The “Getting to Know” series is sponsored by Applied Innovation. Applied Innovation is helping to shape the future of accounts receivable management. Product development is driven by customer feedback, agency profitability and compliance and includes platforms addressing client portal access, document management, payment negotiation, Regulation E focused electronic payment authorizations and TCPA communication authorization platforms. Partner with a company who understands your business challenges and evolves to provide cutting edge technology to overcome those challenges and achieve success.
Amy Mertz Brown is the type of person you never want to see across from you at the poker table. Anyone who says his or her greatest skill is “reading people,” is someone to be avoided when a deck of cards is in the room. But it’s a great skill for someone who, until recently, spent her career in public service, helping build the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Read on to learn more about Amy and how serendipity led her to the accounts receivable management industry.
Name: Amy Mertz Brown
Job Title: Chief Compliance Officer
Company: Gurstel Law Firm, P.C.
Length of Time at Current Company: Four months
Length of Time in Industry: Four months in the creditors rights industry, plus about five years doing debt collection on behalf of the federal government earlier in my career, and 30+ years in the financial services industry generally.
How did you get your start in the industry?
A fortuitous conversation that occurred in a D.C. airport lead to my being recruited by the firm.
What is your career highlight so far?
Helping to start up the CFPB. I joined a team of 25 in November 2010 and for the next eight years I helped lay the foundation for a brand new federal agency and grow the agency to the size it is today (around 1,500 employees).
When or how are you most productive?
Late afternoon/evening. I am a night owl.
Which industry professional do you admire most?
I admire the entrepreneurial spirit and accomplishments of our firm’s CEO, Todd Gurstel.
What is one thing you do better than everyone else?
Read people.
What do you like most about this industry?
I really enjoy the combination of challenging regulatory compliance law and issues, litigation practice, and operational challenges in a highly-regulated industry.
What is one thing you wish you could change about this industry?
I’m still pretty new, but from what I’ve seen so far, I wish the industry had a better understanding of and insight into its federal regulator, so industry participants could be smarter and more strategic about how to position themselves to have a good working relationship with the regulator.
Describe a typical work day.
Nonstop meetings with other executives in the firm and with my team, and plowing through mountains of emails.
If you weren’t in this industry, what would you be doing?
I would probably still be serving as Chief Compliance Officer at the SEC, or I would be CCO at a financial services company.
What is your guilty pleasure?
Chocolate chip cookies.
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What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
“Look for the beautiful things in life.”
What are you currently reading?
A novel called “Transcendent Kingdom,” by Yaa Gyasi.
What is one fact you’d like everyone in the industry to know about you
One fun fact about me is that I was born and raised in a small town on the island of Oahu in the state of Hawaii. Mention it when we meet up at an industry conference and it’ll be a great icebreaker.
Who else would you like to see answer these questions?
Brit Suttell at Barron & Newburger.
The “Getting to Know” series is sponsored by Applied Innovation. Applied Innovation is helping to shape the future of accounts receivable management. Product development is driven by customer feedback, agency profitability and compliance and includes platforms addressing client portal access, document management, payment negotiation, Regulation E focused electronic payment authorizations and TCPA communication authorization platforms. Partner with a company who understands your business challenges and evolves to provide cutting edge technology to overcome those challenges and achieve success.
