Debra Adams, Director, Loan Operations, is a familiar face and name to many of you. She has worked for Campus Partners for almost 31 years, and she recently assumed responsibility for both private loan and campus-based loan operations. Debra has worked in many areas of the company dealing with borrowers and customers and knows loan servicing from the ground up. As in many fabled success stories, Debra started out in the mailroom, where she matched checks that arrived without a billing statement with the right borrower account. After six months of that, it was obvious that she was headed to bigger things, and many promotions ensued as she learned the business.

In recent years, Debra has stepped into roles that have meant a great deal to our company. She most notably took charge of our telephony system eight years ago and has been responsible for many enhancements to our system since then. Today great customer service goes hand in hand with a state-of-the-art telephone system, thanks to Debra. The use of skilled based routing, call scripting, average speed of answer and abandon rate tracking, call monitoring, and a multi-function Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system have all improved the services that we provide to borrowers and customers. A recent enhancement to our IVR allows borrowers to make payments by phone without incurring a fee, both during and after normal office hours. Our predictive dialer also allows us to more efficiently contact borrowers who are past due on their bills, which is a plus for loan collections.

Based on her knowledge of our servicing system and call center operations, Debra was asked to help develop our private loan origination, disbursement, and servicing processes several years ago. Her experience proved invaluable, and she was promoted to Director, Private Loan Operations, last year. Her career has come full circle now, as she is responsible for both private and campus-based operations.
Jeff Gruwell, Vice President, Loan Operations, has complete faith in Debra’s ability. He notes, “Debra is a key member of the management team whose goal is to merge all of our operational resources into one stronger Operations department. I don’t see this as a move back, but an expansion of responsibilities. This move is a reflection of the depth of her knowledge and leadership capabilities that she has proven in our Private Loan initiative.”

And, have we mentioned that along with all of Debra’s other attributes, she loves our customers? Her concern about the customer and borrower experience goes deep. Debra does not just give lip service, she really cares. “Customers are so valuable to our company and to our success. I want our company to provide the level of customer service that customers pay us for. The customer should feel that they are getting their money’s worth,” Deb declares. “Our motto is customer service with a smile. Even by telephone, the customer can tell if we are truly engaged,” she concludes emphatically.
To make sure that customers do get their money’s worth, Debra has big plans. “I want to look at processing as a whole, cross train staff to improve efficiency, have as many staff as possible available to work queues, and automate as many processes as possible.”

She also wants to move Campus Partners closer to a paperless environment, and …she is just getting started. She brings the same enthusiasm to her current job as she did when she was matching checks to borrower accounts, and it is the same enthusiasm that propelled her out of the mailroom and into the boardroom.

Not surprisingly, Debra finds learning and helping others grow is most rewarding to her. “I have been able to learn something new every day and share that knowledge with others. I love it when I see a light bulb go off when someone has been struggling with something. So many people have helped me and I want to pass it on,” she states.

On the home front, Debra and her family are RV aficionados. “My husband, Mike, and I want to travel before we get too old. We would like to take off and drive cross country without any clear destination,” she says with enthusiasm. She recently spent a week vacationing in her RV at Disneyworld and said it was “too much fun!” Debra has years and miles to go before she gets too old, but it does not hurt to plan ahead. She and her husband also have a son in his early twenties, who is in mobile marketing and travels throughout the country. Debra’s private loan knowledge has been put to use as she guides her son through the mortgage loan process as a first time home buyer.

Debra does not have any specific travel plans on the horizon at this time, but she does hope to attend conferences or Regional Meetings in the near future. This would tie two of her greatest passions together—her customers and travel. So look for Debra at a gas pump (if she can get a loan) as she fills up her RV at a location near you.