CrossCountry, FHFA, Optimal Blue boost leadership teams

November 19, 2024 5:00 AM

CrossCountry welcomes former Pennymac execs to C-suite

Left to right: William Chang, Vandad Fartaj, Tom Rettinger

Cleveland-based national lender CrossCountry Mortgage tapped three former Pennymac executives for its c-suite, adding significant secondary markets expertise. The new appointees will head CrossCountry's capital markets initiatives, including developing investment strategy, risk management and hedging activities.

Vandad Fartaj steps in as chief investment officer after previously serving in the same role at both Pennymac's financial services and mortgage investment trust units until 2023. Holding that same CIO role more recently at the trust, William Chang joins CrossCountry as chief capital markets officer. During part of his tenure at PennyMac, Chang also held the chief capital markets officer title within the financial services division concurrently before his departure in October.

Previously a head of secondary marketing at Pennymac until June 2023, Rettinger takes on the role of chief portfolio risk officer, tapping into his experience at lender as well as prior roles at Bank of America and HSBC.

FHFA adds financial services oversight veteran Victoria Nahrwold

Photo by Cory Jones

The Federal Housing Finance Agency recently appointed Victoria Nahrwold as deputy director, division of enterprise regulation. In the position, Nahrwold will lead the division in charge of financial and compliance oversight of government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Nahrwold joins the FHFA after holding a similar leadership role at the National Credit Union Administration, tapping into experience in supervision, risk management and rulemaking. While at NCUA, she helped lead projects and training programs that addressed risk management and capital markets operations.

Two welcomes Travis Swenson as chief financial officer

The newly renamed real estate investment trust Two announced the appointment of Travis Swenson as chief financial officer, effective May 5, 2025. Swenson comes to Two after previously holding the same position with Colliers Mortgage Holdings and previously served in leadership at other real estate and finance-related businesses, including Wework and CBRE. Before officially taking over the role in May, Swenson will serve in the capacity of deputy CFO.

In the role, Swenson will have oversight of all accounting and finance functions for the growing St. Louis Park, Minnesota-based REIT, which added expanded originations and servicing operations this year.

Dark Matter promotes Sean Dugan to CEO

Photo by Gina Risso

Origination software provider Dark Matter Technologies announced the promotion of Sean Dugan to CEO, effective April 2025. Dugan will succeed Rich Gagliano, who plans to step into an executive chairmanship role. Dugan first joined the Jacksonville, Florida-based firm in 2011 and has served as chief revenue officer since late 2023 after its acquisition and creation as a separate, independent business. As CEO, Dugan expects to focus on developing greater operational efficiencies to better serve Dark Matter clients in the future.

Optimal Blue promotes Erin Wester, Mike Vough to senior leadership

Left to right: Mike Vough, Erin Wester

Product pricing engine platform Optimal Blue elevated Erin Wester and Mike Vough to leadership roles focused on expanding company growth. Newly installed as chief product officer, Wester will be responsible for developing strategy for all of the company's capital markets platform's offerings to help clients obtain best return on investment. Prior to her ascension to the c-suite, Wester held primary responsibilities over Optimal Blue's product and pricing solutions.

The Plano, Texas-based firm also promoted Vough to head of corporate strategy. In the role, he will oversee business development in support of Optimal Blue's integration partner network, help drive acquisitions and lead growth of the data business. Before stepping into his new position, Vough led strategy for the company's hedging and trading solutions division.

Fannie Mae appoints homebuilding exec Scott Stowell to board

Government-sponsored enterprise Fannie Mae announced the appointment of Scott Stowell to its board of directors, adding his experience in single-family and mixed-use homebuilding to its corporate governance team. Stowell previously held several roles in his career with Standard Pacific Homes, eventually ascending to the CEO role in 2012 before its merger and the formation of CalAtlantic Group. At CalAtlantic, Stowell served as executive chairman and later held a director role with Lennar after those two companies merged. Stowell is currently CEO and president of Capital Thirteen, a real estate investment and venture funding firm and advisory.

Redwood Trust adds Abhinav Asthana, Jason Kopcak, promotes Fred Matera

Left to right: Jason Kopcak, Abhinav Asthana, Fred Matera

Redwood Trust, the specialty financing firm based in Mill Valley, California, recently announced key leadership moves across the company and subsidiaries. Within its corporate leadership team, the firm welcomed Abhinav Asthana as chief technology officer, a role in which he will help develop Redwood's offerings through expanded digital capabilities and implementation of artificial intelligence. He most recently served as head of product at Tavant and held previous leadership roles at Wipro and Hewlett-Packard.

