Freddie Mac, Mr. Cooper, Cenlar, LendingHome name new leaders

July 27, 2021 11:58 AM

Freddie Mac taps Jerry Mauricio as chief compliance officer

McLean, Virginia-based Freddie Mac announced that it had promoted Jerry Mauricio to chief compliance officer. Mauricio had been the GSE’s interim CCO since January. With over twenty years of related experience within financial services, Mauricio will lead Freddie Mac’s compliance risk management program for the company’s regulatory and conservatorship obligations. He has been with Freddie Mac since 2019, working in capital markets and consumer compliance divisions. He previously led or helped oversee compliance operations at leading financial institutions, such as Capital One, BNP Paribas, Barclays and Lehman Brothers.

“Jerry’s proven compliance and management expertise in both global and domestic financial services companies makes him an outstanding choice to be Freddie Mac’s chief compliance officer,” said Michael DeVito, Freddie Mac CEO. “I look forward to working closely with Jerry as we ensure Freddie Mac’s safety, soundness and risk management are second to none.”

Mr. Cooper names Shawn Stone chief revenue officer, promotes Jay Jones

Left to right: Shawn Stone, Jay Jones

In its latest leadership change, Dallas-based Mr. Cooper Group announced the hiring of mortgage industry veteran Shawn Stone as executive vice president and chief revenue officer. Stone will focus on the company’s growth objectives, explore new delivery channels and oversee Mr. Cooper’s originations business. Stone returns to the mortgage lender and servicer from Renovate America, where he was its CEO, and also served as CEO of Global Mortgage Capital. He previously spent 18 years at Mr. Cooper in several different capacities, including as founder and president of its Xome business.

“Shawn is joining our team at a pivotal moment as we position Mr. Cooper to become the largest home loan company in our industry, and I am excited for his vision and strategic leadership to ensure we capitalize on our strengths and find more opportunities in the market,” said Jay Bray, chairman and CEO of Mr. Cooper Group.

The company also announced the promotion of Jay Jones from senior vice president to executive vice president of its servicing business. Jones joined Mr. Cooper in 2019 after holding executive leadership roles in servicing at Celink, where he was its chief strategy officer, and CIT Bank.

LendingHome names Bruce Schuman, Cherie Yu to chief executive roles

Left to right: Bruce Schuman, Roberta Sydney, Cherie Yu

LendingHome, a provider of loans to residential real estate investors, announced the hiring of two chief officers from the tech industry and named a new member to its board of directors. Bruce Schuman joins LendingHome as chief financial officer, and Cherie Yu takes on the role of chief marketing officer. The San Francisco-based company also added real estate entrepreneur Roberta Sydney as a director.

Schuman spent 25 years at Intel before joining LendingHome, most recently serving as CFO of Intel Capital, the venture-capital arm of the chipmaker. In his new role, Schuman will oversee all finance functions at LendingHome, including financial planning and accounting.

Yu comes from ride-hailing service Lyft, where she managed local marketing efforts. She also previously oversaw marketing for several services and programs at Google. Sydney founded her own real estate firm and has three decades of experience in commercial and residential financing, development and construction.

“All three of these talented leaders know firsthand the disruptive impacts that ground-breaking technology, high-volume data and imaginative thinking can have on legacy industries,” said Matthew Bourque, LendingHome CEO. “This kind of knowledge and ability is essential for LendingHome, which relies on leveraging artificial intelligence and massive amounts of data to help real estate investors unlock value in aged homes.” Since its founding in 2013, LendingHome has originated more than $7.8 billion in loans to investors.

Maxex appoints Brennan Walters chief revenue officer

Digital-mortgage exchange platform Maxex continued

its 2021 growth

with the hiring of Brennan Walters as chief revenue officer. Walters will oversee operations involving sales, marketing and development of Maxex’s product and joins the company from PennyMac, where he recently served as managing director of servicing investments and executive vice president of acquisitions. Walters has also held leadership roles in sales and business development at Bank of America.

Based in Atlanta, Maxex enables private-market trades of residential loans between lenders and investors. “Maxex is fundamentally changing how liquidity is obtained in the non-agency secondary mortgage market, making buying and selling loans more efficient and transparent for lenders and investors,” Walters said. “Having spent my entire career in the industry, I’m excited to see Maxex’s continued momentum in the marketplace and join the leadership team during this important phase of growth.”

