Management
Kenneth C. Horne - Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Horne is President & Chief Executive Officer of PEAC and the Horne Family of Companies. He has 35 years experience managing private post secondary colleges. After studying law, Mr. Horne was the founder and President of several colleges and became passionate about helping individual students achieve success. In 1991 he founded PEAC to help other college presidents improve their compliance with loan management requirements and drive down default rates. Mr. Horne received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Commerce & Business Administration from the University of Alabama and a J.D Degree from Cumberland School of Law, Samford.
Tami Jones - Chief Operations Officer
Ms. Jones has been Chief Operating Officer for PEAC and the CARS company since 2004 and is responsible for day-to-day operations. Jones manages approximately 100 employees, including call center personnel, information technology, quality assurance and human resources. Jones reports directly to CEO, Kenneth C. Horne. Jones has also served as Regional Operations Manager of a human capital management company. Ms. Jones received her BA from the University of Montevallo in Mass Communications.
Elizabeth Keifer Herron - Vice President
Ms. Keifer Herron is a founding partner of PEAC and provides technical, operational and professional support to all divisions of the company, and has since its inception in 1992. Ms. Keifer Herron is the primary client service interface, is involved in sales and marketing and has extensive backgrounds in customer service, management and employee development and regulatory compliance. Prior to founding PEAC, she served as the chief lobbyist for the US trade association representing private career colleges. Ms. Keifer Herron received her BA from Douglass College of Rutgers University in political science and economics.
Paula Ponder - Call Center Director
Ms. Ponder has been the on-site Call Center Director since March 2009. She is responsible for managing the PEAC team, processing the bi-monthly reporting to clients, ensuring data management and verification data is processed in a timely manner, interfaces with IT and Systems Director to troubleshoot and resolve dialer and call center technical issues, foster client satisfaction, measure and evaluate processes and outcomes to improve effectiveness, consult on special projects, add, modify, or terminate campaigns when instructed, and handles the day-to-day operations. She reports directly to Elizabeth Herron. Previously, Ms. Ponder was an Admissions Associate and Student Services Director for Virginia College @ Birmingham.
Marc Sizemore - Systems Director
Mr. Sizemore is Systems Director for PEAC's Birmingham, AL operations center. His responsibilities include management of all telephony operations including predictive dialers, interactive voice response systems, customer reporting, scripting software, server management, network management and monitoring. Marc brings 19 years of information technology experience to the team and also has 19 years of post secondary education process experience, including default prevention, financial aid, academic systems, and admissions. Mr. Sizemore has a degree in computer science from Southern Jr. College.
SLA's senior management has over 100 years' combined experience in default prevention and school operations. These individuals helped to craft the SLA service and have intimate knowledge of loan servicing and default prevention. However, successful loan servicing requires more than knowledgeable managers. Extensive employee training and development are integral to successful default prevention. Many schools that establish in-house loan servicing programs find they lack the necessary resources and expertise in this area to cope with the ever-changing regulations, employee turnover and burnout. At SLA, quality control begins with quality hiring, training and motivation. SLA has a training program in place that ensures that only knowledgeable, dedicated and reliable loan advisors are working on your behalf.
Through interviews and testing, SLA screens and hires only those individuals who have good communication skills. Once hired, all SLA personnel undergo extensive training to enhance their communication skills, with an emphasis on phone skills and interacting with student borrowers in a professional, yet persuasive, manner. SLA's average length of service in its call center is more than three years, with the majority of our staff service records approaching ten years.
Finally, PEAC's presence in Washington and involvement in a variety of national student finance organizations ensures that SLA staff receives up-to-the-minute information on changes in laws or regulations which affect our student loan borrowers or the institutions we serve.