Consultant with a ‘Final 4’ accounting firm, and Business Manager of a University–based Cardiology practice. Mr. Cole is currently Director, Patient Accounting for TriHealth Inc., a central business office and joint operating agreement between Bethesda Hospital and Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio. TriHealth has routinely sold its uncollected accounts to a debt buyer since 2003.
... Read More »
Mr. Cole received his BS in Accounting from Northern Kentucky University and holds his CPA license in Ohio. Mr. Cole is a Fellow in the Healthcare Financial Management Association and is a Founders Medal of Honor award recipient. He has served HFMA National on the Chairman’s Task Force on Patient Financial Services and on the Chapter Assistance Team. He is a past President of HFMA’s Southwestern Ohio Chapter and a Hospital Accounts Receivable Analysis (HARA) Advisory Board member. He has spoken on healthcare debt collection and debt sales issues to both HFMA and the ACA.

Title: Challenges to Recovery Performance: Creditor and Agency Perspectives

About John Frey:
John has almost 40 years of experience in the financial services industry with credit granters, collection agencies, debt buyers, and BPOs. John began his career at American Express in 1968. He managed a number of organizations during his 22 years with American Express. He has held senior positions with HHL Financial Services (a major healthcare collection agency), First Card Services (First Chicago); and Chevy Chase Bank.

... Read More » John was Vice President of Collection at Creditrust. At the time Creditrust was the nations largest purchaser of distressed portfolios. In that position John managed over 1,000 collectors in three sites.

Prior to his current position as Executive Vice President of Collection and Recovery at Compass Bank, John was Chief Operating Officer and Advisor at Tracmail India. Tracmail is an offshore outsourcing company headquartered in Mumbai, India. John managed over 1,000 collection and customer service representatives in two sites and coordinated outsourcing operations with a number of clients in the United States and Canada.

In his current position at Compass Bank John manages all of the retail Collection and Recovery operations for all of their lending products.

Title: Healthcare Bad Debt: Foundations for Success in Provider-Agency Partnerships

About Thomas Gavinski:
Tom has over twenty years of Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management experience with Allina Hospitals and Clinics in Minneapolis, MN and the Sisters of St. Frances Healthcare System in Indianapolis, IN. He has lead several revenue cycle improvement initiatives including Patient Access, HIM/Coding, Business Office, and Back-end Collection business practices. ... Read More » These Revenue Cycle redesign projects achieved stellar results improving Accounts Receivable Management performance from 90 to 40 days and improved cash of over $300 million.

Currently Tom is the Vice President, Healthcare for IC System Inc.. IC System is a family owned accounts receivable management company with 30,000 clients nationally.

Tom is a published author and faculty member for such trade organizations as Healthcare Financial Management Association, American Hospitals Association, American Collectors Association, Scottsdale Institute, and Institute of World Congress and Research.

Tom was recently featured in Health Leaders Magazine and has received the Healthcare Financial Management Association, Bronze Follmer award and the National Healthcare Collector’s Association, William F Rock award. He is also a past recipient of the Minnesota Silver Quality Business award. He is currently the Chair of Associated Healthcare Credit Union in St. Paul, MN and the Chair of the City of Savage Planning Commission in Savage, MN.

Title: Great Debates
Onshore/NearShore and International Collections

About Randal Gunn:
Has responsibility for agency and portfolio performance of $20.0B of purchase assets with primary focus to agency and vendor management in the US, India, Canada, and with Arrow Global in the UK and Europe. He joined Arrow Financial Services in November of 2000 as Assistant Vice President/Director of Operation for the Gaithersburg MD call center leading organizational growth from 25 collectors to a staff of over 350 employees. He has served as AVP, Contingency Portfolio Management, where he was responsible operationally for all contingency portfolios across all call centers. ... Read More »

Randal is a past president of the Seaboard Collectors Association, a state chapter of the American Collectors Association. He is a graduate of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University having earned his B.S. degree in 1981 and holds an Executive Certificate in International Management from the Gavin School of Management at Thunderbird.

Married to Paula Gregg of Gaithersburg, Maryland and have two children: Cora and Randal both are 8 years of age. Resides in New Market, Maryland where he enjoys tennis and gardening.

