Baycorp appoints new chief executive

Debt resolution specialist, Baycorp New Zealand and Australia, has announced the appointment of a new chief executive, John Yung from Encore Capital Group. Mr Yung will take up his new role in January 2017.

Current Baycorp group chief executive, Grant Jorey is retiring after five years with Baycorp, and says he is incredibly proud of what the team has achieved together.

“We are the market leader in New Zealand, and we’re making strong progress towards a leadership position in Australia. This is an exciting time for Baycorp, and I feel I am leaving the company in good shape, with strong support from our shareholders and the team.”

Mr Yung is currently Encore Capital’s senior vice president of strategy, with previous experience as the chief operating officer and head of ZenBanx USA, and senior executive positions at ING USA, Bank of America and MBNA America Bank. 

The US-listed Encore Capital Group took a 50.25% share in Baycorp in 2015, with Baycorp’s existing shareholders (SAS Trustee Capital and Oceania Capital Partners) also remaining as owners and directors.

The Baycorp Board believes Mr Yung will add significant value to the New Zealand and Australian business, particularly in relation to making the most of Encore’s global expertise and skills.

Mr Yung says he is excited about working with the team and building on the strong base that the Baycorp team has developed, particularly in recent years.

“I had the opportunity to meet the Baycorp executive team on their recent visit to the United States and I found the team to be smart, experienced and hardworking - I look forward to working alongside them to strengthen our, support our customers and clients,” he said.

Mr Yung and his wife will relocate from Phoenix, Arizona in the United States, and will be based in Baycorp’s Parramatta office in Sydney, Australia.

In New Zealand, Baycorp works with many of New Zealand’s largest public and private organisations including utility companies, banks, finance companies and government agencies. It focuses on helping customers resolve their debts and was awarded the Best Customer Services Award for the Collections Industry for the second year in a row at the New Zealand CRM Contact Centre Awards.

Encore Capital leads the world in debt management and recovery with operations in 13 countries. Encore’s industry-leading predictive analytics and decision science expertise means Baycorp can be quicker and more efficient at recovering debt and offer a more powerful and effective debt resolution service.