‘Wonder Woman’ Jana Bauer is the force behind technology at BARR Credit Services.

When the cost of BARR Credit Services’ collection software rose by 166% in one year, rather than shopping around for a different product, the company posed a unique challenge to its top IT professional: Write new software.

BARR Credit Services Director of MIS Jana Bauer accepted the challenge with twist: “Find someone else to write the software, and I’ll design it.” Bauer says.

“It changed my whole world within the company,”

While the task of developing proprietary collection software would’ve been daunting for many others, BARR Credit Services CEO Randy Frazee describes Bauer as a “real-life Wonder Woman.”

“She not only knows IT inside and out, but she is also familiar with all aspects of our industry,” Frazee says. “She developed processes, procedures, and reports for our accounting, collections, and sales departments.”

As Director of MIS, Bauer is the force behind the company’s technology. She continuously designs and implements new features for BARR Credit Services’ custom collection software. She also serves as administrator for the Microsoft SQL databases at BARR; provides IT support engineer for 80 users, both local and remote; Jana creates and implements in-house processes to improve productivity of staff. She has streamlined document management. Jana builds custom reports for management and staff. Most importantly, she researches emerging technologies making recommendations for new purchases.

And crucially, in an era of surging cyber-threats such as phishing and ransomware, Bauer is the first line of defense for BARR Credit Services’ data.

Additionally, Jana revamped the ICE Credit Exchange (ICE) platform and has taken leadership as the administrator.

“BARR Credit Services views cyber-security as one of our most important tasks day in and day out,” explains BARR COO George Kern. “We employ stringent measures to protect our systems and the information that it houses. We pride ourselves in educating our employees to be a part of our cyber security measures. All this responsibility falls to our IT department. Jana Bauer and her team are always watching for potential exposures or breaches. Jana consistently teaches all of us at BARR Credit Services what to be looking for as possible incursion attempts through our daily work. She is vigilant about keeping BARR Credit Services and our clients safe from any possible cyber-attack, big or small.”

Bauer initially served as Director of MIS for Randall & Richards from August 2001 to January 2003. (Randall & Richards was the predecessor of Andersen, Randall & Richards. From 1999 to 2014, Andersen Randall & Richards invested in multiple acquisitions. In 2016, BARR Credit Services was formed from The Bessenbacher Company and Andersen Randall & Richards merger.) She left the company for one year to work as a collection paralegal for The Hameroff Law Firm, while simultaneously remaining a contractor for Randall & Richards.

“I came crying back to Randall & Richards and said, ‘I made a horrible mistake. Please let me back in, please, please,’” she recalls. “They were kind enough to let me back into the fold, and I have not left ever since.”

Eighteen years later, Bauer says she continues to cherish “the diversity in my work” daily.

“I never do the same thing two days in a row,” she says. “And I love that I’m always getting to learn something new.”

She also attributes her longevity at BARR Credit Services to the company’s kindness and generosity during challenging times. In 2012, her boyfriend Joe needed to spend 39 days in the hospital following an appendectomy, including 19 days in a coma. Although BARR Credit Services was in the midst of a significant proprietary collection software project, the company’s CFO at the time, John Wieland, insisted that the project be put on hold until Bauer could return to work.

“I was spending 15 hours a day at the hospital, and I had a whole team of developers waiting for me. Yet not once in all of that time Joe was in the hospital did anyone ask me, ‘Jana, when are you coming back? It was always, ‘Jana, what can we do for you? We’re praying for you. We’re thinking of you. And not one penny came out of my paycheck during that time,” she says.

In turn, Bauer has proven adept at navigating BARR Credit Services through its crises and challenges. Frazee notes that under her leadership, the company was able to transition to a completely remote work environment within one week of the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There’s no problem too big or too small for Jana to tackle,” he says. “Jana’s always available when needed during a crisis, relocation, or acquisition. We are blessed to have her on our team. She truly is our Wonder Woman!”