Title: Challenges to the Future of the Debt Collection Industry

About Dennis Hammond:
President, THE DEBT MARKETPLACE, INC. (1994 – Present)
Co-Founder and Executive Director, Debt Buyers’ Association, Inc. (1996 – Present)
Vice President, Resource Management Services, Inc. (1986 – Present)

... Read More » Mr. Hammond is President of THE DEBT MARKETPLACE, INC., formed in 1994 to provide consulting services on risk issues affecting creditors and purchasers in this dynamic and evolutionary market of delinquent debt sales. He is responsible for consulting on more than $15 billion in delinquent debt portfolio sales. A large number of the portfolios he has brought to market were the first of their kind in the industry. Additionally, he leads an educational seminar, Buyers/Seller 101©, to assist first time buyers and sellers enter the market.

He is co-founder and Executive Director of the Debt Buyers’ Association, Inc. He is responsible for the development and growth of this eight year-old, non-profit trade association. The Debt Buyers’ Association is committed to “Building a Foundation for Industry Standards.”

He is also co-founder and Vice President of Resource Management Services, Inc., an eighteen-year old consulting firm to the collection industry.

He has been a featured speaker at several industry conferences. These domestic and international events have been organized by Thompson Financial Conferences, Institute for International Research and Credit Today, to name a few.

He has also been quoted in many industry publications including Collections and Credit Risk, Credit Today, Forbes, The Nilson Report and more.

Title: Collections Ecosystems

About Carl Harkleroad:
Carl has over 33 years of IT experience with the last 24+ years being within the collection industry. Using his extensive expertise, Carl founded Global Software (Latitude Software) in 1997. His vision was, and is to create a robust and user-friendly software product addressing the real world needs of collections professionals.
... Read More »
His background includes the following collections experience:

Capital Credit Corporations-Fairfield, NJ
Vice President of IT
500+ seats at 12 branch locations
Bankcard, Department of Education Student Loan Contract

Corlis Credit Services, Inc-Hartford, CT
Vice President of IT
500+ seats at 12 branch locations
Bankcard, Department of Education Student Loan Contract

The Master Collectors -Atlanta, GA
Vice President of IT
550+ seats at 5 branch locations
Bankcard, Telecom, Medical, Commercial, Department of Education Student Loan Contract

Central Credit Services,Inc -Jacksonville, FL
Vice President
120 seats
Bankcard, Installment Loans, Deficiency

Keynote: Your Business is Show Business

About Michael Hoffman:
Michael Hoffman, CSP* has been igniting Fortune 500 organizations with his workshops and keynotes for over a decade. His firm, Igniting Performance, is a Dallas-based training and consulting firm specializing in the areas of leadership, sales, and customer loyalty.
... Read More »
From small independent entrepreneurs to blue chips, Michael can count companies such as IBM, EDS, Microsoft, ExxonMobil, State Farm, AFLAC, VHA, Capital One, Oracle, and hundreds more as not only clients but repeat customers. Using his performance comedy and interactive delivery, he has conducted extensive personal and professional development seminars for thousands of people across the United States and abroad.

Michael brings a one-of-a-kind background to the stage: waiter, disk jockey, entrepreneur, TV host, salesperson, sales manager, human resource generalist, and national sales trainer.

As a father of four: three teenage girls – 17, 16, 14 – and a son of 13, Michael is committed to igniting performance in your business (or any other excuse to get him out of the house.) He, his wife of 22 years, and his teens reside in Carrollton, Texas.

Effective training combines the right informational tools with the right motivation. Motivation alone is fleeting, but the right tools without motivation are lifeless. Michael delivers both.

Title: Collections Ecosystems

About John Keyes:
John Keyes has more than 20 years of experience in the software industry, with roles in marketing, professional services and engineering. As Director of Product Management at SoundBite Communications, John is responsible for gathering customer requirements, prioritizing product and feature plans, and serving as an evangelist for SoundBite and voice messaging technology. He meets frequently with customers and partners to ensure that SoundBite continues to provide industry-leading voice messaging solutions. Prior to his current position at SoundBite, John held positions at Open Market, Sun Microsystems and Microsoft.
... Read More »
John received a BS in Computer Science from Syracuse University and an MBA from Northeastern University.

