With GreenPath Debt Solutions (formerly Credit Counseling Centers, or CCC) since 1980 — and as president and CEO since 1997 — Jane McNamara’s long organizational history is marked with a consistent commitment to employee development, advanced technologies and continuous improvement. Through this commitment, Jane has transformed GreenPath from a relatively small business focused on a handful of local service centers — 13 in 1988 — to a national counseling industry leader known for compassion, customer focus and integrity.

Today, McNamara’s GreenPath employs more than 500 people and provides face-to-face and customized counseling, education and debt management services to individuals and families in seven states through 37 service centers, while serving consumers all over the nation through advanced digital phone technologies and the Internet.

Leading GreenPath through significant growth and many beneficial operational changes, McNamara leads with empowerment as her rule of thumb. As a result, the GreenPath leadership team achieves significant results. For instance, in 2005, GreenPath became one of the first organizations approved by the Executive Office for U.S. Trustees to provide both pre-bankruptcy counseling and pre-discharge education as required by the new bankruptcy laws. In 2006, the demand for GreenPath services expanded so significantly that the company hired, trained and put into service 135 new counselors and increased overall staffing by about 50 percent. In 2007, GreenPath counselors conducted almost 295,000, debt, bankruptcy and housing counseling sessions and returned more than $180 million to creditors on behalf of clients. And those numbers continue growing exponentially, while GreenPath also continues advancing consumer financial education through its services to partners that include community banks, credit unions, schools and partner credit card companies.

McNamara is a consumer services graduate of Michigan State University and earned a master’s degree in family economics and management, with a specialty in family financial counseling, also from Michigan State. She is a past board member and treasurer of the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education, as well as the Michigan Chrysler Customer Satisfaction Board. She was awarded the Eastern Michigan University Distinguished Service Award in 1991 and in 1992 she was given the Philip A. Hart Honorary Award for outstanding work in the education and counseling of consumers. She is also a 2008 Graduate of Leadership Detroit XXIX. She currently serves on the following boards and committees:

• Counsel on Accreditation for Children and Family Services; Audit Committee; Commissioner and Team Leader (Peer Reviewer)
• Hospice of Michigan Fiduciary Board; Secretary and Treasurer; and Finance Committee Chair
• Lighthouse Emergency Services Board of Directors, and Finance Committee
• Lighthouse of Oakland County Board of Trustees