GIVE THESE GUYS CREDIT; TEAMWORK MAKES SHIFT AT THE TOP LOOK EASY

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 2, 1993                   TAG: 9302020023
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
GIVE THESE GUYS CREDIT; TEAMWORK MAKES SHIFT AT THE TOP LOOK EASY
Ronald Ernest on Monday took over as president of Roanoke's Credit Marketing and Management Association, an organization that has grown 1,000 percent over the past 17 years, thanks largely to its retiring leader, Larry Poteat.
The association, the region's major agency checking on consumer credit applications for retailers and other businesses, is "a shining star in the industry," said Stan Cross, the association's chairman and vice president and general manager of Holdren's Inc.
Calling the Roanoke association "extremely well run," Cross said it "was basically bankrupt" when Poteat came in 1976. Under Poteat, assets have grown almost 3,000 percent and the association has become so efficient that it can offer merchants the lowest rates in the industry and still gain assets, Cross said.
Ernest, vice president of the association for the past three years and head of the education department and sales force for six years, had been an understudy with Poteat.
A Marion native and Virginia Tech graduate, Ernest joined the association after teaching marketing education at Rustburg and Vinton's William Byrd high schools and doing a stint as regional sales manager for Lever Brothers health and beauty aids.
The organization, once known as the Roanoke Valley Merchants Association, has expanded across a 52-county area into Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia. More than 1,400 retailers and other businesses in the Roanoke Valley and Western Virginia are members. Companies in neighboring states receive services from the association through satellite offices in Bristol; Norton; Pikeville, Ky.; and Bluefield, W.Va.
Most of the association's more than 50 employees work at its headquarters at the Valleypointe Business Park in Roanoke County. Four others work at the Dublin office and three at Galax.
Information on credit reports is telephoned to Atlanta for processing by Equifax Inc., the largest of the three major national credit companies.
Poteat completed 34 years in the credit bureau field, retiring early at age 60. He administered the Roanoke association since 1976 after 14 years at similar posts in Martinsville and his native Salisbury, N.C.
From consumer credit reporting, the mainstay of the business, the association has expanded to mortgage and business credit reports and check certification. One of its salesmen in Northern Virginia does mortgage reporting and the organization expects to extend that service soon to the Richmond and Norfolk markets.
The Roanoke territory is the fourth-largest by volume and geography among the 300 credit bureaus affiliated with Equifax. Last April, the Roanoke office was first in customer service and third in sales per capita among the Equifax affiliates.
Poteat has been voted a lifetime member of the association board and he will do some consulting. At his Smith Mountain Lake home, he will fish, plant flowers, do some visiting and write mystery novels and business books. He has taught many credit courses.
Ernest said he hopes the association will continue to offer more services and classes on changing credit rules and regulations. Members are offered nearly 100 free seminars each year, he said.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB