2010 Faculty List

2010 Keynote Speakers

Tony Wanderon
President
Allstate Dealer Services

Tony Wanderon is President of Allstate Dealer Services (First Colonial Insurance Company, American Heritage Insurance Services, Pablo Creek Services, Inc.), a Sr. Vice President of American Heritage Life and Assistant Vice President, Emerging Businesses at Allstate Insurance Company. Since becoming President of Allstate Dealer Services in 2001, he has broadened the company’s relationships with auto dealerships, implemented new infrastructure and expanded its products and sales countrywide.  He also led Allstate into the Vehicle Service Contract business, both in the underwriting and administration of its private label, and CarMor_® branded VSA. Tony also serves on Allstate’s Emerging Businesses Strategic Steering Committee.

Prior to his current role, Tony was partner and president of ERJ Insurance Group and managed the auto dealer aftermarket products and training division. ERJ established in 1981, provided F&I products and training to dealers country wide.  In 1999, ERJ was acquired by American Heritage Life (AHL) and combined with the Credit Division of AHL, which sold a variety of credit life, disability and collateral protection products through banks, credit unions and customer finance companies, furniture, jewelry stores and auto dealerships. Later that year, American Heritage Life was acquired by Allstate. Tony has more than 24 years experience in the insurance and auto industry and has personally trained thousands of finance and insurance managers and sales staff. Tony is a former board member of the Consumer Credit Insurance Association (CCIA) and Guaranteed Asset Protection Alliance (GAPA).

 
                      
 Forrest Heathcott
 President
 JM&A Group

Forrest Heathcott is president of JM&A Group (JM&A), one of the largest independent providers of finance and insurance (F&I) products and services in the automotive industry, and executive vice president of parent company JM Family Enterprises, Inc. (JM Family), a diversified automotive corporation ranked by Forbes as the 30th-largest privately held company in the U.S. Heathcott is responsible for directing, administering and overseeing the activities relating to JM&A’s F&I, warranty products and services operations. He also serves as a member of JM Family’s Executive Management Team, which oversees the development and implementation of the company’s long-range planning and strategies for future growth. Founded in 1978, JM&A is an inter-related group of companies that offer quality F&I retail products and systems for approximately 2,800 automotive dealerships and retail automotive outlets, which represent all manufacturer makes and models. The products are designed to help maximize profitability on vehicle sales and after-sale opportunities.
Heathcott has 31 years of automotive marketing and retail experience. He joined the company in 1993 as director of remarketing for JM Family subsidiary Southeast Toyota Distributors, LLC (Southeast Toyota). A year later, he transitioned to JM Family subsidiary World Omni Financial Corp. as vice president of national sales and remarketing. In 1999, Heathcott rejoined Southeast Toyota as group vice president, Distributor Operations. He was promoted to group vice president, assistant general manager of Southeast Toyota that same year, and became senior vice president, assistant general manager in 2004. Heathcott was promoted to his current position in June 2007. Before joining JM Family, he served over 14 years in a variety of regional and national posts with Nissan Motor Corporation in the United States.
Heathcott graduated from Harding University with a bachelor’s degree in marketing. He is currently serving as Chairman of the Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. He is also an active supporter of Habitat for Humanity, Boca Ballet Theater Company, Youth Automotive Training Center, United Way of Broward County, The Boggy Creek Gang and Saint Andrew’s School. He and his wife, Chris, have two children and reside in Boca Raton, Fla.
JM Family (www.jmfamily.com) is currently ranked No. 28 by FORTUNE® as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For, its 12th consecutive year on the list. The company is also ranked No. 8 on Computerworld’s list of “100 Best Places to Work in IT.”
In addition to JM&A, primary subsidiaries and divisions include: Southeast Toyota Distributors, LLC, the world’s largest independent distributor of Toyota and Scion vehicles; World Omni Financial Corp., a diversified financial services company; JM Service Center LLC, the company’s internal shared services center; and JM Lexus, the largest volume Lexus dealership in the world. Headquartered in Deerfield Beach, Fla., JM Family has major operations in Jacksonville and Margate, Fla.; Commerce and Alpharetta, Ga.; Mobile, Ala.; and St. Louis, Mo.

Terry Keating
Managing Director
Amherst Partners

Mr. Keating provides strategic and financial advisory services, including strategic planning, ownership/management transition, merger and acquisition advisory, and turnaround and restructuring advisory services to middle market financial services and business services companies.  Mr. Keating has spent more than 15 years in the financial services industry working with a diverse group of companies in a variety of roles.  Specific industry expertise includes consumer and commercial finance, leasing and financial technology companies.  
Prior to joining Amherst Partners, Mr. Keating spent more than 25 years in the financial services industry working with middle market clients. As a senior executive at LaSalle Bank, Mr. Keating established a business unit charged with providing credit and other bank products to the financial services sector, including consumer finance, commercial finance, leasing and mortgage banking.  Mr. Keating understands the policies, procedures, practices and technology used by successful financial services companies.  Having performed due diligence on over 400 companies, Mr. Keating has strong operational knowledge and understands the “best practices” necessary for success.  Mr. Keating has served as an expert witness and provided testimony in criminal and civil matters. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and seminars, regularly quoted by the media, and written articles on the financial services industry.
Mr. Keating earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Valparaiso University and an MBA from the Keller Graduate School of Management at DeVry University.  Mr. Keating is a member of the American Financial Services Association (AFSA), Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), Turnaround Management Association (TMA), American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI), Risk Management Association (RMA) and the Executives Club of Chicago.  Mr. Keating also serves on the Board of Directors for Kaleidoscope, Inc., a child social services agency in Chicago that helps troubled, abandoned and neglected children.  He served as Treasurer from 1995 through 1998, and Chairman from 1998 through 2006 and is currently the Chair of the Development Committee. Mr. Keating also serves on the Board of Directors for River North Chicago Dance Company.

