LoanDepot, Deephaven, UniversalCIS make leadership appointments

December 30, 2021 11:50 AM

LoanDepot taps Bill Wied for chief technology officer

Following the appointment of its

in 2021, retail lender

announced the hiring of Bill Wied as senior vice president and chief technology officer. Wied most recently served in the same role at FIS, a digital services provider to the financial industry, and previously held technology-related leadership positions at other companies within finance, including Bank of America, Paymetric and Worldpay. In his new position with the Foothill Ranch, California-based lender, Wied will continue to develop and leverage LoanDepot’s proprietary technology, notably its web-based consumer portal, mello.

Deephaven adds sales leader Steve Lemon to meet non-QM demand

In anticipation of increased volume within the

non-agency

space, Charlotte, North Carolina-based Deephaven named Steve Lemon as its senior vice president, national head of wholesale sales. Lemon previously spent a decade at non-agency lender New Century Mortgage, where he was executive vice president, wholesale division. He also served as director at Avelo, and most recently, led The Lemon Six, a private-money real estate investing and consulting firm, as its president.

At Deephaven, Lemon will oversee expansion of the company’s broker network to meet the expected demand of non-agency products. “The conforming market just hasn’t kept up with the needs of a new class of entrepreneurial borrowers the way Deephaven has,” Lemon said. “Our partners want to do more lending, and Deephaven’s innovative products and services will provide them with a strong, steady outlet for new business.”

UniversalCIS names former Black Knight exec Shelley Leonard president

Mortgage technology and credit-report provider UniversalCIS appointed longtime industry leader Shelley Leonard as president and also named her to its board of directors. Leonard most recently served as chief product and digital officer at Black Knight, managing its servicing-technology business unit as well as its loan servicing software platform. In addition to technology management, Leonard’s career accomplishments include new product introductions, market expansion, partnerships and selective mergers and acquisitions.

Previously known as CIS Credit Solutions, Philadelphia-based UniversalCIS expanded its scope of offerings

with three acquisitions

in the past 18 months, renaming itself in early 2021.

“My goal is to drive the organization’s future as the premier technology provider in the sector and to redefine the way mortgage verification services are delivered,” Leonard said. We will be rebranding the company in January and our product family thereafter to reflect that strategy.”

Open Mortgage taps Joe Stephenson as company president

Multichannel lender Open Mortgage, licensed in 46 states and the District of Columbia, tapped Joe Stephenson to serve as president, a new position within the Austin,Texas-based company. Stephenson will be responsible for day-to-day lending operations, focusing on continued growth. He brings close to 30 years of leadership experience in lending and financial services to Open Mortgage, including tenures at Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Wells Fargo. Most recently, Stephenson held the role of senior vice president of operations with American Advisors Group, supporting multiple sales channels and a centralized call center.

Tomo appoints former Zillow leader Sarah Makar chief marketing officer

Mortgage startup Tomo Networks, founded by ex-Zillow executives to expedite the purchase mortgage process, named Sarah Makar chief marketing officer. Makar previously helped drive growth at

Zillow Group

, where she spent seven years working in marketing channels, including consumer insights, brand strategy, social marketing and analytics, to serve Zillow’s product lines. Before joining Zillow, Makar held leadership positions at Expedia, including as its vice president of marketing and vice president of business transformation.

As CMO, Makar will be in charge of marketing and communication channels for Stamford, Connecticut-based Tomo, including consumer-facing and B2B efforts. She also will head public relations and communications.outreach. Earlier this year,

Tomo launched its platform

after a $70-million seed-funding round.

FHFA hires Charles Yi, promotes Katrina Jones, Daniel Coates

The Federal Housing Finance Agency recently announced three personnel moves on its executive team, including the appointment of attorney Charles Yi as senior advisor for legal affairs and policy. In the role, he will make recommendations to ensure FHFA goals and obligations are fulfilled and work closely with the agency’s acting director,

Sandra L. Thompson

. A policy expert, Yi served as general counsel at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation between 2015-19 and advised lawmakers on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and the House Committee on Financial Services. He was also previously deputy assistant secretary for banking and finance at the U.S. Treasury Department. Yi was recently partner at Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer.

The FHFA also named Katrina Jones chief operating officer, responsible for day-to-day activities at the organization. Jones had been in the role on an acting basis. With extensive knowledge of the agency’s operations, Jones served as associate director for agency operations, a position she took over in 2012, before stepping up to COO. Daniel Coates, senior advisor in the office of the director, was promoted to deputy director for the division of research and statistics. Coates will be instrumental in producing quality data and research to support FHFA’s initiatives. He previously served as a senior associate director at the FHFA, overseeing a team of economists and financial analysts responsible for targeted credit and market risk examinations. He is also chairman of the FHFA reference rate transition steering committee as well as a member of several other groups. An experienced government researcher, Coates worked as an economist with the U.S. General Accounting Office and the Federal Housing Finance Board before coming to the FHFA.

