Communication is key to GM Financial's continued success under new leadership, according to retiring GM Financial President of North America Operations Kyle Birch.

"There'll always be challenges for lenders and dealers, even in the best of times," he told Auto Finance News.

"We talk a lot about sales, funding, credit performance, customer satisfaction, profitability — the list goes on. But if we're not talking about that with our dealer customers [or] in the lending industry, then we're not helping our dealers sell more cars.”

Birch's tenure with GM Financial spans nearly 16 years, He has been president since February 2018 and before that chief operating officer and executive vice president of GM Financial North America. He also was with the captive's legacy company, AmeriCredit Financial Services, for 13 years.

Jonas Hollandsworth, executive vice president and COO of North America, will succeed Birch in September.

"He knows what to do and how to do it well, especially with our dealer customers," Birch said of Hollandsworth. "He'll dive deeper on the consumer side of our business and spend more time growing and learning about our Canadian business."

In this podcast, Auto Finance News editor Amanda Harris and GM Financial's Kyle Birch talk about his tenure at the captive and preparing the next generation to lead.