Atlanta, Ga., USA - January 20, 2016, Atlanta, Ga., USA - Aaron's, Inc., a lease-to-own retailer, announced Aaron's senior leadership team.
Article continues below
Gilbert L. Danielson will step down as Chief Financial Officer.
Until his retirement at the end of 2016, Mr. Danielson will remain Executive Vice President, serving as a senior advisor to the leadership team and managing certain strategic projects.
Steven A. Michaels, President, has been named Aaron's Chief Financial Officer and President of Strategic Operations.
In addition to his responsibilities as Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Michaels will be responsible for several key business functions, including e-commerce, franchising, information technology, business development and manufacturing.
Mr. Michaels currently serves as Aaron's President. Prior to being named President, Michaels was VP, Strategic Planning and Business Development, and was instrumental in the planning, execution and integration of the Progressive acquisition in 2014.
Since joining Aaron's in 1995, he has held various roles within the organization, starting in audit and progressing through the franchise and finance departments. He has served in senior financial roles at Aaron's, including at the parent company level and within the sales and lease ownership and franchise businesses, where his responsibilities have included maintaining banking relationships and executing equity and debt offerings.
Mr. Michaels received an M.B.A. from Georgia State University and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Florida. He is also a Certified Public Accountant.
Douglas A. Lindsay, former Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of ACE Cash Express, Inc., has been named President of Aaron's Sales & Lease Ownership.
He will be responsible for overseeing Aaron's store-based business, comprised of more than 1,200 Company-operated stores. His responsibilities will include operations, marketing, merchandising and real estate.
Mr. Lindsay has more than 20 years of experience leading companies in the financial services and real estate industries. Prior to joining Aaron's, Mr. Lindsay spent 10 years at ACE Cash Express, a leading financial services provider, specializing in short-term consumer loans, bill pay, and prepaid debit card services, as well as the largest owner operator of check cashing stores in the United States.
At ACE Cash Express, he served in roles of increasing responsibility within the finance department, including Chief Financial Officer, until he was named Chief Operating Officer in 2012.
Prior to joining ACE Cash Express, Mr. Lindsay was Vice President of Finance at Regus, Plc / HQ Global Workplaces, Inc., where he was responsible for financial planning and analysis, business intelligence, investor relations and mergers and acquisitions.
Mr. Lindsay received an M.B.A. from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University and a B.S. in Business Administration and Accounting from Washington and Lee University.
Robert W. Kamerschen, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, will also assume the role of Chief Administrative Officer.
He will be responsible for legal, compliance, corporate governance, risk management, government relations, external affairs, privacy and physical security.
Mr. Kamerschen currently serves as Aaron's Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. Mr. Kamerschen has more than 20 years of legal experience and has been instrumental in enhancing Aaron's government relations, corporate governance and legal functions.
Prior to joining Aaron's in 2013, he was U.S. Chief Counsel, Senior Vice President of Government Relations and Chief Compliance Officer at Equifax and, earlier in his career, he served in executive positions with ChoicePoint and EzGov, and was an attorney in the Atlanta office of Troutman Sanders LLP.
Mr. Kamerschen received a J.D. from the University of Georgia School of Law and a B.A. in Political Science from Stanford University.
Tristan J. Montanero, Senior Vice President of Operations, has been named Chief Operations Officer of Aaron's Sales & Lease Ownership.
Mr. Montanero will have responsibility for Company-operated store operations and field employees, as well as the HomeSmart division.
Mr. Montanero currently serves as Aaron's Senior Vice President of Operations. In this role, he is responsible for the Eastern half of Aaron's store operations and the HomeSmart division, as well as overseeing operations support, Aaron's fulfillment system and fleet management. Mr. Montanero joined the Company in 1994.
Throughout his career at Aaron's, he has received significant recognition, including multiple "Top 5 Division of the Year" awards and "Regional Manager of the Year," among others. Mr. Montanero has a B.S. in Business Management from the University of Florida.
Ryan K. Woodley will continue to serve as Chief Executive Officer of Progressive Leasing ("Progressive"), a virtual lease-to-own company, which Aaron's acquired in 2014.
He also remains responsible for overseeing Dent-A-Med, Inc., a subsidiary of Progressive, which Aaron's acquired in 2015.
Mr. Woodley has served as CEO of Progressive since 2015. Mr. Woodley joined Progressive in 2013 as the Company's Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer and also played an important part in Aaron's acquisition of Progressive in 2014. He also led the acquisition of Dent-A-Med, a subsidiary of Progressive, which Aaron's acquired in 2015.
Prior to joining Progressive, he served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at DigiCert, a digital security certificate provider which was sold to TA Associates in 2012. Before DigiCert, he was a principal at Polaris Partners, a private equity firm based in Boston.
Prior to Polaris, Mr. Woodley was a strategy consultant at the Monitor Group in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he worked on a range of strategic and operating engagements for Fortune 500 clients across several industries. ■