ARM Giant iQor Names New President

iQor, one of the largest accounts receivable management and business process outsourcing providers in the world, recently named Norman Merritt as the company’s president. Merritt, who began the job in early January, replaces Vikas Kapoor.

Merritt, who was previously iQor’s Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer, has been with the company since 2003.

“The change will be pretty seamless to our clients,” Merritt told insideARM.com. “The strategy that we’ve had, we will continue.”

Merritt noted that iQor’s strategy will continue to focus on technology to enhance processes in the ARM space.

“We have a system that is completely rules-based that gives us the ability to be fully compliant and at the same time gives us a competitive advantage,” said Merritt. “It gives us the ability to compete in the lower-balance [work] that many companies in this industry will leave fallow.”

Merritt said that if there is any change in strategy, it will involve a re-focus on the fundamentals of the business. He noted that any strategy shift would be slight, but that a focus on process was probably warranted after the company devoted so much time and energy to technology under his predecessor.

iQor’s Board of Directors said in a statement naming Merritt president, “Vikas Kapoor has left iQor to pursue other interests.  iQor is deeply grateful to Vikas for his leadership and significant technology contributions to the company during an important phase in its evolution.”

Kapoor was named President and CEO of IntelliRisk Management Company (IRMC) in 2004. The company changed its name to iQor in 2007.

In 2010, private equity firm Huntsman Gay bought a majority stake in iQor. Very shortly after the deal, iQor announced that it had acquired RMS, one of the largest commercial collection agencies in the world.

Merritt was instrumental in the RMS acquisition in his position as CFO of iQor. He noted that the company going forward will stay firmly grounded in its ARM roots.

“We think ARM is a growth market,” he said. “There are client companies that are looking for ARM solutions we think we can provide that others aren’t able to provide. We’re really going to grow this business.”

iQor currently employs around 14,000 people in seven countries. The company noted in a statement, “While iQor continues to diversify its voice-centric BPO offerings, ARM-related services still constitutes a majority of its business.” By many measures, iQor is currently the second-largest ARM company in the world.

Norman Merritt

Merritt has spent 16 years in senior leadership roles of public companies, private companies, and company divisions in a number of industries, including technology.  Merritt joined iQor after serving as President, Consumer Direct Division of MortgageIT, the largest privately held mortgage bank in the US with more than $12 billion in annual loans.

Prior to MortgageIT, Merritt was EVP, Sales and Travel Operations for Universal Studios in Orlando, FL, where he led the growth of his division from $60 million to more than $275 million in a two-year period. Prior to Universal, he was Vice President, Product Development and Travel Industry Marketing for The Walt Disney Company. At Disney, Merritt held a number of executive positions over a 10-year period.

Merritt holds an MBA from Harvard University Business School, a bachelor’s in accounting from Brigham Young University, and is also a Certified Public Accountant.