CoreLogic, Guaranteed Rate, Stewart, HUD make leadership moves

January 31, 2023 10:19 AM

CoreLogic promotes Selma Hepp to chief economist

CoreLogic, the property information, analytics and data provider based in Irvine, California, appointed Selma Hepp chief economist. Hepp first stepped into the role on an interim basis last last year and will continue to lead CoreLogic's economics team, which is responsible for analysis and forecasting of real estate, mortgage and insurance industries trends.

Hepp joined CoreLogic in 2020 and served as an executive of research and insights. She previously held the chief economist position at both Pacific Union International and Trulia and also held research roles with the California Association of Realtors, National Association of Realtors and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Prosperity Home Mortgage appoints Justin Messer CEO

National lender Prosperity Home Mortgage, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway-owned Home Services of America, promoted Justin Messer to president and CEO. Most recently serving as the independent mortgage bank's chief operating officer, Messer will continue to oversee culture, growth and strategy in his elevated role at the Chantilly, Virginia-based lender, which produced $25 billion in loans in 2021 and 2022. Messer took over leadership on Jan. 1, replacing Tim Wilson, who remains with the company as chairman of the board.

HUD welcomes Kimberly McClain as assistant secretary

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development welcomed Kimberly A. McClain into the position of assistant secretary for congressional and intergovernmental relations following her Senate confirmation in mid December. In her new role, McClain will help pursue and build relationships within Congress and among government agencies to advance HUD's mission of creating affordable housing opportunities across the country.

A retired Air Force officer and government affairs specialist, McClain most recently served as deputy assistant secretary for congressional and legislative affairs at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. During her Air Force career, she also helped lead congressional strategy for the armed forces unit and played roles in policy development for the U.S. Department of Defense.

BlackFin appoints tech veteran Todd Luhtanen chief operating officer

BlackFin Group, the management consulting firm serving banking and mortgage industries, tapped former Dynatek leader Todd Luhtanen as chief operating officer. In his new position, Luhtanen will help scale BlackFin's growth, upholding quality standards as it adds additional services and software solutions, while also managing day-to-day operations for the Englewood, Colorado-based organization.

Earlier in his career, Luhtanen was a co-founder, chief operating officer and chief technology officer at mortgage automation software company Dynatek. More recently, he held the title of president at Talan Consulting, an international technology-focused group serving financial services.

Stewart promotes Elizabeth Giddens, Mary Thomas, Pamela O’Brien

Elizabeth Giddens, chief legal officer at Stewart Information Services

Stewart Information Services, the Houston-based provider of title insurance and other settlement solutions to mortgage and real estate companies, promoted three members of its legal team to elevated leadership roles at the beginning of the year. Elizabeth Giddens ascended to chief legal officer and corporate secretary. She joined Stewart last October to prepare for transition into the top position upon John Killea's retirement at the end of 2022. Giddens' legal background includes experience in both private law as well as publicly traded corporations. Before coming to Stewart, Giddens was general counsel at Integer Holdings, a manufacturer of medical devices for hospitals and health care industries.

Stewart also announced the promotion of Mary Thomas, known for her work with the American Land Title Association, to chief compliance and regulatory officer. Previously, Killea concurrently held the positions of chief legal officer and chief compliance officer. Additionally, the company named Pamela O'Brien general counsel of Stewart Title Guaranty, one of its many insurance brands. After beginning her tenure at Stewart as an underwriter in 2001, O'Brien later added claims and litigation responsibilities, later rising to chief litigation counsel and deputy general counsel before her most recent promotion.

Supreme Lending taps Baiju Thakkar as chief information officer

Dallas-based Supreme Lending recently appointed mortgage technology expert Baiju Thakkar chief information officer. In the new role, Thakkar will be responsible for leading a technology team in charge of developing and engineering new digital initiatives to further growth at the national lender. He joins the company after holding management positions with Fairway Independent Mortgage and Synergy One Lending, where he recently served as chief technology officer. Prior to moving into the home lending industry, Thakkar spent several years on the technology team at travel-booking platform Priceline.

Voxtur appoints Chad Neel chief operating officer

Mortgage technology and services company Voxtur Analytics named real estate lending executive Chad Neel chief operating officer. In the role, Neel will lead integration of newly acquired businesses and seek technology solutions to better drive efficiencies and client engagement. Last year, the Tampa, Florida- and Toronto-based company acquired Blue Water Financial Technologies and recently announced a partnership with a leading servicing aggregator to provide it with tools facilitating trading in secondary markets.

Neel comes to Voxtur with extensive knowledge of the technology needs behind mortgage transactions after previously holding leadership roles at companies, such as FIN Title, Xome and Lender Processing Services, where he managed business strategy development and operations for several divisions. More recently, Neel served as chief executive business officer at McCarthy Holthus, the national law firm representing companies in the banking and mortgage servicing industries.

Guaranteed Rate names Kathryn Amor head of enterprise products

Chicago-based Guaranteed Rate recently appointed former Finance of America executive Kathryn Amor senior vice president and head of enterprise products. In her role, Amor will oversee product offerings as a leader on the company's capital markets team. In the past year, Guaranteed Rate rolled out new personal and home-equity loans in an attempt to diversify offerings beyond home lending.