Cenlar promotes legal veterans Michael DeAngelo, Jennifer Scoliard

Left to right: Michael DeAngelo, Jennifer Scoliard

Leading mortgage subservicer Cenlar FSB, headquartered in Ewing, New Jersey, announced the promotion of Michael DeAngelo and Jennifer Scoliard from its legal team to the position of senior vice president and deputy general counsel respectively. DeAngelo will help manage regulatory issues and Scoliard will oversee litigation.

DeAngelo is in charge of regulatory operations of the Cenlar legal counsel team, advising the department on matters related to local, state and federal laws and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau guidance. He was instrumental during the COVID-19 pandemic in examining the slate of laws and regulations introduced to alleviate borrower distress. With more than three decades of financial-services experience, DeAngelo has worked both in private practice and mortgage operations before joining Cenlar in 2017. Scoliard is responsible for litigation matters at Cenlar and manages corporate litigation nationwide. She also advises Cenlar on compliance with bankruptcy law. Scoliard has experience with both consumer and corporate bankruptcies in a 23-year career, having previously served as vice president and counsel for Ocwen Financial Corp. and senior counsel at Residential Capital.

Evolve welcomes return of Tim Anderson to lead eMortgage strategy

Frisco, Texas-based Evolve Mortgage Services, a provider of outsourced mortgage solutions, announced that industry veteran Tim Anderson had joined its team as executive vice president, director eMortgage strategy. With more than 35 years as a mortgage-technology expert, Anderson has held several leadership roles at digital mortgage and data firms, including Black Knight, DocMagic and MortgageConnect, where he most recently served as its senior vice president and director of digital strategy. From 2007-10, Anderson was also president of Evolve’s SigniaDocs subsidiary.

Anderson will be responsible for guiding Evolve’s efforts to provide a complete end-to-end digital-closing process, overseeing further improvements to its platform and leading a team of digital-mortgage professionals. His appointment comes after Evolve’s

recent acquisition of online notarization tool E-Notary Seal

.

“I’m looking forward to working with the entire team at Evolve to empower the mortgage industry to fully digitize the entire mortgage process from application to closing to investor delivery and servicing — end to end, start to finish,” Anderson said.

Envoy Mortgage names Keith Becher COO

Houston-based Envoy Mortgage, a national lender licensed in 47 states, hired Keith Becher as executive vice president and chief operating officer. A veteran of the mortgage industry, Becher comes to Envoy from American Pacific Mortgage, where he was COO the past seven years. He also held a variety of sales and operational roles for finance and mortgage firms in his 35-year career, including Wells Fargo, E-Trade and HomEq Servicing.

“Envoy is at the perfect inflection point where I am confident my skills can be implemented to vault us into a Top 10 independent mortgage bank, providing originators the best opportunity to grow their business with less hassle,” Becher said.

Attom hires experienced financial leader Lionel Etrillard as CFO

Property-data provider Attom Data Solutions, based in Irvine, California, named Lionel Etrillard its chief financial officer. With two decades of experience as a finance leader at technology platforms, Etrillard joins Attom from Episource, a health care risk-adjustment firm, where he was also CFO. He previously served as CFO of marketing-technology company Callfire, and helped lead teams at InvestCloud and iRise. In his new position, Etrillard will be responsible for Attom’s strategic finance goals, overseeing planning, accounting and compliance activities. His hiring comes following Attom’s recent acquisition of online appraisal tool GeoData Plus.

"As Attom continues its growth and expansion, an experienced, forward-thinking financial leader is critical to our future success," said Rob Barber, CEO of Attom. "Lionel has an impressive background in FP&A and M&A activity, as well as an achieved proficiency in effectively managing industry relationships.”

