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Rex Ellison, President and Chief Executive Officer, joined the Republic Finance team in 2001 and has served in the Consumer Finance industry for more than thirty years. Rex has extensive experience in Operations, Management and Marketing, having served prior to Republic Finance as the Senior Vice President and Division Manager as well as Senior Vice President of Corporate Marketing at Wells Fargo Financial. Currently, Rex serves on the Independent’s Advisory Board for American Financial Services Association as their Ex-Officio/past chairman, is a member of National Installment Lenders Association, is President of Mississippi Consumer Finance Association, is Chair-Elect of Louisiana Finance Association and is a member of all our state finance associations. In addition, he serves as a board member and past Board President of Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation for Louisiana. A native of Iowa, Rex received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Northern Iowa with a major in Financial Management and a minor in Economics. Rex is humbled to be the CEO of some of the most passionate, smart and dedicated personnel in the Consumer Finance industry. He believes that the way the company’s team members serve its customers, fellow employees and communities defines its brand, and that Republic Finance is truly more than just consumer loans.
Anne Kurz, Chief Administrative Officer, joined the Republic Finance team in 1999 and has served in the Consumer Finance industry for more than eighteen years. Anne received her bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University. Prior to joining Republic Finance, she spent many years in the banking and mortgage industries, where she progressed from management trainee to branch management positions, loan servicing management, as well as strategic planning. Anne joined Republic Finance serving as its Senior Vice President of Administration and was later promoted to the company’s Chief Administrative Officer; however, her roles have changed dramatically over the years. Her areas of responsibility include human resources, information systems, audit, legal and regulatory affairs, compliance, branch systems support and project management. Active in state and national industry associations, she is also a former board member of the South Carolina Financial Services Association, Tennessee Consumer Finance Association and Alabama Installment Lenders Association. Anne believes Republic Finance’s competitive advantage is its ability to build relationships with its customers to identify the financial solutions best for their circumstances.
Mark Freeman, Chief Financial Officer, joined the Republic Finance team in 2018, having twenty-eight years of financial services experience. Prior to joining Republic, Mark spent seven years with a large mortgage banking company and its affiliates in various finance and capital markets roles, including Senior Vice President and Treasurer. Prior to that, Mark spent the majority of his career in investment banking for several global banks where he primarily served specialty finance clients in advisory and origination roles related to debt, securitization and corporate finance. Mark received his BBA from the University of Texas as well as his MBA from Tulane University.
Brad Noel, Director of Operations, joined the Republic Finance team in 2017 and has served in the Consumer Finance industry for nearly forty years. Brad has extensive experience in the industry, having held positions including Branch Manager, District Manager, Regional Manager, Vice President, Senior Vice President, Chief Officer of Operations and Chief Executive Officer prior to joining Republic Finance. Having grown up in the Consumer Finance industry, he has moved six times all over the country. Brad currently serves as the company’s Senior Vice President of Operations, overseeing western Louisiana and the company’s expansion into Texas. A native of Minnesota, Brad received a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from St. Cloud State University, where he played football, earning the title of All-American his junior year for the most tackles in a single season. He serves as the American Financial Services Association’s Vice Chairman as well as on its Independents Board. Brad believes Republic Finance’s employees possess tremendous amounts of talent and is proud to be a leader of a company that acts with honesty, integrity, and pride in everything it does.
Michael “Mick” Stanton joined the Republic Finance team in April 2020 as an EVP, serving as General Counsel, Company Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer. Mick has extensive experience in financial services, corporate finance, M&A, corporate governance, and regulatory compliance. Prior to Republic, Mick spent 7 years as Deputy General Counsel for a large, publicly-traded mortgage originator and servicer, and 16 years in private practice working at large law firms in New York, Los Angeles and Sydney. Mick received his JD and BA in Economics from the University of New South Wales. Mick is inspired by the passion and talent of our team members and their relentless drive to deliver excellent customer service.
Bill Allen, Senior Vice President of Operations, joined the Republic Finance team in 2006 and has served in the Consumer Finance industry for more than thirty years. Bill attended Charleston Southern University for two years, where he competed on the university’s track team, before transferring to Francis Marion University to complete his bachelor’s degree in accounting. Prior to joining Republic Finance, Bill served as a District Manager in the Consumer Finance industry over West Tennessee and Southeastern Missouri before relocating to South Carolina where he was District Manager over Upstate South Carolina, Western North Carolina and parts of Northern Georgia. Upon joining Republic Finance, Bill served as the Regional Vice President for the North Mississippi as well as East Tennessee areas. Later promoted to Senior Vice President, he currently oversees the company’s Tennessee, Kentucky, North Mississippi and upstate South Carolina locations. Bill believes that Republic Finance’s most valuable asset, as well as its competitive advantage within the industry, is the exceptional quality of employees present at all levels of the company.
