Thea Dudley is a credit management veteran in the building materials and construction industry. In her over three decades of work as a credit and collections officer, Thea Dudley has trekked across deserts to recover goods, taken FBI interrogation classes to learn negotiators “tells” and suffered through more lame reasons for extending credit then she can count. She knows how to decide whose worthy of credit and how to go after those who abuse the privilege. From working in her Dad’s subcontracting business, Thea moved into a bigger role: granting credit and collecting the money. Thea has spent her career working across credit departments of manufacturers, suppliers, contractors, and subcontractors. Formerly Vice President of Financial Services at two nationwide material distributors, she has trained hundreds of credit managers, sales reps, and presidents to use the credit department as a business partner. Thea is an inspiring leader and coach who promotes the philosophy that credit and sales can profitability co-exist. She specializes in building a strong credit people and teams by considering the entire order to cash process and the business as a whole. She is a national speaker, author, and columnist.