The P&A Leadership Summit will return to the Paris Las Vegas Hotel, September 8–10, 2014. This will be the second year for the conference, since it grew out of the former VSCAC conference.

Designed for F&I administrators, senior managers, and anyone involved in the administration of F&I products, the show promises a broad offering of topics this year. Attendees can look forward to the show getting back to the roots of why it was first established - giving professionals a forum to discuss every aspect of F&I product administration and the issues that surround them.

The advisory board is on its way to being finalized and will be comprised of some of the industry’s most knowledgeable experts. David Trinder, CEO of F&I Administration Solutions will be chairing the board. The committee will be comprised of ten members. Confirmed to date are Mary A. Gant, senior vice president, Old Republic Insured Automotive Services, Inc.; Lori Hallissey,
 vice president operations and customer experience, Allstate Dealer Services; Dan Lievrouw, vice president of operations and IT, American Guardian Warranty Services, Inc.; George Krnich, vice president, claims & risk management, American Auto Guardian Inc.; Russell Ridley, director, information technology, Gulf States Financial Services Group; Brent Allen, president of StoneEagle; Marc Coulter, owner, M.C.I Inspections; and Mitch Rand, president, Warranty Inspection Services.

What can attendees look forward to this year? While planning is still in the early stages, the advisory board is excited at the prospect of developing sessions that will cover administration from top to bottom. Topics from evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of claims departments and call centers, to sessions on parts sourcing, inspections and much more are on the table with the goal of providing a complete picture of the state of today’s F&I product segment.

“I’m looking forward to working with our cumulative client base to find timely and pertinent topics for the conference,” commented Allen, “It is our hope that attendees will walk away feeling that they found great value, and that their time was well spent.”

Trinder said, “We want the summit to be a forum to discuss the core issues around managing costs and driving revenue in F&I. We are pleased at the level of industry knowledge and expertise represented by the board. There are so many industry experts who have agreed to serve on the board. With such a wealth of experience between them, I am really excited about getting started planning a fantastic show this year.”

Rand noted, “The importance of what happens after a service contract is sold and a customer claim has been filed should be a higher priority at the P&A Summit. I'm very excited to start talking about how alternative part providers and inspection companies play an important role in customer retention and overall customer satisfaction in our industry. Combine this with the advanced technology and information that we can make available to our clients, and I'm confident we will have some very important discussions.”

Gant, who formerly served on the advisory board for the Vehicle Service Contracts Administrators Conference (VSCAC) said she is looking forward to the P&A leadership summit and being a part of the planning. “It is a great place to network with other professionals on current topics that affect our industry,” commented Gant. She brings a unique understanding of the underwriting process as well as a seasoned perspective of accounting and administrative issues to the advisory board. She expects for the session topics to address the most relevant issues present in the industry today.

“As a committee,” said Krnich, "we want to provide a comprehensive overview of topics applicable to administrative challenges in F&I. We will be looking at sessions that focus on evaluating the effectiveness of your claims department. We will also discuss customer service skills, communication skills and call center efficiency as planning gets underway. It will be interesting to see what other aspects of the industry arise once we start discussions.”

Lievrouw agreed and added, "I am looking forward to talking about customer service and claims handling service level standards."

"I am excited and honored to be on the board this year," says Coulter, "The warranty companies' are asking for consistency and the only way to do this is by having an industry standard for training. This is all we have ever done at my company and I feel like we have written the book on how to do inspections. The more we can train people in a consistent manner that meets industry standards, the more smoothly the whole system is going to work. I really look forward to exploring this topic further with the board as we plan sessions for the fall."

The P&A Leadership Summit is a joint production between P&A magazine and F&I and Showroom magazine. Formerly known as the VSCAC, P&A Leadership Summit was renamed to reflect a renewed focus on the high-level issues facing the auto finance industry today.

Topics last year included sessions on technology, an all-star panel of agents who explored current issues and hot topics in the industry, and a presentation on preserving competition in auto financing given by David Wescott, chairman, NADA.

Scott Eisenberg, founder and managing partner, Amherst Partners spoke on the U.S. Fidelis debacle in his presentation, “U.S. Fidelis: Lessons Learned from the Inside.” Having been assigned by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to steer U.S. Fidelis through bankruptcy, Eisenberg gave an insiders account of this history-making case. In his presentation, he shed light on what led to the collapse of the company and the eventual imprisonment of its owners. Eisenburg explained why no one predicted the downfall of U.S. Fidelis and the impact it had on the service-contract industry. Attendees learned how not to make the same mistakes in this riveting presentation.

Another session favorite in 2013 was the keynote address delivered by attorney Terry O’Loughlin, director of compliance, Reynolds and Reynolds. In his presentation, “Think Like a Regulator,” he demonstrated some of the pitfalls of documentation using real deal jackets. Also discussed were simple, effective processes dealers could use to eliminate potentially fraudulent situations and the key areas regulators tend to focus on.

For more information about the P&A Leadership Summit 2014 visit www.pa-leadershipsummit.com or contact David Gesualdo via email or at 727-947-4027. Advance tickets are on sell now with discount early-bird rates available. The conference will take place September 8 – 10, 2014 at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel.