Association of Progressive Rental Organizations

Store Manager of the Year Spotlight: Impact RTO’s Daniel Ruiz-Perez

Daniel Ruiz-Perez is a natural-born helper. It’s why he became a nurse in Puerto Rico, his first home. It’s why he rushed into New Orleans in 2005 following Hurricane Katrina. And it’s why, when the atrocities he witnessed during that period proved to be too rough for him to continue with nursing full-time, he turned to … rent-to-own?

“Rent-A-Center has provided me with the opportunity to keep helping people, just in a different way,” says Ruiz-Perez, who was named 2020 Store Manager of the Year for APRO member Impact RTO Holdings, dba Rent-A-Center. “In nursing, I was helping people with their health; in rent-to-own, I’m still helping people, but with their homes.”

Ruiz-Perez began at Rent-A-Center as a driver, but his inborn curiosity and love of learning drove him to promotion after promotion – from driver to credit manager to sales manager to store manager. Ruiz-Perez has served as a Store Manager for almost a decade at various locations; the most recent one is Impact RTO’s Jacksonville, Florida, Rent-A-Center location at University Boulevard West.

“I met Daniel at [Rent-A-Center affiliate] Acceptance Now,” recalls Impact RTO Regional Manager Jason Winters. “I quickly realized he’s an excellent manager with a great mind for business. I sent him to two different locations on the verge of closure, and he turned them both around within a matter of weeks. He single-handedly saved those stores.”

When Winters moved over to Impact RTO, he persuaded Ruiz-Perez to follow him. Following a year as a manager-in-training, Ruiz-Perez took over a struggling store and turned its collections program around – the first time of many he has swooped in to assist his company and his colleagues.

“Daniel helped a struggling fellow store manager with inventory and account management, turning her into a very solid manager,” Winters notes. “He spent a week in Georgia training and working alongside a team that sorely needed his help and leadership. And he has shared best practices with each and every store manager and assistant manager regionwide.

“Additionally, during the pandemic, Daniel has helped the whole region grow,” he continues, “through excellent inventory management and ordering processes that brought tons of new product into the region, which he shared liberally with his teammates – helping them sell and succeed by always having what customers wanted and transferring it to them every time.”

Naturally, Ruiz-Perez’s helper-self comes out in everyday interactions with his employees and customers, too.

Daniel Ruiz-Perez (right) and coworkers celebrate a birthday in-store.

“Our customers, we call them our family,” Ruiz-Perez said. “That’s what I tell people who come work for me – customers aren’t just people coming in to buy. Each customer is a person who has come to us looking for help because they’re going through something – even if they just need furniture to make their house look good so they can sell it. We need to be looking at them with a ‘How can I help you?’ attitude.”

When a customer named Kari came in to return a sofa that was almost paid off, Ruiz-Perez wondered why. It turned out, Kari’s sister had been killed in a car accident, and Kari was taking in her four nephews. She needed to turn in the sofa so that she could afford to rent mattresses for the boys.

“I told her, ‘Wait – don’t return anything yet. Give me a couple of days,’” remembers Ruiz-Perez. “I sent an email to [Impact RTO President] Shirin Kanji, and he provided us with the beds to give her. And he went extra – he had me buy pillows and blankets for them. The fact that he supported me like that in trying to help a customer, that’s a shout-out moment right there.”

“Daniel is an ideal team player and a great leader,” Impact RTO Vice President Paul Metivier says. “He is smart, hard-working, caring, and expects the best from people around him. He also has the world’s best laugh!”

“He is always the loudest and most expressive person in any group,” Winters concurs. “And his infectious laugh can be heard booming through any store he happens to be in. Daniel consistently shows that when you take care of your customers, do what you say you’re going to do, train and model the right way to do things, and hold everyone to high standards, you will succeed.”

In all his rent-to-own success, Ruiz-Perez still finds ways to put his nursing skills to work. He goes on annual mission trips with his church, working with HIV-positive patients; he was in Peru last year [pre-pandemic], and is in Mexico right now for a ten-day mission. And Ruiz-Perez learned one essential skill through nursing that he uses almost every day in his RTO work.