Moderator: Healthcare Bad Debt: Foundations for Success in Provider-Agency Partnerships

About Michael Klozotsky:
Michael conducts custom research projects and writes publications focusing on the accounts receivable management industry for Kaulkin Ginsberg. His primary research concentrations center on the healthcare sector of the ARM industry and the broader state of the industry.
... Read More »
Prior to joining Kaulkin Ginsberg, Michael served as a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign instructor in the Department of English and as a Communications Specialist in the Department of Accountancy. Michael has also conducted market research projects for KRC Research, a unit of Interpublic Group.

Michael holds a Master of Arts degree in English from the University of Illinois and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from the University of Evansville.

Title: Healthcare Financial Management Debt Sales

About Rob Knight:
Mr. Knight has 12 years of financial services experience including acquisitions of distressed assets, account collection, loan origination and loan servicing. Since entering the debt purchasing market Mr. Knight had been involved in the acquisition of debt portfolios in excess of $10 Billion. ... Read More » His acquisition expertise includes the purchase of Credit Card, Healthcare, Student Loans, Auto loans, Real Estate and Installment Loans receivable. Currently Mr. Knight is the Vice President of Business Development for Asta Funding, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASFI)

Title: Challenges to Recovery Performance: Creditor and Agency Perspectives

About John McNamara:
President and founder of Fidelis Recovery Solutions, Inc, John McNamara is a 24-year industry veteran with experience in all phases of collection and recovery operations.

Prior to Fidelis, John was COO for AMO, SVP of Operations for Nationwide Credit/ACB and VP of Operations for United Recovery Systems, LP.
... Read More »
John is a frequent speaker/panelist at national collection conferences. John was recently named to Collection Advisor magazine's list of the Top 50 Most Influential Collection Professionals for 2006. In 2007, John was appointed Vice President and Board Member of the Georgia Collectors Association.

John is a summa cum laude graduate of Kennesaw State University with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance.

Title: Information Security & PCI Data Security Standard

About Dave Mertz:
David Mertz, Partner, has spent the last three years immersed in compliance related issues. Whether the compliance standard was HIPAA, PCI, SB1386, FACTA, FCRA, CAN SPAM, or any other of the ABC’s of compliance, Mertz has worked with clients in meeting the standard. Mertz has spent the last two decades in IT and has served in almost every role in IT from help desk to CIO.
... Read More »
David Mertz has been a panelist on webinars discussing a wide variety of PCI related issues on behalf of Tripwire. Mertz has been quoted in “The Green Sheet” – a national payment card industry publication. And, Mertz has spoken at regional seminars regarding compliance and data security issues including the Midwest Consolidated Security Forum (MCSF) and at the Midwest Acquirers Association Convention. Further, Mertz publishes CS PARTNERS’s compliance related newsletters.

Title: Great Debates
Should You Make Love or War? Appropriate Responses to FDCPA Suits

About Manny Newburger:
Manuel H. (Manny) Newburger is the President of Barron, Newburger, Sinsley & Wier, PLLC, a multi-state law firm with offices in Austin, Houston, and Dallas, Texas, Tampa, Florida, and Scarsdale, New York. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Texas School of Law, where he teaches consumer protection law, and the President of Fair Debt Consultants, LLC, through which he provides training and management consulting services to the collection industry. ... Read More » Mr. Newburger is the principal author of Fair Debt Collection Practices: Federal and State Law and Regulation (Sheshunoff & Pratt).

Title: Great Debates
Bankrupt Accounts: Place or Sell

About Rui Pinto-Cardoso:
Rui Pinto-Cardoso is the President & Chief Operating Officer of B-Line LLC, an industry leader in bankruptcy recovery solutions. Rui started his financial services career at First Union National Bank, where he held management positions in the credit card division, risk management and operations. As an analyst, Rui developed streamlined processes, best practices and several portfolio performance tracking metrics. ... Read More » As a manager, Rui oversaw several facets of the internal and external recovery process. Concurrently, Rui was an adjunct professor at the College of Business, Florida International University, where he lectured in Operations Management, to which he brought real-life experience to the otherwise often insipid classroom. Rui holds a BS degree in Engineering from Technical University of Lisbon and an MBA degree from Florida International University.

