The final part in this series about senior-level creditors at the 2019 Collection and Recovery Solutions (CRS) conference takes a closer look at the featured speakers and the discussions they host. See part one and part two to review the educational opportunities and networking events.
This year’s conference takes place May 8 – 10 in the Las Vegas Four Seasons Hotel. More than 175 companies and organizations will attend in conjunction with nearly 40 exhibitors. Attendees will be senior-level creditors from credit unions, banks, management services, asset management companies, federal commissions and bureaus. The event is produced by Resource Management Services Inc., a consulting firm with more than 30 years in the recovery and compliance field.
Featured Speakers
There will be a total of 36 speakers at CRS 2019, including keynote speaker Rich Karlgaard. Other speakers hail from all corners of the collection and recovery industry. Featured here are professionals from law enforcement, auto finance, and senior-level creditors with decades of experience.
Rich Karlgaard
Rich Karlgaard is a well-respected figure in the tech, economic, and business world. In 1998 he was named publisher of Forbes magazine, a title he holds to this day. He’s written three books about technology, business, and education — Life 2.0, The Soft Edge, and Late Bloomers: The Power of Patience in a World Obsessed with Early Achievement. All were well received in their respective industries.
Karlgaard will be giving the keynote “Best Practices in Business Adaptability”. He will deliver a practical understanding of disruptive forces in the world and how they are liable to impact their business and industry. Subjects will include Blockchain technology, the internet of things (IOT), and artificial intelligence (AI).
Ken Evancic
As a collection expert with more than 25 years of experience, Ken Evancic will be running the Pre-Conference 
Two Day Workshop where senior-level creditors can learn practical tips and strategies to improve their audits.
Evancic will also be speaking on “Training Collection Managers to Maximize Performance: Compliance, Coaching and Accountability”. Senior-level creditors and collections managers will learn techniques to get all employees to follow procedures, how to retain top performers, and how to improve the efforts of those who are under-performing.
Evancic has managed delinquency, automated dialers, recovery, and skip tracing and has led initiatives in performance management, collection strategy, collector and manager training, collector reporting, and risk and compliance. As a consultant for Resource Management Services, he specializes in third party compliance and performance audits for collection agencies, top credit grantors and debt buyers.
Chris Bennett
Chris Bennet joined BMW in 2004 and works in their financial services division. He has held over 20 years of retail credit card experience in all aspects of credit and collections. Bennet has developed training and incentive programs for collectors as well as a legal collections department for a major regional department store. He holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Business Administration.
Bennet will be speaking on “Collections in China – Lessons Learned and Insights Gained and How They Might Help Improve Efforts Here and Globally” where he will discuss government regulations and cultural customs in collections for senior-level creditors. Bennet spent nearly five years in China’s auto market collections industry and brought back knowledge to improve collections in the U.S.
Rick Berlin
Rick Berlin will be addressing the topic “It’s Not All About DC. Outside-the-Beltway Enforcement by State Attorneys General”.
Berlin is the managing attorney of the Texas Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division in Houston and has worked as assistant attorney general since 2009. He is in charge of filing lawsuits to protect consumer rights involving debt collections, price-gouging, and income tax preparation fraud targeting working class families. In total, he’s won more than $35,000,000 in multiple jury trials in consumer restitution and civil penalties against debt collectors and credit repair companies. In 2018, Berlin was awarded with the Rising Star award by the National Consumer Law Center for major contributions to consumer law in important and notable legal cases.
Manfred Greger
Manfred Greger is the group manager of Portfolio and Vendor Management at Yamaha Motor Finance. He oversees Yamaha’s third party service providers that support the credit card programs and internal credit card collateral management functions. Prior to Yamaha, Manfred held credit risk management positions for over 35 years with major retail and finance companies in the auto and banking industries. He holds a bachelor’s degree from U.C.L.A.
Gregor will be hosting the “Synthetic Fraud Roundtable” where senior-level creditors will discuss best practices in fraud management. Information on the fast-growing synthetic fraud scheme will be provided in an open forum environment. Attendees can expect to learn how to identify breeder, seed and pollinator accounts, and manipulated and manufactured identities.
Additional Services for Senior-Level Creditors
Optio Solutions will be exhibiting at CRS 2019. Attendees are invited to meet President and CEO Chris Schumacher, Executive Vice President Todd Volkers, and Vice President Ron Roonzani at booth number 41 in the exposition hall to discuss individualized collections strategies.
Schumacher been in leadership positions in the accounts receivable management industry for 28 years, and is an expert in operational management, systems automation, and strategic planning.
Volkers has 25 years of experience in the collection industry, and develops sales strategies and business plans for Optio’s Contingency-Based Collection Services division.
Roonzani has been working in the collections industry for more than 30 years and has been in executive positions with several major collection and recovery companies.
Interested parties with more immediate needs may contact us today to discuss a collections strategy for their organization.
