Nationwide Credit, Inc. Names Anthony Marino as President and CEO

KENNESAW, GA – Nationwide Credit, Inc. (NCI), one of the largest accounts receivable management companies in the United States, today announced that it has named Anthony Marino as President and Chief Executive Officer.

Marino, 46, joins NCI from Sears, Roebuck and Co., where he served in various executive capacities since 1997. During his tenure, he managed Sears Credit collections, recovery, processing, fraud, bankruptcy operations, and customer service. In addition, as Vice President of Sears’ Customer Care Network, he oversaw inbound customer service for the Chicago-based retailer, as well as telemarketing, catalog and online operations. He managed an operating budget of over $400 million and was responsible for over $1 billion in sales.

An industry veteran, Marino brings to NCI over 20 years of experience in call center collections, customer service and operational excellence. His depth of knowledge spans both the client side, including Sears, as well as the provider side, serving banks, telecoms, healthcare, commercial and government clients in executive positions at Equifax, GC Services, and ACB Business Services, a division of First Data Corporation.

“Anthony’s experience and reputation for excellence on both sides of the industry make him perfect for the job,” said Henry Wolfond, Chairman of NCI. “Under his leadership, NCI will quickly move to become the industry leader in performance, service and innovative customer solutions.”

Initially, Marino will focus his attention on enhancing NCI’s collections and recovery efforts and broadening the company’s service offerings. As needed, he will reengineer process flows and strategies – areas where he has vast experience. At Sears he boosted productivity in the double digits across all business lines, and will use this experience to help bring NCI’s productivity to a world-class level.

“NCI’s blue-chip client base, improved financials, and longstanding reputation for quality service are what attracted me to join the company,” said Marino. “I am extremely enthusiastic about building on this solid foundation for the benefit of clients, employees and shareholders.”

Marino succeeds Michael Lord, 55, a financial turnaround specialist who led NCI’s corporate refinancing effort, which was completed in late 2002. Following a brief transition period, Lord will leave NCI to pursue other opportunities that leverage his expertise in financial restructuring.

Now that NCI has one of the strongest balance sheets in the industry, Marino’s charge will be to develop new customer service and technology initiatives that are more suited to the needs of individual clients in order to garner additional business from existing clients and expand its client base.

“It is very gratifying to know that NCI will have someone of Anthony’s caliber at the helm going forward,” said Mr. Lord. “He has the breadth and depth of experience needed to enhance NCI’s future growth.”

Nationwide Credit, Inc. (NCI), based in Atlanta, is one of the largest accounts receivable management companies in the United States. The privately held company, whose majority owner is Bayshore Capital of Toronto, has approximately 2,500 employees at 11 locations throughout the U.S. and Canada. The company also has a joint venture with Tracmail in Mumbai, India, to handle first-party collections. NCI’s clients include: banks; finance companies; retailers; government agencies; as well as telecommunications and energy concerns.