Title: Healthcare Bad Debt: Foundations for Success in Provider-Agency Partnerships

About Meg Reichardt:
28 years in Customer services and public relations

22 of those years in Customer Services and Medical insurance

Manager Patient Services for University of Rochester Medical Faculty Group

Established and manage the Charity Care Program for URMFG in cooperation with Strong Memorial Hospital Patient Accounts and Highland Hospital Patient Account Offices.

Title: Great Debates
Should You Make Love or War? Appropriate Responses to FDCPA Suits

About Jesse Riddle:
Jesse L. Riddle received his Bachelors of Arts in 1984, and his Juris Doctorate from the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University in 1988. His law practice is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he has developed one of the nation=s leading law firms in the financial industry. Riddle & Associates, P.C. now represents numerous financial institutions, retailers and other businesses throughout the nation.
... Read More »
Mr. Riddle is a nationally recognized expert on the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. He is a member of the Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Texas and Utah Bars, and is admitted to practice and has taken cases before the United States Courts of Appeal for the 2nd, 5th, 7th, 9th and 10th Circuit. Mr. Riddle is also admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court.

Title: Great Debates
Using Attorney Networks: Pro or Con

About Warren Rosenfeld:
A collection attorney directly out of law school in 1980, Warren is generally credited with creating and managing one of the first, if not the first, attorney network in the collection industry. The Rosenfeld Attorney Network began in 1981 at the request of Xerox Corporation. Warren grew the network and continued to enhance it, using state of the art technology in the 1980's and 1990's that permitted the electronic forwarding and management of the network's outsourced accounts. ... Read More » By 1995, The Rosenfeld Attorney Network had more than 150 employees, was forwarding for collection approximately 10,000 accounts per month, and had robust deceased account and bankruptcy collection departments. The Rosenfeld Attorney Network was sold to a publicly traded collections company in late 1998, which subsequently sold it to NCO Group in 1999. NCO continues to manage the attorney network as its own at the present time. Warren was a Vice President with NCO from 1999-2002. Warren was also president of NARCA from 1995 - 1997, and a charter member of the VISA Bankruptcy Reduction Network. After leaving the collection industry in 2002 as part of his employment contract with NCO, Warren was recruited by Automated Collection Control, Inc. (also known as You've Got Claims) in 2005, and today serves as its President and CEO. Warren can be reached at RosenfeldW@YouveGotClaims.com .

Title: Great Debates
Using Attorney Networks: Pro or Con

About Kathy Stermer:
Kathy Stermer is the external recovery Manager with Alliance Data. Kathy is responsible for maintaining relationships with the external collections agencies that in are contract with Alliance Data. She ensures external agencies conduct collection activity with the same integrity as the Alliance Data internal recovery business. In addition she monitors the performance and behaviors of the agencies and creates business strategy in order to meet aggressive monthly collection recovery budgets. ... Read More »

Kathy has worked in the credit and collections industry for over 20 years. Prior to joining Alliance Data, Kathy spent 8 years developing and managing recovery products with Western Union Payment Services as well as 11 years managing recovery collections at Bank One.

Kathy currently attends Mount Vernon Nazarene University in pursuit of her Business degree. Kathy has two daughters, Rebecca and Heather and one totally amazing grandson, Ethan.

Title: Collections Ecosystems

About Allen Wolff:
Allen Wolff, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President

Allen Wolff co-founded and currently serves as Executive Vice President of PaySimple, which began as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Conclave Group, where Allen served as President. At PaySimple, Allen is responsible for new business development and strategic financial planning with a primary objective of working in conjunction with customers to design customized PaySimple solutions that optimize business efficiencies. ... Read More »

Prior to his time with the Conclave Group, Allen participated in more than a dozen private equity transactions representing more than $40M in invested capital during his tenure at SpaceVest, a Washington DC based Venture Capital firm. Allen began his career in the restaurant industry and still owns a BD's Mongolian Barbeque franchise in Bethesda, MD. Allen received his B.A. in Organizational Studies from the University of Michigan and his MBA in Entrepreneurship and Finance from the University of Maryland.