Club Business
Paul Mauney, one of our past presidents, made a special guest appearance today, filling in for current president Jim Cartner, who is away on special assignment and is greatly missed. Is he really coming back?! Joseph Williams led the prayer and the pledge of allegiance to the US flag. Paul shared Jim’s history trivia list. We had no visiting Rotarians or special guests this week.
Anyone who wishes to attend the District Conference April 26-28 should contact Katie Dukeshire right away since the registration deadline is April 8. Paul also encouraged us to make our annual contribution to the RI foundation, if we have not previously done so this year.
Next week Philip Smith has the program.
Click here to see all scheduled program dates and responsibilities.
April Birthdays and Anniversaries
5 | Cathryn Hartwell | 7 | James and Bonnie Honeycutt |
14 | Deva Reece | 28 | Cliff and Karon Parker |
17 | Trip Durham | 30 | Thomas and Lea Phelps |
Happy Dollar Announcements
- Chuck Stedman asked for a refund of last week’s happy dollar after Tennessee bowed out of the NCAA tournament.
- Deva Reece said he was thankful pro baseball players chose to pledge their allegiance to our nation rather than take a knee, as do some NFLers.
- Pete Beck mumbled something about not mentioning Duke or UNC basketball before giving a shout out for the movie, Unplanned, which he said is definitely worth seeing. It’s playing at the local theater.
Club Member Providing Today’s Program: Burlington Police Chief Jeff Smythe
Jeff has lived in our community and been Burlington’s Chief of Police for the last six years. He has been a member of our club for the same amount of time and is a Paul Harris Fellow.
Jeff has served in law enforcement for 33 years with various units, including three years at Arizona State University, nineteen years with the Scottsdale, Arizona Police Department, and five years as the Chief of Police with the Show Low Police Department. He has held a variety of positions in law enforcement, such as undercover narcotics enforcement with the Phoenix-based Drug Enforcement Administration task-forces, as a supervisor for Bicycle Patrol and High Enforcement Arrest Team (HEAT) in Scottsdale, and the lieutenant over the training function and property crimes division in Scottsdale as well. During his tenure as chief with the Show Low Police Department, he led that agency to its first CALEA accreditation. This was his second agency to gain accreditation after Scottsdale in 1994. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in justice studies from Arizona State University and a master’s in educational leadership from Northern Arizona University. In 2007, he graduated from the Northwestern University School of Police Staff and Command (Session 242), and he attended the FBI National Academy (Session 244) in 2011. As of January 2018, Chief Smythe will be sworn in as a CALEA commissioner.
Program: Scott Horowitz – VP of Operations at PRA Group
PRA Group began in 1996 as Portfolio Recovery Associates, headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia. As a global leader in acquiring and collecting nonperforming loans through local subsidiaries, they return capital to banks and other creditors to help expand financial services for consumers in the Americas and Europe.
Founded in 1996 by Steve Fredrickson and Kevin Stevenson, the vision for the company was to create a professional business in the debt recovery market. Specifically, the goal was to build a company that treated customers fairly and with respect, met high levels of compliance and reliability, and created rewarding careers for its employees.
The company went public on November 8, 2002 as Portfolio Recovery Associates, Inc. and changed its name to PRA Group, Inc. in October 2014. Over the past 20 years, PRA, through its subsidiaries, has grown to become one of the largest debt buyers in the world, with more than 5,700 employees in 16 countries.
Locally the group employs around 600 employees in Burlington. Scott said he started out working in a call center and progressed up through the ranks to senior management. The company places a high value on internal promotions and personnel development. PRA is committed to investing in local communities, too, which is one reason it chose to locate at Holly Hill Mall. Employees invest man hours in volunteering locally. Last year some 300 hours were given in service in addition to over $75,000 donated to local non-profits.
During a Q&A session, Thomas Phelps asked if the facility is open 24/7. Scott said, no, but it is open seven days a week. Trip Durham asked where they get their employees. Scott replied that they have no issue in hiring qualified people. They put a strong emphasis on training, which includes transmitting company values to all employees. David Moore wondered what kind of money employees make. Scott replied that minimum wage is twelve dollars an hour. Chuck Stedman asked if the PRA Group actually purchases debts, to which the answer was yes. Scott said they are able to offer flexible terms to debtors. Mary Thomas Gilbert inquired as to what kinds of debts are purchased. Scott told her that much of it is credit card debt with some defaulted car loans included.
Conclusion
Paul presented our speaker with a book to donate to an individual or institution of his choice in support of literacy. Micah held the winning ticket in our weekly raffle, but failed to draw the Queen of Diamonds. Only 49 cards left! Paul adjourned the meeting by leading us in a recitation of Rotary’s four-way test.