Eddie Dotson, Senior Vice President of Operations, joined the Republic Finance team in 2008 and has served in the Consumer Finance industry for 36 years. Eddie attended Armstrong State University and has worked his way up through the industry, having held positions including Manager Trainee, Branch Manager, and Regional Vice President. Upon joining Republic Finance, he served as its Regional Vice President of the eastern region of South Carolina and currently oversees the company’s Alabama, Georgia and west and central South Carolina branches as its Senior Vice President. Eddie, who strives to live by the phrase “you reap what you sow and you get out what you put in,” is proud to be a leader of a growing company with a strong vision and mission to create opportunities for its team members, provide exceptional service to its customers and give back to its communities through philanthropic efforts. He believes Republic Finance’s competitive advantage is its talented, motivated and respectful team members. Eddie takes pride in the company’s brand and feels privileged to be a part of the senior leadership team that is responsible for developing strategic plans to achieve the company’s goals.
Kyle Fenton, Senior Vice President of Operations, joined the Republic Finance team in 2002 and has served in the Consumer Finance industry for nearly 20 years. He received his bachelor’s degree in International Business from Bowling Green State University in 1996. Upon joining Republic Finance, he served as the company’s Regional Vice President, overseeing offices in both Louisiana and Mississippi. Kyle was promoted to Senior Vice President in 2013 and currently supervises the state of Louisiana and the majority of branches in the state of Mississippi. He is proud of the company’s tremendous branch expansion and growth in recent years, as well as its fantastic financial results; however, he is most proud of being part of Republic Finance’s recruitment of bright and talented individuals whom he is able to help achieve career goals that are important to them. Kyle believes the company’s competitive advantage is its marketing process that drives new branch openings and rapid growth of newly established offices, as well as the talented team members that truly make Republic Finance unique.
Jay Jolly, Head of Branch Operations Support Team, joined the Republic Finance team in 1999 and has served in the Banking and Finance industry for nearly forty years. Jay received his bachelor’s degree in finance from Louisiana State University and joined Louisiana National Bank as a Management Trainee in 1980. After nineteen years of extensive experience in the Banking industry, Jay joined Republic Finance serving as its Marketing Manager and was later promoted to the company’s Chief Financial and Operations Officer. Jay serves as the company’s business head for Accounting, Marketing, Business Intelligence, Centralized Collection, and Centralized Bankruptcy departments. His Operations Administration duties include branch site selection, Management Information Systems reporting, and managing sales incentive programs. He also serves as the primary interface between the branch offices and home office personnel. Jay is a member of numerous state financial associations in addition to the American Financial Services Association. He believes Republic Finance’s success is highly attributable to the recruitment of quality employees that are able to use their talents to further their careers and contribute to the company’s consistent achievement of high quality results.
Tim Phillips, Senior Vice President of Operations, joined the Republic Finance team in 2019 and has served in both Operational and Sales Leadership roles for the past 10 years. Tim is a United States Air Force Veteran who received a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Strayer University, and later attended the University of South Carolina’s MBA program. Tim has served the consumer finance industry having held positions including Sales Finance Manager, Sr. Operations Manager, Vice President of Sales, and now Senior Vice President of Operations. Upon joining Republic Finance, Tim served as Vice President of Sales and Ancillary products, rolling out Republic Finance’s first formalized sales and training program throughout the Republic Finance branch network. Tim was promoted to Senior Vice President of Operations in 2020 and now currently supervises the branch operations team for the state of Texas as well as its expansion. Tim additionally serves as a member of the Texas Consumer Credit Coalition. Tim takes pride in leading formalized company Sales programs, having a platform to teach team members the importance of playing their part of a bigger overall goal. Tim feels the company’s greatest strength lies within our team members deep rooted beliefs in supporting our communities though relationship building and trust. Tim feels our team members are the best equipped within the industry and strive each day to provide our customers and our communities with the best possible service. It is not just in our ability to service customers finance needs, but also to play a pivotal role in helping our customers achieve financial success.