Amor most recently held a similar product-management role at Finance of America and previously worked in product development and credit policy while at the company, which exited its forward originations business in the fourth quarter last year.

Lower promotes Julia Brown, Chelsea Wagner

Left to right: Julia Brown, Chelsea Wagner

Lower, the mortgage fintech and lender based in New Albany, Ohio, elevated Julia Brown to senior vice president of operations. Most recently, Brown held the position of vice president of corporate development. In her new role, Brown will oversee mortgage operations, employee training and corporate development and technology support, drawing from a housing industry background that includes tenures at United Wholesale, Rocket Cos. and in the nonprofit sector.

The company also announced the promotion of Chelsea Wagner to senior vice president of partnerships. In her new position, she will oversee the development and sales growth of Lower's newly launched mortgage origination platform, which allows financial services and real estate companies to add home lending to their portfolio of offerings. As a part of the founding team at Lower, Wagner similarly helped build its direct-to-consumer channel. The new mortgage-platform product, available as a no-code or application programmable interface, was introduced last year through a pilot program with Opendoor.

Deephaven welcomes Tyler Bohn, Jason Dumke to sales team

Left to right: Jason Dumke, Tyler Bohn

Deephaven Mortgage the non-QM lender based in Charlotte, North Carolina, named Tyler Bohn managing director, national accounts. In the role, he will be responsible for assisting Deephaven's brokers and correspondents build their non-QM volume through use of the company's products, tools and training. Bohn joins Deephaven after holding previous senior-level positions in home finance with Solidifi, Incenter and First American Mortgage Solutions.

The non-QM leader also appointed Jason Dumke regional vice president, wholesale sales east. Dumke comes to Deephaven after previously recently serving in sales leadership with PowerTPO and First Guaranty. Based in Massachusetts, Dumke will oversee growth of Deephaven nonagency and non-QM business among broker partners in the Eastern U.S.

OriginPoint promotes John Stewart to chief production officer

OriginPoint, the joint venture originations business launched by Compass and Guaranteed Rate in 2021, announced the promotion of John Stewart to chief production officer. Stewart joined the Chicago-based lender in mid 2022 as executive vice president of sales, helping drive growth by drawing talent to the company. Stewart will be responsible for continued expansion, as OriginPoint seeks to build out a larger national footprint.

Before joining OriginPoint, Stewart served as a divisional manager at Guaranteed Rate. Earlier in his career, he co-founded Metrocities Mortgage, a similar joint enterprise.

MMI adds new regional managers Rob Pommier, Don MacKillop, Carol Burke

Left to right: Don MacKillop, Carol Burke, Rob Pommier

Mobility Market Intelligence, a provider of business intelligence data and tools for mortgage and real estate industries, appointed Rob Pommier, Don MacKillop and Carol Burke regional directors of enterprise sales. In their new roles with the Salt Lake City-based company, they will lead efforts to grow MMI's national client base and increase brand awareness and adoption of the company's products across different business segments in the mortgage ecosystem.

After recently serving as a strategic executive at point-of-sale software platform SimpleNexus, Pommier will be responsible for building MMI's Western U.S. presence. With a background in both lending and technology, he held prior roles at housing- and finance-related businesses, such as Altisource, Fiserv and OpenClose, earlier in his career. MacKillop will oversee the Central region of the country, and like Pommier, joins MMI from SimpleNexus, where he was a senior account executive. He previously worked in sales management at fintechs LoanLogics, Capsilon and Byte Software. Burke will be in charge of Southern markets and comes to the company with broad knowledge of all aspects in home lending thanks to roles at Top of Mind and Lenders One.

Incenter Marketing hires Finance of America alum Keith Godburn

Incenter Marketing, a marketing and public relations subsidiary of Fort Washington, Pennsylvania-based mortgage services provider Incenter, named Keith Godburn as associate creative director and brand strategist. Godburn joins Incenter from Finance of America Mortgage, where he most recently held the role of recruiting and onboarding marketing manager.

With skills as an illustrator and graphic artist, Godburn will take on responsibilities at Incenter on projects for external mortgage-industry clients in a range of segments, including technology and lending.

Cornerstone welcomes Kelly Zitlow as executive VP

Cornerstone Home Lending, headquartered in Houston, welcomed the return of Scottsdale, Arizona-based loan producer Kelly Zitlow, appointing her to the position of executive vice president of sales and engagement. In the new leadership role, Zitlow will introduce strategies to Cornerstone's home lending sales team.

Zitlow originally worked at Cornerstone from 2017 to early 2022 and returns to the company on the heels of its acquisition of The Roscoe State Bank last year. The deal resulted in the formation of Cornerstone Capital Bank. "The bank acquisition provides an expanded product line and the ability to lend across state lines in 37 states plus the District of Columbia, which is a game changer." Zitlow said.

Areal adds closing specialist Noah Cosentino

Areal, the technology startup using artificial intelligence to extract and integrate data for use in title and escrow processes, hired Noah Cosentino as product manager. The Los Angeles-based company, founded in 2020, provides an AI tool capable of understanding data found on 1,300 types of documents. Before starting at Areal, Cosentino worked in closing departments at mortgage brokerage platform Morty as well as online lender Better.