The collections industry is filled with stories of people who have worked their way up from starting as a collection agent. Jason Davis should stand as a testament to what is possible for those who are just getting started in the industry. In 15 years, Davis has gone from being a phone agent to the Senior Vice President of Compliance at Enhanced Recovery Company. In that time, he has worked his up through most of the different departments inside a collection agency. And while his guilty pleasure may skirt the boundaries of the law and of physics, he still finds time to read to his four kids.
Name: Jason Davis
Company: Enhanced Recovery Company, LLC d.b.a ERC d.b.a. Enhanced Resource Centers
Length of time at current company: Combined total of 12 Years
Length of time in industry: 15+ Years
How did you get your start in the industry? A friend of mine worked at what is now U.S. Bank (Formerly Firstar Bank) and helped me land a position in their auto recovery department, securing payments on 30+ day delinquencies.
What is your career highlight so far? Starting from an on the phone agent, being able to work through the ranks of Operational Management, Quality Assurance, Information Technology, and ultimately ending up as the Senior Vice President of Compliance, via a strong work ethic and a passionate drive for success.
Which industry professional do you admire most? I would have to say that it would be the entire leadership team here at ERC. I would rank them as some of the best in the industry and really couldn’t choose just one of them.
What is one thing you do better than everyone else? Follow-up. When something gets on my radar, I am annoyingly good at following up with people to ensure that tasks get completed.
When or how are you most productive? I am typically the most productive in the morning, prior to the plan of the day being disrupted by 100 different fires. The How, that is relying on great people and not being a solo player.
What do you like most about this industry? The fact that it is extremely fast-paced, ever changing, and has a tremendous impact on the credit world, without debt collections, the financial world would be very different.
What is one thing you wish you could change about this industry? Its public perception. Debt collectors are automatically assumed to be the “Bad Guys” and although the industry may have earned that years and years ago, today’s environment is a much different place than it was even five years ago. The vast majority of the players in our industry now are not like the debt collectors of old.
If you weren’t in this industry, what would you be doing? Likely, some sort of information technology, auditing or computer coding.
Describe a typical work day. Wake up, get ready for work, drive to work and think about plans for the day. Arrive at work, throw the plans out the window, and deal with fire after fire. I am partially kidding, of course. This industry is so competitive and rapidly changing, it seems that there are is always 40 hours of tasks to complete in each workday.
What is your guilty pleasure? Driving fast!
What is the best advice you’ve ever received? There are two: To always be fair, firm, and consistent, and to always be legal, moral, and ethical.
What are you currently reading? Children’s books! With four kids, that’s pretty much all that I read lately.
What is one fact you’d like everyone in the industry to know about you? That’s a good question, I really don’t know how to answer this one.
Who else would you like to see answer these questions?
