Our Team

Meet our leadership team.

Ken Horne has 35 years experience managing private postsecondary colleges. After studying and practicing law, Ken was the founder and president of several colleges and became passionate about helping individual students to achieve success. In 2006 he founded CARS to help other college presidents improve student service, increase enrollment, and enhance retention. He is also President and CEO of PEAC, a student default prevention company, and a majority owner of Global Financial Aid Services, a third party provider of financial aid processing services and hosted technology.

Andrew oversees the day to day management of all operations, builds client relationships, and works as a liaison with the IT team to help establish strategic direction and priorities. He is also responsible for internal sales, responding to information requests as well as conducting demonstrations and conference calls for potential clients. Andrew began working with CARS in 2007 while attending the University of Montevallo and served in several management roles prior to his promotion to Senior Vice President, which provides him with a well rounded perspective of all levels of leadership.

Elizabeth was a founding partner of PEAC Student Loan Assistance and is currently a member of the executive management team of CARS. Elizabeth provides client services, community outreach and is the chief compliance specialist for the family of companies. She serves on numerous committees for higher education associations, presents at many workshops and conferences, and her presence in Washington, DC enables her to have up-to-the-minute information on a variety of legislative and regulatory issues affecting the industry. Prior to founding PEAC in 1992, Elizabeth was the chief lobbyist for the Career College Association (now CECU). She received her BA with honors in political science and economics from Douglass College of Rutgers University, and resides in Washington, DC with her husband and two boys.

Wendy Thompson has been with the company for five years and holds the position of HR Manager. She has over 20 years experience with Human Resources, Accounting and Business Administration. Wendy hold a Bachelor’s degree in both Accounting and Human Resources and has recently completed her Master’s Degree in Human Resources Leadership from Sullivan University. She is responsible for personnel management, benefits coordination and payroll administration. Wendy is a member of SHRM, the National Association for Professional Women and is currently working on her SPHR certification.

Tami has been Chief Operating Officer for CARS since inception in 2006. Tami graduated from the University of Montevallo with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mass Communications and began her career in Higher Education after twelve years of working in an operations capacity with start-up ventures in the Human Capital Management arena. With over 20 years of experience in corporate settings, Tami has proven her expertise in aligning Human Resource practices to meet business objectives, increase client satisfaction and driving employee engagement. Prior to the inception of CARS, Tami worked for Post-Secondary Education Assistance Corporation. Tami is focused on the leadership, development and improvement of client relations and how it relates to helping their student enrollments, with her main area of responsibility being the Lead Qualification area of CARS.

Marc is the Systems Director and leads all new development and information technology management for CARS. Marc first met Kenneth Horne in 1989 while attending a school that Mr. Horne was managing. He worked for Micrographics in Birmingham, installing and supporting CAD/CAM systems and Novell Network Systems before beginning his career in education in 1991 while working in IT for Post-Secondary Education Assistance Corporation (PEAC). He subsequently worked on the Development Team at Remington College to redesign the Student Information System and to assist in converting the Student Information System to a new infrastructure. Marc returned to PEAC in 2005 and began working for CARS in 2006. He has more than 20 years experience in education and offers significant business expertise in Financial Aid, Admissions, Default Prevention, and academic system as well as technological expertise in all facets.