PR - Pioneer Credit's Caryn Benton Named CFO of the Year

Pioneer Credit Recovery, a Western-New York-based receivables management company, today announced that Caryn Benton has been named CFO of the Year by Business First Buffalo. Benton was one of six CFOs honored by the Western New York business newspaper for outstanding performance in the Buffalo-Niagara region. Benton served as Chief Administrative Officer for Pioneer Credit Recovery for three years and was recently promoted to Senior Director of Treasury Services for Sallie Mae’s Asset Performance Group (APG).

Benton began her career as an accountant with R.A. Mercer & Co. and joined Pioneer Credit Recovery in 2001 as an accounting manager. As the company’s Chief Administrative Officer from 2004-2007, Benton oversaw more than 120 employees across each of Pioneer’s six facilities located in Western New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania and was responsible for finance and audit, compliance, facilities management, and project management. She also had indirect responsibility for payment processing, accounting, payroll, information technology, and human resources. Benton continues to play an integral role in her new position as Senior Director of Treasury Services, leading payment processing functions for Sallie Mae’s Asset Performance Group. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from State University of New York at Fredonia and earned her CPA in 1993.

This year’s Business First Buffalo CFO of the Year Awards were chosen by a panel of judges from Western New York colleges and universities. Winners were selected from several categories including, public company, large private company, small-to-medium private company, non-profit general, non-profit healthcare and community service.

Pioneer is the largest private-sector employer in Wyoming County, N.Y. and has received numerous awards, including the Business First Best Places to Work in Western New York Award, the Better Business Bureau Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics and the 2005 Wyoming County Business of the Year by the Genesee, Livingston, Orleans, Wyoming (GLOW) Workforce Investment Board.

Sallie Mae, the nation’s leading saving- and paying-for-college company, acquired Pioneer in January 2002. Pioneer is a subsidiary of Sallie Mae’s Asset Performance Group-one of the nation’s leading providers of debt management services offering default prevention and debt recovery on state and federal levels.

Headquartered in Arcade, N.Y. and founded in 1980, Pioneer Credit Recovery, Inc. is a national leader in the collection industry, providing collection services on defaulted debt and employing nearly 1,400 people.