John F. Freeman, whose appointment was effective January 1, joins the association as vice president for standards. He has chief management responsibility for AFSA's initiative unveiled last month to develop voluntary industry standards for the transmission, storage, service and certification of electronic contracts in consumer credit transactions. Under these standards, lenders will have guidance on establishing secure and uniform electronic "links" that will allow instant transmission of e-contracts from points of origination (such as branch offices or dealerships) on to lenders, to investment bankers that prepare assets for securitization, and ultimately to investors in the public markets.

A committee overseen by Freeman and comprised of member company e-commerce, marketing and legal executives will provide input and guidance for the standards, with the first components to be published early this year. Auto finance will be the first consumer finance sector for which the AFSA standards will be developed. It will serve as the "backbone" standard for overlay standards to be developed for all other industry segments, including mortgage and home equity credit, credit cards and personal loans.

Freeman has nearly 20 years of experience with Ford Motor Credit Company, most recently serving as the company's e-finance manager, marketing. In this position, he developed marketing strategies for new products and incorporated these products into legacy systems.

Among his key accomplishments were developing and launching a pre-approval credit application process and associated risk models and the Approval Not Cashed (ANC) email campaign. He also was responsible for adding used functionality to the online vehicle financing process application and creating e-Metrics reporting capabilities. Freeman has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of New Orleans and did post graduate work at Central Michigan University in Dearborn, MI. He is an MBA candidate at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, MI.

In addition, AFSA has retained Mark A. Zalewksi as a consultant to the e-standards writing committee. Zalewski, principal of the Aurora Group in Bluemont, VA, has held various executive positions in product, software development, telecommunications systems and business development during his 20 plus years experience in the financial retail services industry. He has been an officer at Marine Midland Bank (HSBC), Goldome Bank, National Data Corporation and GTE Spacenet.

Zalewski also served as chairman of X9A, the American National Standards Institute's (ANSI) subcommittee for electronic retail financial transactions. Earlier this year, he ended his six-year term as chairman of ISO TC68, which has responsibility for the development of international standards for banking, securities and related financial services for use in the financial services and securities industries. Zalewski received a Bachelor of Science degree from State University College at Buffalo and an MBA in Finance and Marketing at Canisius College. He attended the Graduate School of Retail Bank Management at the University of Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce.

Founded in 1916 and based in Washington, DC, AFSA is a national trade association for market funded financial services firms that provide credit to consumers and small businesses. Its more than 400 members include consumer and commercial finance companies, auto finance/leasing companies, mortgage lenders, credit card issuers and industry suppliers.