Meet the UCAS Team
At United Country Auction Services, we’ve been around the auction block. Our management group is led by some of the most highly respected professionals in the industry. They’ve won prestigious awards. They’ve headed up state and national auctioneer committees. And they’ve even been enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Duffy joined United Country Real Estate as part of a successful effort in February 2006 to secure growth capital to support the rapid growth of the United Country system. He serves as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors.
In his role as CEO, Mr. Duffy is principally responsible for the establishment and execution of a long-term strategy for United designed to deliver competitive advantage to office as they operate in their local markets and serve their clients. Prior to joining United Country Real Estate, Mr. Duffy spent nearly 20 years focused on serving clients in a number of senior executive positions.
Most recently, Mr. Duffy served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft's “2005 Global Partner of the Year” and largest North American Microsoft business solutions partner with over 20 offices serving 12,000 clients across the United States and the U.K. Prior to his tenure in the technology services market space, Mr. Duffy served as the Chief Development and Financial Officer of an on-line business-to-business exchange serving the auction and brokerage market for industrial equipment and was a founding member of the Chicago practice of the Center for Strategic Transactions, a division of Ernst & Young L.L.P., providing strategic and corporate finance advisory services to Fortune 100 companies as well as high growth technology, product and services organizations across multiple industries.
President
Mike Duffy is focused on bringing new, added value services, sales and marketing programs to United Country franchisees. With a 20 year background in marketing and sales, helping to build such national brands as Coca-Cola, Winston Cup NASCAR, RJ Reynolds, Minute Maid, Community Coffee, and numerous other well known brands, Mike is bringing this experience to build recognition and understanding of the United Country Real Estate brand with real estate buyers and sellers.
Most recently, Mike served as Vice President of Community Coffee and prior to that as a Vice President of Marketing for Coca-Cola. In addition to branding initiatives, Mike has expertise in sales, building strategic partnerships and launching new programs.
Building on a track record of innovative marketing and sales techniques, Mike has extensive experience positioning numerous brands with unique services and tools to drive differentiation and competitive advantage. Ultimately, helping United Country franchisees gain more listings, find more buyers and earn higher commissions is the objective of Mike’s efforts.
Mike received his MBA in Marketing and Finance from Indiana University, his undergraduate degree in Marketing from LSU and has attended numerous management and marketing post graduate programs. Mike has taught Brand Positioning, Brand Marketing and Advertising classes as a visiting speaker at LSU.
CAI, AARE, President UC Auction Services
Shawn has 30 years of professional auction and bid calling experience. He is a former Director of the National Auctioneers Association and a past Chairman and President of the Oklahoma State Auctioneers Association. Shawn has been crowned a Champion Auctioneer in multiple states during his career, and is recognized as one of the industry’s authorities on conducting auctions which incorporate internet bidding and accessibility technologies (ie. online auctions and live internet simulcasts). Over the years he has conducted thousands of auctions with highlights such as $72 million dollars in a single sales event.
Shawn is a graduate of the Certified Auctioneers Institute (CAI) at Indiana University and currently instructs “business planning” for (CAI). He holds the Accredited Auctioneer Real Estate (AARE) designation. He is a graduate of the Missouri Auction School and the Texas Auction Academy, where he is a certified instructor. He holds a real estate brokers license and an auctioneers license in multiple states across the U.S. Shawn is also the Co-owner and Chief Operations Officer of Mineral Marketing, LLC which is a nationwide oil & gas mineral and asset marketing firm.
Chief Technology Officer
Most recently, Dickey was Sr. Vice President Professional Services for ePartners. ePartners, the Microsoft 2005 Partner of the Year, specialized in delivering, integrating and customizing solutions tailored specifically for each client’s business needs. The group has a concentration in Microsoft .Net programming, Portal development services, systems integration, and a focus on ePartners’ core ERP and CRM product offerings.
Prior to joining ePartners, Dickey was Director of Worldwide Professional Services at Pervasive Software where he led the services group in both North America and Europe. The group focused on solving complex database problems and had a specific practice in replication and disaster recovery solutions.
Dickey has spent a number of years in the enterprise software space where he developed mission critical software for a wide range of businesses working with clients such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Office Depot, & Burlington Northern.
