SAN DIEGO, July 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Encore Capital Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: ECPG), a leading accounts receivable management firm, today announced that it has hired Ron Eckhardt to fill the newly created position of Executive Vice President and General Manager. Mr. Eckhardt will report directly to Brandon Black, Encore’s President and Chief Operating Officer, and will be responsible for all facets of the Company’s traditional debt collection business, from portfolio acquisitions through the collection process.
Mr. Eckhardt joins Encore following a 20-year career at Hewlett-Packard, most recently serving as Vice President and General Manager of the Software Services Division of Hewlett-Packard Consulting & Integration for a six-year period. In this position, Mr. Eckhardt managed a workforce of more than 2,000 employees worldwide, and grew this start-up division to over $250 million in annual revenues while consistently exceeding profit goals. Prior to that, Mr. Eckhardt held senior positions in two other start-up divisions at HP, serving as Operations Manager for Test Management & Measurement Systems and Director of Marketing for the Integrated Systems Division. Mr. Eckhardt was instrumental in growing revenue for these start-up divisions to over $50 million and over $100 million respectively.
“We are extremely pleased to add an executive of Ron’s caliber to our management team,” said Mr. Black. “Ron has an exceptional track record for effectively managing growing businesses and is another example of our belief that adding successful executives from more mature, sophisticated industries enhances Encore’s intellectual capital and stimulates further innovation. The strong leadership and organizational skills he developed during his highly productive career at HP make him well suited to manage our core debt collection business. Ron’s addition will allow other members of the management team to increase their focus on pursuing long-term growth strategies such as expanding into the healthcare debt collection market and exploring acquisitions of complementary businesses.”
“I am very excited to join Encore at this time of great opportunity,” said Mr. Eckhardt. “With the recent portfolio acquisition and forward-flow agreement with Jefferson Capital, Encore has built a strong foundation for profitably growing the core debt collection business in the coming years. I look forward to furthering the Company’s efforts to enhance efficiencies and optimize collection productivity in order to continue generating strong returns from this business.”
As previously announced, Mr. Black will succeed Carl C. Gregory, III as Encore’s Chief Executive Officer on October 1, 2005, and the Company intends to eliminate the COO position from its organizational structure at that time.
