Excerpts from Businessperson of the Month

Sandy Lubin is a soft-spoken, shy sort of man whose answers to questions are focused. He is a self-proclaimed community volunteer. His office walls bear this out - with their plaques, certificates and evidence of his involvement in South County organizations and his success in business. He is president and CEO of a busy, rapidly growing firm, The Credit Bureau of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties, in Grover Beach.

Sandy was born and raised in The Los Angeles area, graduating in 1962. His future undecided, he joined the Navy reserves. After basic training he became a quartermaster specialist in navigation for the remainder of his two-year active duty tour. His assignment included navigation duty on various troop ships and a short tour on an Admiral's flagship.

Back on shore with four additional years inactive duty left, he decided he should get a job. A friend suggested the Bank of America. His talents were soon recognized and he was enrolled in their senior management-training program. In 1965, he became an assistant in the operations division for Union Bank in the San Fernando Valley. Fourteen years later, he left the Union Bank as vice president and became the president/CEO of the Brentwood Bank.

In 1967, he met and married Cindi and they started a family, daughter Cherise and son Russ. Their children are now grown and have college degrees and are married. They have two grandchildren both born shortly after the turn of the millennium.

As busy as he was climbing the banking corporate ladder and raising a family, Sandy managed to continue his education on a part-time basis and in 1987 graduated from Pepperdine University with a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration.

As fortune would have it, in 1989, the Central Coast National Bank, which was looking for somebody to run its new bank, gave him a call and asked him to interview for a job. "I guess it was because of my networking that my name was recommended to them," Sandy said. "I interviewed, and they offered me the job as president of the bank. I liked the Central Coast, and was not happy with the southern California lifestyle. We moved to the South County in March of 1989."

Recognizing the importance of community involvement, Sandy soon joined the Rotary Club where he met many new business associates, one of them, Jim Schiller, owner of the Credit Bureau of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties, which began in 1926 as the Credit Bureau of Santa Maria. Jim wanted to retire. Sandy said, "I was ready to make a big step on my own. It was a natural fit to go from banking to the credit and collection business. I talked it over with Cindi and we bought Jim's business in 1992."

When they started out, they had 17 employees, dipped to 14 during the 90's recession, expanded to 30 over the last six years and expect to continue to grow.

Their business is a full-service agency offering collection services, as well as completely automated credit reports, residential mortgage credit reports and Desktop Underwriting for Fannie Mae. Sandy said, "We are here to save businesses time and money."

They are under contract with several banks, department stores, hospitals, medical facilities and property management organizations to collect outstanding debts. "We are a third-party collection agency that will provide efficient, cost-effective, specialized services," Sandy said.

In 2000 The Credit Bureau completed the purchase of Central Coast Collection, Inc. making the Credit Bureau the largest locally owned Credit Bureau between Santa Cruz and Los Angeles. Sandy has two more important projects in the hopper. He recently established a new company, United Receivable Solutions (URS). "We found that there is an opportunity to provide accounts receivable management for companies that have outstanding debts over 30 but less than 100 days old," Sandy said. "We can provide the most professional and efficient accounts receivable management program, customized to meet the needs of any business. We liken ourselves to being an accounts receivable partner," he said. "We have had considerable experience in the medical community but our collection services could apply to any business."

His second project is a 5000-square-foot business complex on Ramona just west of Oak Park. "This twin office building we call Ramona Plaza will easily accommodate our expansion plans, plus we have space available for rent," Sandy said.

Sandy is a Busy guy. He is currently a Council Member for the city of Arroyo Grande and has also been president of the Pismo Beach 5 Cities Rotary Club, president of the Arroyo Grande Chamber of Commerce, treasurer of the SLO YMCA, chair of the AG Planning Commission, member of the Foot Printers Board of Directors (a business support group for the police department) AG Police Advisory Commission, District Assembly Chairman for the Rotary District Governor (Scott Metcalf), AG Parks/Recreation Commission, AG Chamber and City Economic Development Commission, member of the AG Chamber Board of Directors, a Mason and a Shriner. He is a member of several Chambers of Commerce and professional, national and state credit associations.

His achievement award list is also impressive: Western Management Institute Outstanding Student, Scholar in Business Management given by the American Collector's Association, Rotarian of the Year, Rotary International Director's Award for Outstanding Leadership, Rotary Paul Harris Fellow and the Sam Walton Business Leader Award.