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.
Patricia Cobb is a study in contradictions. Solving problems and keeping the peace. Laughing and common sense. Common sense and a nice person. It is all of those skills and the ability to manage them effectively that has helped her rise up the ranks in two different industries. Read on to learn more about Patricia, why she thrives in crisis situations, and what she likes to go home to at the end of the day.
Name: Patricia A. Cobb
Job Title: Chief Operations Officer
Company: Ability Recovery Services, LLC
Length of Time at Current Company: 2.5 years
Length of Time in Industry: 20 Years
How did you get your start in the industry?
Seventeen years in the banking industry ended when a regional bank acquired our large community bank. A group of investors, including a friend of mine from my banking days, was in the process of buying a collection agency and starting debt buying and asked me to come on board to run the company as Executive Vice President.
What is your career highlight so far?
Being promoted to be the first female Executive Vice President in Community Banking in Northeast Pennsylvania in 1995 and then again acquiring the same position upon entry into the collection industry.
When or how are you most productive?
I am most productive in tough situations and crisis situations. I remain calm, analyze and get a game plan and a team assembled for mitigation, and come out successfully on the other side.
Which industry professional do you admire most?
Irwin Bernstein, a man who came into this industry from a totally different successful professional career and has developed knowledge of this industry and more importantly products for this Industry.
What is one thing you do better than everyone else?
Solve problems and keep the peace.
What do you like most about this industry?
The level of service that professionally run companies offer to businesses and governmental units nationally and internationally coupled with career opportunities from entry level up.
What is one thing you wish you could change about this industry?
Its reputation.
Describe a typical work day.
After all these years I am back on a 10-to-12 hour work day running a smaller/mid-sized agency. Check emails, check with supervisors, update budgets and numbers in general, make sure clients are happy. Read daily industry publications. Review any outstanding litigation on a daily basis. If I have the luxury of supplementing the training officer’s work with an impromptu training session, great (I love to teach). Handle problems, client, consumer and personnel issues, look through analytics, follow up daily on outsourced functions and review vendor issues. Right now for the next few months Regulation F. Then I go home to my husband and my kitten.
If you weren’t in this industry, what would you be doing?
Executive level position in finance.
The Getting to Know Series is Sponsored By:
What is your guilty pleasure?
New York Yankees (I am very depressed after this season).
What is the best advice you have ever received?
Laugh and have a thick skin.
What are you currently reading?
“The Empire of Gold“, Book 3 in the Daevabad Trilogy by S.A. Chakraborty
What is one fact you’d like everyone in the industry to know about you?
I have common sense and am a nice person.
Who else would you like to see answer these questions?
Lisa Weiler
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