Dickey received his BBA in Management Information Systems from Texas Tech University, continuing education from Kellogg School of Management, and is a graduate of the Stagen Leadership Institute.
Chief Financial Officer
Jason Cole brings over 12 years of financial experience to United Country. After joining United Country over a year ago as Controller, he was promoted to Chief Financial Officer.
Prior to United Country, Jason spent seven years with Walmart Stores Inc, in various financial roles, last serving as Senior Accounting Manager for the Corporate Traffic Department managing the payables and receivables for the company.
After Walmart, he spent several years with Kansas City Southern Railroad, last serving as Accounting Manager helping prepare the monthly, quarterly and yearly SEC reporting for the company, as well as managing the inventory for the railroad. Jason’s last position was Controller doing international financial reporting for ThyssenKrupp Access, a global German company. Mike received his MBA in Marketing and Finance from Indiana University, his undergraduate degree in Marketing from LSU and has attended numerous management and marketing post graduate programs. Mike has taught Brand Positioning, Brand Marketing and Advertising classes as a visiting speaker at LSU.
VP Program Services and Partner Development
Richard Thompson began his career as a United Country sales associate in 1975. He later owned and operated an award winning franchise for another national franchise company before joining the United Country management team in 1988.
Initially joining the management team as a Regional Vice President for the Texas, Oklahoma region Mr. Thompson was promoted to Division Vice President in 1995. In 2003 he was promoted to executive vice president and was promoted to his current position in 2010.
As National Executive Vice President of Sales Richard utilizes the broad range of experience he has acquired in his 38 years in the industry to develop and execute the company’s growth plan.
Marketing Director, Enhanced Marketing Solutions ® (EMS ®)
Sofia brings 10 years of experience in advertising and marketing at the national and international level. She has a broad knowledge of branding, managing and executing integrated marketing campaigns, and digital and print media advertising.
As the Marketing Director of EMS, Sofia leads the team initiatives to provide the strategic solutions United Country franchises need to market their local brands, auctions, and lifestyle properties.
She led advertising teams for Payless ShoeSource across 20+ countries in Latin America. Sofia is also the owner of a small-scale real estate company focusing on reasonably priced & mixed-used buildings in the Kansas City Area. Sofia received her Bachelor's Degree from UTEP and her Master's degree in Marketing and Emerging Media from UT-Dallas.
Director of Marketing
Ashley is an innovative marketer with extensive marketing, brand management and advertising expertise. She has extensive knowledge of digital marketing, SEO, SEM, social media marketing, print and online advertising, event marketing, public relations, marketing collateral development, project management, brand development, and more.
By working with the team at United Country for the last 7+ years, she has successfully developed and launched innovated marketing programs with an emphasis on strategy and achieving results. She has a passion for lifestyle real estate and highly values the rare and unique family culture United Country offers.
Ashley is a graduate of Louisiana State University where she received her Bachelor of Science in Marketing. As the Director of Marketing, she strives to bring innovation and growth to United Country’s marketing initiatives.
Chief Financial Officer
Served in the capacity as a Team Lead for the Customer Care Department since April 2010. Her role included supporting five hundred franchise offices for United Country Real Estate. She provided customer support for real estate listings while maintaining a customer base as well as providing technical support. Lisa’s role expanded to Onboarding Manager, overseeing a phase process for new, existing or transferred franchise offices. Prior to April 2010 she was an Application Support Analyst for both IBM Global Services and AT&T with an emphasis in identifying system and operational needs for the business. Various training courses have been completed including; Financial Systems, Communications, and Management in addition to obtaining her Six Sigma certification. Lisa is a graduate from Baker University Magna Cum Laude, with a Bachelors of Business Administration and Information Systems Concentration.
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Director of Business Development / Area Vice President – Indiana
Jimmie Dean Coffey brings more than 30 years of auction and real estate experience to United Country as the director of business development. Conducting more than 75 auctions each year, Jimmie Dean has become a well-known name in the auction industry nationwide. His experience and impact makes him successful at acquiring new franchise owners.
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Executive Assistant, Auction Services
As executive assistant for United Country Auction Services, Trina Turner serves as President Shawn Terrel’s right hand by assisting the auction team with the development, maintenance and marketing of auction tools and resources. Trina uses her 14 years of experience in sales and project management to bring a fresh and unique perspective to auction projects.
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