The company also named Jason Kopcak as head of alternative strategies, responsible for increasing Redwood's growth in new product types and expanding distribution channels across its platforms. His previous roles include positions with Altisource, Nomura Holdings and Morgan Stanley.

Additionally, Redwood subsidiary Corevest promoted Fred Matera to CEO. Most recently co-head of the residential investing lending unit, Matera will focus on delivering product growth and expanding distribution channels. In two different tenures at Redwood, Matera has served in several leadership capacities, including as chief investment officer and head of commercial.

NAMB appoints Rocke Andrews as chief financial officer

The National Association of Mortgage Brokers elevated board member Rocke Andrews to chief financial officer. As CFO, Andrews will guide the broker trade group's financial initiatives as well its education and certification programs in the full-time role.

At its recent conference, NAMB also announced that its former president Valerie Saunders will step into the position of chief executive strategist, a role in which she will be in charge of daily operations, partner relations and NAMB events.

Haven adds Cole Murray as chief technology officer

Mortgage fintech Haven Servicing welcomed software engineer and machine learning expert Cole Murray as chief technology officer. A co-founder of manufacturing technology firm, Empiric, Murray also previously held lead engineering roles at Amazon and Credit Karma. In the role, Murray will spearhead growth of technology initiatives to facilitate onboarding of new partners and integration with their systems.

Murray's arrival coincides with the New York-based fintech's reappointment of Jonathan Chao as CEO. Chao returns to the helm after stepping down over a year ago in order to lead development of new Haven products and succeeds technology veteran Daniel Wallace.

Ascribe appoints Lora Helt to lead national sales

Appraisal and valuation solutions provider Ascribe tapped Lora Helt as its new senior vice president of national sales. In the role, Helt will seek to strategically grow the Chicago-based company's client base across the country. A licensed residential appraiser, she brings experience in mortgage originations and servicing as well and previously served in leadership at Altisource and Bradford Technologies.

Asurity welcomes new senior advisor Ellen Rose

Risk and compliance consulting firm Asurity Advisors named Ellen Rose as senior advisor, tapping into her background in residential and commercial lending and servicing. With a career serving businesses of all sizes across different facets of lending and financial services, Rose has served as an executive with Shearson American Express and Merrill Lynch. She also previously served as a consultant, assisting companies with mergers and acquisitions.

Provident Bank adds warehouse lending leader Mohamed Najam

Photo by Rich Schaub

Iselin, New Jersey-based Provident Bank announced the expansion of its mortgage warehouse lending team, appointing Mohamed Najam as vice president, senior relationship manager. In his new role, Najam will work to deliver new warehouse lending relationships in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast regions, while continuing to assist and sell new services to existing customers. Najam most recently held the title of first vice president in the mortgage warehouse division of Flagstar Bank. His experience also includes tenures with Santander and Bank of America.

Aidium hires sales veteran Tony Farnsworth as VP

Mortgage customer-relationship management platform Aidium tapped technology sales veteran Tony Farnsworth as vice president of sales. In his new position, Farnsworth will be responsible for developing the Boulder, Colorado-based company's sales strategy and find new business opportunities that help scale growth.

Farnsworth's professional background includes roles at leading mortgage and insurance technology companies, including Total Expert, where he served as sales director. Most recently, he held the title of senior director of business development at home insurance platform Matic.

Guaranteed Rate Affinity names Mark Rawls vice president

Guaranteed Rate Affinity, an exclusive home finance partner of Coldwell Banker, welcomed industry veteran Mark Rawls as vice president of mortgage lending. In his new position, Rawls will work on expanding Guaranteed Rate Affinity's presence in North Carolina and develop offerings to best serve the real estate brokerage's clients in the state. Rawls joins the Chicago-based lender after a tenure with Movement Mortgage.

Certainty Home Lending welcomes regional leaders Larry Torch, Craig Thomason

Craig Thomason, Certainty Home Lending

Dallas-based Certainty Home Lending upped its national originations teams with the addition of Larry Torch and Craig Thomason. The company appointed Torch as executive vice president, divisional manager. His lending career includes similar roles at both banks and nonbanks, including Loandepot, where he recently managed its Southwest operations.

Thomason joins Certainty as vice president of mortgage lending, a role in which he will focus his efforts on growth in Northern California. Also an alum of Bank of America, Thomason has served in leadership at Certainty parent company, Rate.