James S. Ganther
President & CEO
Mosaic Compliance Services

James S. Ganther is the President of Mosaic Compliance Services, a lawyer-created company that provides legal compliance services on behalf of retail dealerships.  He is a member of the National Association of Dealer Counsel, and has been honored as a member of F&I Management and Technology Magazine's “Who’s Who in F&I.”  He is a frequent author and speaker on compliance topics, and co-authored The FTC Safeguards Rule Compliance Kit, Second Edition.  He lives in Tampa, Florida with his wife and their seven children.  His hobbies include Little League, car pools, and tuition.

  

2010 Confirmed Speakers

 
Brent Allen
President-Systems Warranty Dept.
StoneEagle Insurance Systems

Brent Allen is the President of StoneEagle Ins. Systems Warranty department and StoneEagle.com. He has 20 years of experience in developing software solutions for the Service Contract Industry. He has worked in every aspect involved in the development and application of Administration systems ranging from receipts of cash to claims adjudication and loss control reporting. Brent has led the StoneEagle team in over 30 service contract system conversions and implementations. He and the team of managers at StoneEagle have created some of the foremost solutions in the industry including credit card payment processes for third party administrators, dealer penetration reporting, service bay sales, direct marketing applications, and data transmittal services.

Pete Biscardi
President
Natinal Auto Care Corporation

Peter Biscardi has been involved in the automobile industry since the early seventies.  His experience runs the gamut from retail and wholesale to leasing and rental and fleet administration; working primarily in the Northeast.
In 1973, Pete was instrumental in opening the first retail sales operation for the Hertz Corporation, consequently serving in various management positions within the automobile industry.
After a number of years, he began thinking about striking out on his own and, in 1982 he formed P&L Enterprises, an independent agency specializing in the marketing of vehicle service contracts to automobile dealerships.  It was his success in this field that brought him to the attention of one of the largest vehicle service contract administrators in the country, based in San Diego, CA and in 1986 he joined that company as its Northeast Regional Manager, setting a number of production records for that region.  In 1990, he joined NAC as the Executive Vice President and in August 2003, Pete was named President of NAC.  Under his continued leadership, National Auto Care maintains its reputation as a competitive force in the service contract industry.

Lori Hallissey
Senior V.P. Administration
Protective Life Insurance Company

Lori  has been in the auto and insurance industry since the early 1980’s. After spending several years at a GM Dealership she became enamored with F & I ancillary products and the aftermarket aspect of the business and began steering her career in that direction.  She worked for a TPA, and then very large multi-state agency and helped build a TPA start up that was later acquired by Protective. In her 23 year career with Protective, she has been involved in multiple acquisitions, system conversions and currently holds the title of Sr. Vice President – Administration where she oversees the operations and administration of the APD offices in Los Angeles, Canada and Chicago where she is based.

                            
 
Kumar Kathinokkula
COO
F&I Administration Solutions

Kumar Kathinokkula is the COO of F&I Administration Solutions, the leading provider of administration solutions for F&I products. He is responsible for the development and management of the SCS Auto Platform which is specifically designed to support Vehicle Service Contracts, GAP, Prepaid Maintenance, Appearance Protection and more. Previously, Kumar was Director of Product Management at DealerTrack Inc where he was responsible for the development and management of the DealerTrack Aftermarket Network and the SCS Auto platform. He has more than 15 years of technology management experience with a specific concentration in delivery of Finance and Insurance solutions on the Microsoft technology platform, including consulting experience at Deloitte Consulting and CGI Group, Inc. 

Michael Southerland
Vice President, New Business Development
PROCON Protect & Connect

Mr. Michael Southerland is currently employed with VP New Business Development & Race Marketing ProCon Inc. located in Knoxville, TN. Dealing with manufacturing and sales of GPS products; Tracking of freight, monitoring refrigeration in stores, 18- wheelers and shipping.  Asset management and inventory control by satellite and financial institution payment control and collateral collection.

Michael was previously employed by President of Dealer First GPS and Device Code distributor located in Franklin, North Carolina until purchased by PROCON in August of 2008. Prior to that, he was with the United Car Care Service Contract Provider located in

Denver, Colorado and worked as a National Sales Manager. Michael also worked as a Sales Manager with the company Avid Insurance Services Multi product Dealership Agency located in Dunedin, Florida and also held an Executive V.P. position with APCO Easy Care Service Contracts in Atlanta, Georgia

He currently resides in the Great Smokey Mountains in a log home and has a partnership in Nitro Investments Motorsports and also sponsors nitro powered dragsters and funny cars through NHRA.

Mark Virag
Managing Director
Provider Exchange Network 

Mark Virag is Managing Director of the Provider Exchange Network (PEN) division of Open Dealer Exchange, LLC. He is responsible for the financial success of this division, including strategy, sales, marketing and technology. Prior to this position, Virag held senior-level technology positions at BMW Finance, AutoNation and MenuVantage. He is a leader in the field of web-based systems for automotive finance, having developed BMW InfoBahn, AutoNation Express as well as the MenuVantage menu selling system.
He graduated with a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Michigan.