E. Richard Schmidt is a recipient of the AFSA Appreciation Award in recognition of his many years of service to the finance industry and support of AFSA and the Fixed-Income Investors Conferences. Dennis Young, executive vice president and CFO of Wells Fargo Financial, Inc., presented Schmidt with the award during a retirement party in his honor on June 26 in New York City. He also received recognition for his contributions at a reception in London during the 2003 AFSA European Investors Conference in June.

Schmidt retired after 22 years with Standard & Poor's Corporation. He began his career at S&P in 1981 as a rating officer and was promoted to vice president of Financial Institutions in 1985, senior vice president in 1990, and managing director in 1994. He was responsible for managing S&P's global rating activities regarding consumer and commercial finance companies, coordinating publishing for Standard & Poor's commentary and analysis on the finance company industry, and directing criteria development for finance company analysis. Previously, Schmidt spent more than 18 years in the consumer finance industry including 13 years with Allstate Enterprises and several years with Beneficial Finance.

Thanks to Schmidt's commitment to AFSA and the industry, S&P has been an associate member of AFSA for many years and a major sponsor of the AFSA Investors Conferences in the U.S. and Europe. Schmidt also served as a speaker and panelist at many AFSA conferences. Under his direction, S&P published Standard & Poor's Finance Companies AFSA Special Edition, a popular handout that is distributed at the association's Investors Conferences each year.