RiskExec names compliance veteran Melissa Hammer senior VP

Hand-out/Asurity

Asurity, based in Washington, announced the hiring of financial compliance expert Melissa Hammer as senior vice president, fair lending product management, of its RiskExec subsidiary. Hammer has 20 years of experience managing risk and compliance affairs, most recently at TD Bank, where she was vice president and senior group manager of compliance overseeing U.S conduct risk. She has also led or supported regulatory teams at Wolter Kluwers and Synovus. RiskExec is a SaaS platform enabling financial services to comply with fair lending rules, the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, and the Community Reinvestment Act. In 2020, RiskExec launched a fair-servicing module, built to help lenders and servicers manage forbearances and modifications authorized under the CARES Act.

"I am excited to join RiskExec during this period of rapid growth as its SaaS platform continues to attract more and more dedicated and satisfied users who value its user-friendly modules, ability to ingest large data sets, and ease of implementation," said Hammer.

Anchor Loans adds fix-and-flip expert Matt Miles to leadership

Leading private fix-and-flip lender Anchor Loans named Matt Miles its chief capital markets officer. Miles joins Anchor, headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California, from Sundae, where he was head of capital markets and fix-and-flip portfolio manager. Miles previously founded fix-and-flip lending enterprise Civic Financial Services and Aperture Real Estate Ventures, a tech company that developed proprietary analytics and tools for fix-and-flip investments.

“Matt joins Anchor in the middle of what will be another record year for originations and at a time when our scale and financial performance are providing us with expanded funding capabilities,” said Anchor CEO, Andy Pollock. The company has funded more than $1 billion in fix-and-flip loans each year since 2016.

SimpleNexus restructures and promotes three to officer positions

Left to right: Kevin McKenzie, John Aslanian, Andria Lightfoot

Mortgage software developer, SimpleNexus, based in Lehi, Utah, announced new executive appointments, following the recent transition to a

new CEO

earlier this year. The company’s platform offers digital solutions connecting borrowers, loan officers, agents and settlement service providers in the homebuying process and raised $108 million in

Series B funding

in January.

Kevin McKenzie, SimpleNexus’s current CFO who has been with the company since 2019, will also take on the responsibilities and title of chief operating officer, managing human resources, information technology, legal, corporate development and facilities. John Aslanian, a two-decade software sales veteran who joined SimpleNexus in 2019, was promoted from senior vice president of sales to chief revenue officer after two years of record revenue growth. Andria Lightfoot, who came onboard SimpleNexus in March of this year as vice president of professional services, was named chief customer officer.

Lightfoot will oversee professional services, customer success, support, training, and integration engineering in the customer division. Pam Faulkner, former director of mortgage solutions, becomes vice president of customer journey on Lightfoot’s team.

Movement hires Terry Barrett to work with homebuilders

Retail lender Movement Mortgage added Terry Barrett to its team, appointing him as the company’s first regional builder manager. In the newly created role, Barrett will be responsible for developing relationships with homebuilders across the country. Based in Indian Land, South Carolina, Movement has expanded its builder division recently in an effort to provide quicker closing and underwriting for purchases of new constructions.

Barrett has over three decades in the industry working with both home buyers and builders. Barrett joins Movement from Wells Fargo, where he held a similar management role. “Terry’s level of experience and expertise in the new construction lending world will be instrumental in taking us to a 10% market share in every market we serve,” said Chris Shelton, divisional leader for Movement’s Eastern sales division.

Nationwide Mortgage Bankers taps Anthony Assi to launch tech platform

Nationwide Mortgage Bankers, based in Melville, New York, has brought onboard leading loan originator Anthony Assi, who joins NMB to launch the digital lending platform FasterFi as a registered dba. FasterFi’s goal is to streamline the mortgage process by offering speed and rates through a single tech platform, allowing well qualified borrowers to conduct their home financing entirely online.

Assi has more than 12 years in the mortgage industry, including roles at LenderFi and InterContinental Capital Group."Anthony funded over $560 million in loan volume in 2020, with average loans closing in under two weeks," said Robert Jayne, NMB’s chief production officer. "He has the energy and skill set for a successful launch and beyond."

CalHFA names Tiena Johnson Hall as executive director

Photo by Gordon Lazzarone

California governor Gavin Newsom appointed Tiena Johnson Hall to lead the California Housing Finance Agency as executive director. The self-supported agency provides financing to help low- and moderate-income borrowers achieve homeownership. Johnson Hall has been on CalFHA’s board since 2014. Prior to joining CalHFA, Johnson Hall was senior vice president and manager of community development finance for BBVA Compass Bancshares. She has also previously held leadership positions at Bank of the West and U.S. Bank.

