NAPA, Calif. — F&I product provider AUL Corp. announced the promotion of Scott Smith to manager of operations. He replaces Jackie Mathews, who stepped back from her role as operations manager as she prepares for retirement, and will maintain his duties as service support manager.

Smith joined AUL nine years ago as a customer service representative. He then appointed a claims team leader before his promotion to service support manager. In his new role, he will work to "combine the synergies" of the two departments to support the company's continued growth.

“Scott is an inspirational leader that has taken our service support team to new levels,” said Jimmy Atkinson, COO. “We have a very high commitment to customer service and [we] answer every call personally through that team, handling over 30,000 calls per month. Scott has developed processes and training programs and even, more importantly, the spirt of teamwork that we know he will bring to our operations group.”

Matthews, a more than 20-year employee of AUL, agreed to step back from her manager role to become a team member. "Jackie is employee No. 3," said Luis Nieves, founder and CEO of AUL. "When we were first starting AUL, we folded brochures and pitch kits in Jackie's basement, and she had been a loyal and dedicated part of AUL ever since."

In addition to Smith’s promotion, Kim Freeman was promoted to operations team leader and Heath Rosa was named operations analyst.