Horn to Chair Legacy Management and Accounting Services
March 11, 2008
Phoenix, AZ….Legacy Management and Accounting Services, a Johnson Consulting Group Company has appointed Bob Horn as Chairman.
Jake Johnson, President and CEO of Johnson Consulting Group, states:
“We are pleased and privileged to have Bob agreed to be associated with our Company. Bob’s knowledge, expertise, experiences and stellar reputation in the funeral industry will serve us well as we grow and expand our service offerings. Bob’s dedication to the funeral profession is outstanding and widely admired.”
Mr. Horn who recently retired as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Keystone Group Holdings, a company he co-founded and served as CEO for 10 years, will provide policy direction for Legacy, a company that provides accounting, compliance and management services for privately owned funeral homes and cemeteries.
Beginning his career with a small family owned funeral home, Horn’s experience spans 45 years within the death care industry. In the mid 1960s he was an organizer and Vice President of International Funeral Services (IFS), a pioneer consolidator of funeral homes and cemeteries. Following 10 years as Executive President of Pierce Brothers, he was a Partner and Chief Operating Officer of Prime Succession prior to co-founding Keystone in 1996.
Mr. Horn is a long time Trustee and past Chairman of the Funeral Service Foundation as well as an emeritus member of the Death Care Management Council.
As per Mr. Horn,
“I’m most pleased to re-connect with the Johnson family, and to have the resources of their organization to further enhance Legacy’s management, accounting, and compliance programs.”
For further information, dial toll free 888-250-7747.
Johnson Consulting Group
A Total Solutions Company
Mergers & Acquisitions – Valuations – Accounting – Management Services
Brooke Credit Announces Re-Branding as Aleritas Capital
February 11, 2008
Finance Company positions itself for $1 billion milestone in 2008
OVERLAND PARK, KS, January 3, 2008 - Brooke Credit Corporation (OTCBB: BRCR; BRCRW; BRCRU) today unveiled its new brand initiative and visual identity, along with the launch of the company’s new website www.aleritascapital.com. The launch of the new brand is effective immediately, and, while the company will continue to operate under the legal name Brooke Credit Corporation for a short period of time, all future business activity will refer to the company as Aleritas Capital. Brooke Credit plans to present for vote to its shareholders a change of its legal name and articles of incorporation at the upcoming shareholder meeting scheduled for sometime in early 2008. In addition to the announcement regarding re-branding initiatives, Brooke Credit also announces its goal of achieving $1 billion in loan portfolio balances during 2008.
Mick Lowry, Chief Executive Officer stated, “We believe that our target markets offer tremendous growth opportunities, as local businesses in the insurance and death care industries have been underserved by traditional lenders over the years. We are committed to loaning money to these underserved business owners, as evidenced by our bold objective of achieving a $1 billion portfolio during 2008. During 2007, management spent considerable time positioning the company for growth by evolving the company’s lending and risk management platforms, expanding its staff and recapitalizing the company through the merger with Oakmont Acquisition Corp. Re-branding and the corresponding launch of an aggressive marketing campaign reflect the next stage of positioning the company for growth in 2008 and beyond.”
Capitalizing on the company’s proven lending platform, the new brand better positions the company for growth within its target markets and offers a more transportable brand across lending segments. The name “Aleritas” was created borrowing from the Latin root alere, which means to support, strengthen, increase, promote and advance. The new brand reinforces the company’s promise to helping our customers realize their dreams of business ownership, by not only providing capital but also providing them with access to tools to help our customers advance their local businesses.
“The process of re-branding involved significant analysis on the part of the company’s management. The Brooke brand has served the finance company well over the years and carries with it a strong heritage associated with the distribution of insurance. Utilization of the Brooke brand made good business sense in the past, because most of Brooke Credit’s loan origination activities were to franchisees that also utilized the Brooke brand. However, in recent years Brooke Credit started to transition from being a franchise lender to becoming an industry lender. It has been successful in this regard, as a majority of Brooke Credit’s 2007 loan originations were to non-franchise business owners. In light of this transition, it makes good business sense today to re-brand the finance company under a more universal brand,” stated Lowry.
Our company’s philosophy is to provide its customers with the capital to fund their dreams of business ownership and the tools to build them. Consistent with this philosophy, Brooke Credit is pleased to announce the launch of LoanPlus, an assortment of tools available to our customers to help them advance their businesses. LoanPlus, which is a voluntary value-added service, provides our customers with access to top consulting, sales coaching and educational firms, at no additional cost to our customers. Furthermore, Brooke Credit has formed a Customer Advisory Committee composed of our customers and industry leaders, which will help expand the tools available under LoanPlus to better serve our customer’s evolving businesses, such as providing them with access to resources for marketing, human resources, and tax preparation, among others.
Lowry also noted, “Although business ownership can be rewarding, it can also be difficult and sometimes challenging. In addition to providing capital to our customers, Brooke Credit is committed to providing our customers with access to tools and services to better deal with the challenges of business ownership and to help them build their businesses. As a finance company, our long-term success will ultimately be determined by the success of our customers. Through LoanPlus, Brooke Credit is making an investment in the success of our customers, by paying for services and tools that they would otherwise have to pay for if they were not customers of Brooke Credit. This is not only good lending, but represents a true commitment on the part of Brooke Credit to our customers.”
About the Company… Brooke Credit is a specialty finance company that originates loans to insurance agencies and insurance-related businesses. Loans are mostly sold as individual loans to participating lenders or as pooled loans to investors through asset-backed securitizations.
This press release contains forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, and several factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ from those indicated in the forward-looking statements: the uncertainty that the Company will achieve its short-term and long-term profitability and growth goals, uncertainties associated with market acceptance of and demand for the Company’s products and services, the impact of competitive products and pricing, the dependence on third-party suppliers and their pricing, its ability to meet product demand, the availability of funding sources, the exposure to market risks, uncertainties associated with the development of technology, changes in the law and in economic, political and regulatory environments, changes in management, the dependence on intellectual property rights, the effectiveness of internal controls, and risks and factors described from time to time in reports and registration statements filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A more complete description of the Company’s business is provided in the Company’s reports and registration statements, which are available from the Company without charge or at www.sec.gov.
Contact Info:
Brooke Credit Corporation
Anita Larson, Chairman and Chief Operating Officer
913-661-0123
anita.larson@aleritascapital.com
The Equity Group, Inc
Adam Prior, Vice President
212-836-9606
aprior@equityny.com
Johnson Consulting Group Acquires Legacy from Keystone
February 8, 2008
Johnson Consulting Group is pleased to announce their acquisition of Legacy Management and Accounting Services from Keystone Group Holdings, Inc.Jake Johnson, President of Johnson Consulting Group, a market leader in Mergers, Acquisitions, Valuations and Succession Planning introduced their Accounting and Management Services last year. Johnson states that
“This acquisition further strengthens these services of Johnson Consulting Group. A funeral home can now rely totally on Johnson Consulting Group for all their financial and operational improvement needs. Our intent is to become the funeral profession’s “Total Solutions Company.”
Johnson further stated,
“We are pleased to bring Legacy and their valued customers into the Johnson Consulting Group. The Legacy team has developed strong customer relationships across the country over the past years. This expansion should clearly demonstrate to these clients’ and the funeral industry at large, JCG’s long term commitment and continued dedication to serving funeral homes coast to coast with all their operational needs.”
To learn more about the services that Johnson Consulting Group offers, call 888-250-7747.