“My time on the CalHFA board has given me an excellent overview of the organization and the opportunity to help shape some of the agency’s most successful initiatives, such as the innovative partnership with Apple, the national award-winning mixed-income rental housing program, the widely used down-payment assistance program and CalHFA’s commitment to affirmatively furthering fair housing,” she said.

Walker & Dunlop appoints Ana Ramos to head Western lending efforts

Hand-out/Walker & Dunlop, Inc.

Commercial financier Walker & Dunlop appointed Ana Ramos managing director, as it ups its small-multifamily efforts in the Western United States. Ramos will serve as production head of Western and Mountain regions, responsible for growing the company's small-multifamily lending business throughout the West. With 20 years of commercial real estate experience, Ramos recently held the position of managing director and regional head of West Coast small-loans production at Greystone.

“Ana's track record of building a successful and highly effective team makes her the perfect leader to grow our smaller multifamily originations platform in the Western states,” said Alison Williams, chief production officer at the Bethesda, Maryland-based company. “The strength of our people, brand and technology are vital to accelerating Walker & Dunlop's small-balance lending business towards its goal of achieving $5 billion in volume by 2025."

Trez Capital hires Kyle Geoghegan to lead Los Angeles office

Commercial real estate investment firm Trez Capital, with global headquarters in Vancouver, Canada, tapped Kyle Geoghegan as managing director of its bridge-lending program. In the role, he will spearhead the company’s growth efforts in the West, originating loans for multifamily, industrial and office complexes in California and other Western states from Trez Capital’s Los Angeles office. In a 27-year career, Geoghegan previously helped manage commercial real estate loan production for Resource Real Estate Funding and Bear Stearns Commercial Mortgage. He was also a loan officer at PNC Bank.

“I am excited to join Trez Capital since the company has great products and a highly-motivated team who is ready to grow the platform,” Geoghegan said. “I hope to contribute by adding expertise in the Western U.S. and help grow the bridge program.”

Guild Mortgage taps Michelle Castle to lead North Texas growth

Loan originator and servicer Guild Mortgage announced the promotion of Michelle Castle to North Texas area manager. In her expanded role, Castle will aim to grow Guild’s operations in the Lone Star State through recruitment and development of new branches and talent in North Texas. She will also continue to lead Guild’s Sherman branch, an office she opened in 2011.

“She’s been one of the most successful originators in the area, with more than $35 million in loan volume through the second quarter of this year,” said Arthur Ochoa, vice president and regional manager of the Texas region. “We know she’ll do great things in this role and help us bring on more talented people throughout North Texas.”

After going public in late 2020, Guild Mortgage, headquartered in San Diego,

acquired Residential Mortgage Services

in a deal that will add several Eastern markets to its network.

Evergreen names Don Zender, Todd Miles executive vice presidents

Direct lender Evergreen Home Loans, based in Bellevue, Washington, promoted Don Zender and Todd Miles — two of its longtime regional managers — to the position of executive vice president, loan production. In their new roles, both will be responsible for sales originations, recruitment and

launch of new services and products

in the nine Western states the company is licensed to operate.

Since joining Evergreen in 1994 as a loan officer, Don Zender has held positions roles at the company, including most recently as regional manager for Washington, Arizona and Nevada locations. Miles began working at Evergreen Home Loans in 2007 as a regional manager and is now responsible for 35 offices in Washington, Oregon, California and Idaho.

Essent taps former leader Adolfo Marzol as advisor to CEO

Hamilton, Bermuda-based Essent Group, parent company of mortgage-insurance provider Essent Guaranty, announced that longtime industry expert Adolfo Marzol would join the company as special advisor to its chairman and CEO Mark Casale. Marzol previously held senior leadership roles at Fannie Mae and Chase Manhattan Mortgage, and served as executive vice president at Essent from 2013-15. In December, Marzol retired from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, where he was principal deputy director.

“Adolfo played an instrumental role in Essent’s founding, and his deep knowledge across housing and mortgage finance will be valuable as we continue to expand and further strengthen our franchise,” said Casale.