HANOVER – Hudson Cook, LLP, a provider of legal compliance services for the financial services industry, announced the addition of Joel Winston as a partner in its Washington, DC office. Mr. Winston brings over 35 years experience in all aspects of consumer finance law and public policy with special emphasis on privacy, identity theft, data security and credit reporting.

“Joel’s extensive experience with consumer financial services regulation, privacy law, and advertising law will be a great addition to our practice,” explained Hudson Cook Chairman Tom Hudson. “His stellar reputation and depth of experience, along with his focus on finding innovative solutions that benefit our clients and their customers, is a great fit with the culture of our firm.”

Mr. Winston began his career at the Federal Trade Commission, working there from 1976 to 2011. He has held senior positions in the FTC’s Division of Advertising Practices, the Division of Financial Practices, and the Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, a new unit he helped create.

As the director of the Division of Financial Practices, he was responsible for protecting consumers of financial products and services through law enforcement, rulemaking, policy development and public outreach. He has been involved in the development of significant public policies, including several provisions of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (FACT) Act. He served as a member of the President’s Identity Theft Task Force and is a recipient of the 2008 Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Executive.

Joel received his Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Michigan and a Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School. He is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP), a credential issued by the International Association of Privacy Professionals and a member of the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers, an honor “limited to those lawyers . . . who have achieved preeminence in the field of consumer financial services law and who have made repeated and substantial contributions to the promotion of learning and scholarship in consumer financial services law.”

HOUSTON – GSFSGroup announced that Dianna Dryer has been appointed Chief Financial Officer to further position the company for continued growth and the development of its national footprint.

Ms. Dryer’s priorities will include leading the GSFSGroup’s efforts to develop new programs and sustainable backend processes that will enable GSFSGroup to serve its current and potential dealer customers as efficiently as possible. Dryer will lead a team of 11 finance experts out of the company’s Houston headquarters and report directly to GSFSGroup’s President, Steve Amos.

“Dianna’s experience speaks for itself and her strong background fits very well with our plans for future growth,” said Steve Amos, President, GSFSGroup. “The addition of Dianna to our team will pay immediate dividends to our dealers and salesteam.”

Dryer is an industry veteran of over 20 years, most of which was spent at Ally Financial (formerly GMAC, Inc.), and most recently as the company’s Executive Finance Director, International Operations.

While at Ally, Dryer’s focus was on the automotive finance and insurance business. She steadily climbed up the ranks, beginning as an insurance accountant and holding positions such as CFO, Asia Pacific Automotive Finance Operations, and CFO,Latin American Automotive Finance Operations.

“I am excited to join the team at GSFSGroup, where I feel there is a great potential for personal and professional growth,” added Dryer. “I really appreciate the company’s values and the high emphasis GSFSGroup places on respect, customer satisfaction, team unity, work quality, integrity, and personal and company-wide leadership. It’s a wonderful work environment that challenges all to excel.”

ARLINGTON – SFG Finance LLC has named Robert Chickowski senior vice president-manager of portfolio acquisitions, according to a March 26 press release. In this position, Chickowski is responsible for the supervision of due diligence and portfolio acquisition.

Chickowski brings more than 40 years of experience in the consumer and commercial finance industry. Prior to SFG Finance, he served as senior vice president/due diligence manager for Regional Acceptance Corp. He also worked at FSB Financial, where he managed several departments, including loan servicing and asset remarketing, as well as assisted on due diligence.

“We are very fortunate to have Bob as part of our management team,” said Henry Gonzalez, COO of SFG Finance. “He is uniquely qualified to help us leverage our leadership position in the marketplace and expand our market share.”

Recently, SFG launched a program to purchase existing buy-here, pay-here, auto loan portfolios from franchised and independent auto dealers, as well as their related finance companies. The company’s due diligence team will evaluate all loans to maximize the selling dealer’s return without interrupting the dealership’s existing business.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS – American Auto Guardian, Inc. (“AAGI”) announced that Lanny Cox joined their sales team as Central Regional Vice President.