“Listening,” says Ruiz-Perez. “If you’re not willing to stop and listen to people, no matter how you’re feeling or what’s happening around you, you won’t be able to help anyone. To find a way to help someone, you just need to listen.”

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Mike Lewis

Mike Lewis is a Premier Rental Purchase franchisee with multiple stores and currently serves as Vice President of Operations. With 33 years of experience in the rent-to-own industry, he has spent the past 20 years working closely with franchisee owners and previously spent 12 years in Corporate RTO, gaining a strong foundation in the business.

For the past five years, Mike has been sharing his knowledge by teaching managers and franchisees at the company’s Training Center.

Outside of work, he enjoys time with his family, kids, and grandkids, and appreciates the simple things in life – especially riding his Harley Davidson with the sun on his face. If you know, you know!

Lauren Talicska

Arona Corporation dba Arona Home Essentials

Lauren Talicska is an experienced multi-channel marketing specialist and the Vice President of Marketing & Communications at Arona Home Essentials. She has found her home in the RTO community, supporting stores in branding, growth, and increasing traffic.

You may recognize Lauren as a former RTO vendor, including her time as a partner for Nationwide RentDirect, or her previous participation in the APRO Vendor Advisory Committee. Lauren calls Columbus, Ohio, home and spends her workday crafting and executing marketing promotions from inception to realization, all while supporting the branding and social media needs of all the Arona stores in 12 states (plus Puerto Rico!).

Charles Smitherman

APRO

Charles Smitherman, JD, PhD, CAE, became CEO of APRO in 2023, bringing years of legal and executive experience in the rent-to-own industry. 

Prior to joining the association, Charles served as COO, General Counsel, and Vice President of PTS Financial Services, where he played an active role in the rent-to-own industry by representing his company through PTS’s club program offering with APRO member dealers. Charles is an attorney with two decades of experience across a wide variety of areas, including RTO, consumer financial services, antitrust, corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, litigation, franchise law, and privacy law. Following law school at the University of Georgia, Charles earned a Master of Legal Studies and PhD in Law from the University of Oxford in England.

Charles is credentialed as a Certified Association Executive (CAE) with the American Society of Association Executives, a Certified Franchise Executive (CFE) with the International Franchise Association, and a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US) and Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM) through the International Association of Privacy Professionals. As APRO’s sixth CEO in its 45-year history, he brings a collaborative, member-focused approach to association leadership, emphasizing transparency, advocacy, and value creation. Outside of work, Charles is an active ultra runner and open water swimmer.

Mike Kays

Ashley Furniture Industries

As VP of Rental Sales for Ashley Furniture Industries, Mike thrives on building relationships with our RTO industry veterans, and helping businesses grow through new product, new marketing, and new supply chain options.

Mike works to leverage a wide breadth of relationships and influence, intimate knowledge of market trends, and unique knowledge of what RTO dealers need from a supplier to be successful.

The saying goes that a high tide raises all boats, and our goal is to leverage the world’s largest furniture manufacturer to drive the continued growth of the RTO industry and all the suppliers.

Mike Tissot

Countryside Rentals Inc., dba Rent-2-Own

Mike grew up in the rent-to-own industry under the guidance of his father, former APRO President and RTO legend Darrell Tissot. For nearly 25 years, Mike’s innovative leadership has helped expand the family business to more than 40 stores across Ohio and Kentucky while also shaping the industry as a whole.

He has served as President of the Ohio Rental Dealers Association, an APRO board member and Treasurer, and President and Treasurer of the TRIB Group. His contributions have earned him the APRO President’s Award of Excellence and the title of APRO Rental Dealer of the Year.

Outside of RTO, Mike enjoys time at the lake house or in Orange Beach, Alabama, with his girlfriend, Angela Strong McCool. A passionate Cincinnati Reds fan, he rarely misses a game, whether watching or listening alongside his parents. He also takes every opportunity to visit Arizona, where his daughter is currently attending Arizona State University.