GM Financial to receive top honor from Fort Worth Chamber

May 31,2017

By Steve Kaskovich

Over the past quarter century, GM Financial has grown from a startup into a major employer in Fort Worth and Arlington.

Founded as AmeriCredit by entrepreneur Clifton Morris Jr. in 1992, the company had established itself as a leading subprime auto lender when General Motors came calling in 2010. In need of a new finance arm after the financial crisis and a trip through bankruptcy, the Detroit automaker acquired the Fort Worth company for $3.5 billion.

Since that time, GM Financial has expanded and now employs more than 4,000 people at its Fort Worth headquarters and Arlington operations campus. In recognition of its growth and community impact, the company will be honored Thursday by the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce with the Spirit of Enterprise award at the chamber’s annual meeting.

“GM Financial is a turbocharged part of Fort Worth’s economic engine,” said Bill Thornton, the chamber’s president and CEO, in a statement. “As one of the region’s major employers with international brand recognition and services, their history of growth, capital investment and commitment to our community has been extraordinary.”

Last year, GM Financial completed a $35 million expansion in Arlington, adding a fourth building to its complex that stretches along the north side of Interstate 20 with locations both west and east of Collins. GM Financial employs about 3,500 workers there in areas including loan processing, customer service, collections, human resources and IT. Another 700 employees work at the company’s Burnett Plaza headquarters in downtown Fort Worth.

GM Financial’s growth has accelerated since becoming the captive finance arm at GM, expanding its product line into traditional prime loans and becoming the exclusive provider of lease financing on GM vehicles that carry rebates or manufacturer incentives.

In 2016, the company reported net income of $754 million while recording $18 billion in retail loan originations and $25.4 billion in operating lease originations.

But the company also prides itself on community involvement, said GM Financial CEO Dan Berce.

“In Fort Worth and communities across the globe, the company has a long and deep legacy of service and support to numerous philanthropic organizations,” Berce said in a statement. “We support the communities where we live and work both through financial donations and volunteerism with our Signature Series supporting March of Dimes, United Way and Salvation Army.”

The company also provides education and resources on financial literacy through its Keys by GM Financial program. And it provides late-model GM vehicles for Ronald McDonald Houses to help provide mobility for parents with sick kids at children’s hospitals.

On Tuesday, the company presented a car to the Ronald McDonald House of Fort Worth as part of its Cool Cars for Remarkable Kids program. It plans to distribute about 30 Cool Car vehicles to Ronald McDonald Houses in Texas, Arizona, North Carolina and Michigan this year, in communities where it has employment centers.