Founded in 1991 by a trailblazer in modern debt collection, The Kaplan Group ranks among the top commercial collection agencies in the nation. We specialize in business-to-business collections and the recovery of large, uncollected debts.
When special needs arise, The Kaplan Group’s in-house law firm is at the ready to support our debt collection professionals. Our debt collectors are available to help clients in every state recover funds from businesses around the world. We yield an 85% success rate on large viable claims.
Beyond debt collection and contract litigation, our consulting division presents customized commercial collections seminars and credit management training programs for corporate clients. The Kaplan Group’s principals also provide financial and operational advice and are often asked to support the negotiation of major corporate transactions (mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures, intellectual property licensing, digital media distribution rights, etc.) both domestically and internationally. This hands-on business experience — from contract negotiations to operations management — contributes greatly to our success with large commercial collections.
Heritage
Over the course of 20 years, Jerry Kaplan built his first agency, Kaplan & Kaplan, into one of the 10 largest commercial collection agencies in the nation. During this time, he also established himself as an industry advocate and thought leader. He championed the industry’s ethical standards and practices while perfecting the art of large claim commercial collections. Jerry’s knowledge and expertise in commercial collections, commercial law, insolvencies, banking and all aspects of business operations helped him achieve maximum collection returns for his clients.
In addition to his commercial collection agency work, Jerry served as president of American Commercial Collections Association (now the IACC). He also served as treasurer for the Commercial Collection Agency Section of Commercial Law League of America.
In 1989, Jerry was ready to move on from daily company management and sold Kaplan & Kaplan to another firm. Retirement was short-lived for the phone never stopped ringing with clients that had cases in need of “the Kaplan approach.” In 1991, he founded The Kaplan Group to manage special cases and the firm quickly expanded from there.
In 2002, Dean Kaplan took the reins and steadily built the company into a national network of highly experienced large claim specialists. No matter where the client or the debtor is located, The Kaplan Group Collection Agency has debt collection industry specialists and attorneys at the ready to find and collect the money that is owed.
Dean Kaplan
President, The Kaplan Group
Dean Kaplan personally handles all large debt collection matters and has negotiated more than $500 million in business transactions. He graduated with an MBA from the prestigious University of Chicago Booth School of Business. In the two decades prior to joining The Kaplan Group, Dean ran a variety of manufacturing, technology and consulting businesses, both as an owner or senior executive.
Dean spent eight years as the President/Owner of AMI, Inc. (a custom fiberglass manufacturer for companies such as Walt Disney, Warner Brothers, Macy’s, Hard Rock Casinos and Guess) and seven years as the CFO/VP of Corporate Development of Beatnik Inc. (audio software found on more than a billion phones). As CFO/COO of venture-funded Xing Technology, Dean negotiated the $75 million sale of the company after it developed the world’s first mp3 software recorder.
Dean has traveled to more than 40 countries negotiating large business deals with some of the largest tech, music and phone companies in the world. For one significant deal, he helmed a $250 million equity investment by a Japanese company into a US company that was owned by a British company.
Dean’s business expertise enables him to solve problems and negotiate transactions between companies in hundreds of industries in every region of the world. He knows the inner workings of Fortune 500 companies, small mom & pop companies and everything in between. Every client he takes on presents a different challenge and demands a unique
solution. His proven collections approach yields an 85 percent success rate on viable claims.
Dean’s expertise is widely recognized in the debt collection industry. His advice has been published in a number of industry publications and he is a frequent speaker at industry events including prestigious seminars by Riemer Reporting, Dun & Bradstreet and the National Association of Credit Management.
