Mr. Bates joined RQI in April, 2008 as Vice President of Finance. In this role, Mr. Bates is responsible for the Accounting, Treasury and Human Resources functions of the company. Mr. Bates has 20+ years of experience in finance and accounting, primarily in the financial services and transaction processing industries. His expertise lies in financial responsibilities in both a public and private environment and including multi-site national and international companies. His leadership and experience will provide valuable support to the overall growth strategy of RQI.
Prior to joining RQI, Mr. Bates was Vice President - Assistant Controller with LandAmerica Financial Group (LFG), Inc., a $4.0 billion revenue company based in Richmond, VA providing real estate services to various lenders and consumers. During his tenure at LFG, Mr. Bates also served as Chief Financial Officer of the Lender Services Division ($300M revenue) and Chief Financial Officer of LandAmerica Credit Services ($60M). In these positions, Mr. Bates directed the efforts to identify, measure and implement annualized expense reductions of $15M, and improve operating margins by 25% in selected companies. Mr. Bates’ efforts were also focused on implementing analytical and operational metrics throughout the various divisions to convey key information in real-time to support business decisions.
As Chief Financial Officer – VP of Finance and Administration of INFO 1, Inc., a credit reporting company serving the mortgage industry Mr. Bates, along with the CEO, spent 2 years facilitating the sale of INFO 1, Inc. to LandAmerica by developing financial resources and necessary internal controls and policies and procedures in order to generate a liquidity event for shareholders. The successful acquisition by LandAmerica Financial Group was completed in August 2003.
Mr. Bates has also served in various executive/management roles in public and private companies including Paceon Corporation, The Intercept Group, Convergent Media Systems, Hayes Microcomputer Products and Avon Products, Inc.
Mr. Bates holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from Georgia State University. He is a certified public accountant in the state of Georgia.
