Mark E. Speese (born 1957) is an American businessman who founded

Rent-A-Center Rent-A-Center (commonly referred to as RAC) is an American public furniture and electronics rent-to-own company based in Plano, Texas. The company was incorporated in 1986 and as of 2014 operates approximately 2,972 company-owned stores in the Un ...

and built an empire.

Career

Speese began his career in the rent-to-own industry in January 1978. He started as an entry level coworker with

, a brand that has been in existence since 1973. He moved up the career ladder with the company, and after nearly eight years working in the business, he and a colleague left the company to start a competing business known as Vista Rent-To-Own. They opened stores in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

, and

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. Speese was responsible for choosing store locations, negotiating leases, hiring and training personnel, writing the business model and employee handbook, creating advertising, and getting vendors in place. With Speese as President and

COO COO or coo may refer to: Business * Certificate of origin, used in international trade * Chief operating officer or chief operations officer, high-ranking corporate official * Concept of operations, used in Systems Engineering Management Process ...

, Vista Rent-To-Own made its first acquisition of stores in 1993 and officially changed its name to Renter's Choice. The company went public on the

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

market in 1995 under the symbol RCII. In 1998, having grown to the industry's second largest rent-to-own business with 750 stores, Renter's Choice acquired 1,409 Rent-A-Center stores from Thorn Americas. This move put the company the map as the industry's dominant rent-to-own company. Renter's Choice adopted the

name. Mark Speese retired as Rent-A-Center

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

at the end of January 2014. He continues to hold his position as

chairman of the board The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

Compensation

According to

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, in 2011, Speese's annual compensation was as follows: Salary: $865,700; Option awards: $84,900; Non-equity incentive plan compensation: $1,099,326; All other compensation: $10,028. Total overall compensation of $2,059,954.

Affiliations

* Collin County Children's Advocacy Center in Plano, Texas, President of the Board * Dallas Regional Chamber of Commerce, board of directors * Dallas Citizen's Council, member * Collin County Business Alliance, board of directors

Honors and awards

* Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for Retailing, 2005 * Plano Chamber of Commerce's Business Executive of the Year Award, 2006 * philanthropic Award from Collin County Children's Advocacy Center's 14th Annual Appreciation Luncheon, 2008 * 1 for the 21st Century Leadership Award from Inside Collin County Business, 2008 * Bank of America Local Hero's Award recipient, 2009 * University of North Texas Murphy Award for Lifetime Achievement in Entrepreneurship, 2009 * Association of Progressive Rental Organizations’ (APRO) Ernie Talley Lifetime Achievement Award, 2011

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Speese, Mark 1957 births Living people American businesspeople