R. Fred Houston is the president and CEO of Columbia Ultimate. Houston has more than 25 years of experience in the credit and collections industry and is a well-regarded expert and speaker on topics of debt recovery.

Prior to joining Columbia Ultimate, Houston served as founder and president of The Intelitech Group, a professional services organization offering consulting services and products to the debt-recovery marketplace. Houston champions the use of knowledge-based solutions to achieve optimum organizational effectiveness and growth, and has presented at seminars across the country on proven approaches and methods of handling conventional business challenges. He also served as vice president of sales and marketing at Columbia Ultimate from 1985 to 1998.

Houston has served three two-year terms on the board of directors and currently chairs the Online committee, co-chairs the Research Task Force, and serves on the Strategic Planning committee for ACA International, the association of credit and collection professionals. He previously served on the Affiliate advisory committee both as a member and as Chair as well as the Professional Management Practices System (PPMS) committee. Houston is also listed in Oxford's Who's Who of Business Professionals.