Lanny has more than 18 years of diverse experience within the automotive retail, aftermarket and consulting industries. His retail experience began in sales and ascended the ranks to include positions as F&I Director, Sales Manager & General Sales Manager. Lanny took his career to the next level, and has held positions as District Manager, Regional Manager, Regional F&I Director, National Sales Manager and Director of Franchise Sales with some of the industry’s most prominent dealer groups, aftermarket & consulting companies and OEM’S.

Lanny joined the AAGI team in March 2012 and is responsible for developing and managing the central region of the country.

DETROIT – Toyota Motor Corp. gave U.S. sales chief Jim Lentz the additional title of CEO in a shuffle of North American leadership.

Lentz takes on the chief executive role April 1 while remaining president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., the automaker said in a statement today, according to Automotive News. Lentz, 56, who joined the automaker 30 years ago, is the first American to hold the CEO title, Toyota said.

In other changes also taking effect next month:

• Shigeki Terashi will become president and COO of Toyota Motor North America, replacing Yoshi Inaba. Terashi will remain president of Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing, North America.
• Inaba, 66, will stay in the United States as chairman of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. He will also keep his post on Toyota’s North American executive committee “to support Mr. Terashi in his new role.”
• Massy Tomozoe, senior vice president of North America business planning, will take a “senior management position” in Japan. The assignment has yet to be announced.

Toyota Motor Corporation announced various global leadership changes today, including the naming of Shigeki Terashi as president and COO of Toyota Motor North America, Inc. effective April 1.

In this new role, Mr. Terashi will be Toyota’s chief regional officer for North America, and will chair Toyota’s cross-affiliate North American Executive Committee.

Mr. Terashi, who will also retain his current position as president of Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing, North America, Inc., joined Toyota in 1980 in the body engineering design division and began by working on the Camry project. Before being named president of TEMA last year, Mr. Terashi led the Toyota Technical Center and oversaw the development and launch of the Venza, Sienna and other key products in North America.

Other North American changes announced today, also effective April 1, include:

• Yoshi Inaba, currently president and COO of TMA, will remain on Toyota’s North American Executive Committee to support Mr. Terashi in his new role, but will be moving back to Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. , to focus mainly on his role as Chairman of TMS.
• Jim Lentz, currently president and COO of TMS, will become president and CEO of TMS. Mr. Lentz is the first American to be named CEO of TMS.
• Massy Tomozoe, previously senior vice president of North America business planning and chief coordinating officer for TMA, will return to Japan to accept a senior management position, which will be announced at a later date.

Under Mr. Terashi’s leadership, Toyota’s North American Executive Committee will continue to meet monthly. Other members of the Executive Committee include: Yoshi Inaba, Dian Ogilvie, George Borst, Jim Lentz, Kazuhiro Miyauchi, Ray Tanguay and Steve St. Angelo.

PORTLAND – Compli announced that David Childers has been named chief executive officer of the company.

“David brings outstanding credentials to Compli,” said Lon Leneve, president of Compli. “He is a pioneer in the governance, risk and compliance (GRC) field and has a track record for being one of the most dynamic and innovative individuals in the industry. He has also been an entrepreneur and leader in a variety of successful high technology endeavors.”

Prior to joining Compli, Childers was a founder and CEO of EthicsPoint, where he led the company’s growth from start-up hotline provider to a leading global risk awareness organization, according to Compli.

“Compli is at the forefront of the latest development in governance, risk and compliance — Compliance Obligation Management,” Childers said. “Organizations not only face mitigating risk from regulatory obligations, they are also being charged to document, track, analyze and report on their contractual and social-responsibility obligations as well. Compli has long been known for bringing automated efficiencies and increased compliance-related protection to small to mid-sized organizations, and now it is poised to become the market leader in the emerging Compliance Obligation Management arena as well.”