First Acceptance Corp (FACO)

[Enterprising Investor]

First Acceptance CEO out (10/21/16)

Director, ex-KPMG exec steps in

Joe Borbely, the president and CEO of auto insurer First Acceptance, has stepped down, effective immediately.

In a regulatory filing, company officials gave no reason for Borbely's resignation, which comes a little more than two years after he took over the CEO job from Mark Kelly. Before that, he had been president of the Green Hills-based insurer for two years and its senior vice president of sales and marketing for one year. He joined the company after serving as president of payday loan provider EZMoney and as executive VP of similar venture Allied Cash Holdings, as well as working in specialty retail.

Taking over the helm on an interim basis at First Acceptance, which sells to higher-risk drivers through more than 400 stores in 17 states, is Ken Russell (pictured), a director of the company since May 2014. Russell, 68, stepped down this month as CEO of $3.6 billion Mechanics Bank in California's Bay Area region after its merger with California Republic Bancorp. He also is a principal of Ford Financial Fund II, an investment firm run by Gerald Ford, First Acceptance's largest shareholder.

Russell spent the majority of his career with KPMG focused on financial services. He worked 20 years at the firm's Dallas office, led its financial services advisory unit in New York and spent much of the 2000s in Germany as the global lead partner in the firm’s relationship with Deutsche Bank and as a member of its managing board there.

Borbely's sudden departure at First Acceptance comes after shares of the company (Ticker: FAC) have fallen about 60 percent year to date, shrinking its market capitalization to about $40 million, less than a tenth of its annual sales. The New York Stock Exchange last week told the leaders of First Acceptance they need to get their stock price consistently back above $1.

http://www.nashvillepost.com/business/area-stocks/article/20837827/first-acceptance-ceo-out