Primeritus Gets New CEO
The professional connection of Jennifer Turnage and Steve Norwood dates to 2005 when Norwood co-founded Consolidated Asset Recovery Systems (CARS) and Turnage served as chief financial officer of the company for seven years.
Primeritus Financial Services acquired CARS in 2019 but hit rough business waters like many operations involved in repossessions and recoveries when the pandemic surfaced.
“When I was asked to rejoin Primeritus as CEO in 2022 to help right the ship, the first person I contacted was Jennifer,” Norwood said. “I knew her unparalleled financial and strategic acumen would be an essential piece to our future success.”
With that ship apparently righted, Primeritus named Turnage as chief executive officer on Tuesday with Norwood remaining on the company’s board of directors to continue a pivotal role in developing the management team and key personnel and fostering valuable client relationships.
In reflecting on the past 18 months, Turnage acknowledged, “It’s interesting in looking back at some of the things that really stand out that we’ve learned. It’s hard to say that they’re unique to Primeritus.
“I think some of the things we were dealing with other companies probably were dealing with, as well,” she continued. “We started by addressing some cash and profitability issues. That’s the symptom of a business issue. I would say a lot of the business challenges that we’ve overcome really had a lot to do with just communication from the top down within a company and from the bottom up in making decisions.
“Another thing that’s not unique to Primeritus is the way we work has changed dramatically if you look at 2020 and 2021 and 2022 and 2023. There’s just been a massive amount of change, and change is hard. How you deal with it, how you communicate within an organization, it all had to be rebuilt,” Turnage went on to say.
As mentioned, Turnage joined Primeritus in 2022 to serve as the chief financial officer per Norwood’s request. One year later, Turnage was promoted to president. She explained why that journey in those roles positioned her well to be in the CEO chair now.