MBA promotes Laura Hopkins, Bruce Oliver to vice president roles

Left to right: Bruce Oliver, Laura Hopkins

The

Mortgage Bankers Association

, with headquarters in Washington, D.C., appointed two members of its team to vice president positions. Laura Hopkins takes over as vice president of member relations, while Bruce Oliver becomes vice president of commercial and multifamily policy.

Hopkins will lead the association’s member-relations team, in charge of strengthening relationships with leading companies in the MBA network and promoting engagement. She will also develop new programs to serve members and enhance existing offerings. In his new role, Oliver will be responsible for advocacy efforts affecting commercial real estate, including obtaining capital and accounting relief to assist life companies and lenders in making loan modifications during the COVID-19 pandemic and increasing the threshold for triggering reporting requirements under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act.

Built Technologies names ex-Amazon leader Bob Van Nortwick president

Karen Derby / Derby Photography

Construction-finance platform Built Technologies recently tapped Bob Van Nortwick as its first president. A longtime leader in product development, team building and market strategy, Van Northwick joins Built from Amazon Web Services, where he served as global general manager and director of the startups team, in charge of more than 100,000 clients. He also previously held executive positions at Comerica and Bank of America and co-founded Square 1 Bank, leading capital structuring, debt financing and financial modeling efforts. At Built, Van Nortwick will oversee design of financial infrastructure to better serve and connect all parties of construction finance, incorporating next-generation payments and financial products.

“As we continue to execute against our long-term strategy to expand and scale the Built platform and take the company into the global market, we saw an immediate advantage to adding Bob and the position of president to our leadership team,“ said Chase Gilbert, co-founder and CEO of Built. Since its launch in 2015, the Nashville-based finance platform has been involved with $135 billion in construction across commercial, homebuilder, land development and consumer-residential projects. In October, the company raised $125 million in Series D funding at a valuation of $1.5 billion.

Sagent hires former Black Knight sales leader Mikhail Cook

Sagent Lending Technologies

, provider of fintech tools and software to the mortgage servicing industry, recently named Mikhail Cook as executive vice president of strategic sales. Cook joins Sagent, headquartered in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, after most recently serving as senior vice president of sales at EXOS Technologies, and previously held a similar role at Black Knight. In his new position at Sagent, Cook will aim to further modernize the mortgage-servicing process, building relationships with financial institutions and providing them technology to assist consumers. Sagent’s platforms are currently used by servicers responsible for outstanding balances of more than $1 trillion.

Reali names former Uber, Apple lawyer Delma Locke chief legal officer

Real estate and fintech platform Reali named longtime Silicon Valley attorney Delma Locke chief legal officer, as it plans to ramp up growth. After securing $250 million in financing over the summer, Reali expects to expand into new markets and increase access to its buy-before-you-sell and cash-offer products.

“The real estate industry has been broken and is ripe for disruption,” Locke said. “ I look forward to leveraging my experience and skills working at cutting-edge disruptive companies to help Reali scale and innovate in this space.”

A legal expert with experience spanning matters from corporate governance to mergers and acquisitions at major tech giants, Locke joins Reali from Uber, where she was an associate general counsel. Before that, she served as chief counsel to the vice president at Apple, and also held the title of director and associate general counsel at Sun Microsystems. In her new position with San Mateo, California-based Reali, she will develop the company’s legal, compliance and regulatory functions.

National MI promotes Norm Fitzgerald, Mohammad Yousaf to EVP positions

Left to right: Mohammad Yousaf, Norm Fitzgerald

NMI Holdings, parent company of National Mortgage Insurance, announced the promotion of two executives effective Jan. 1. Current senior vice president and chief sales officer Norm Fitzgerald was named executive vice president and chief sales officer, while senior vice president and chief business transformation officer Mohammad Yousaf steps up to the role of executive vice president, operations and IT.

Fitzgerald joined the company in 2014 after prior leadership positions at Mr. Cooper, where he built and launched a correspondent lending channel. He also served as president of correspondent lending at PHH Mortgage and held management roles at CitMortgage, Countrywide, PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. and Citizens Bank. Since starting with National MI in 2018, Yousaf has helped develop the IT platform of the Emeryville, California-based insurance provider, and led its partnership with Tata Consultancy. Yousaf previously served as senior managing director in Home Point Financial’s servicing unit and also worked in IT, operations and servicing at Mr. Cooper and Wells Fargo.

Amherst hires Rahul Grover as MBS portfolio manager

Errich Petersen Photography/Errich Petersen Photography

The Amherst Group, a real estate investment and development firm with headquarters in Austin, Texas, recently appointed Rahul Grover as portfolio manager,

mortgage-backed securities

. In the role, Grover will co-lead management of the mortgage-backed securities portfolio, helping oversee asset selection, risk management and transaction execution. He will also utilize Amherst’s proprietary models and real estate expertise to develop growth strategies for its fixed-income business.

Previously with ETrade Financial, Grover was most recently managing director for portfolio management, a position in which he was responsible for strategic planning and oversight of management and investment strategy of its fixed-income portfolio. Grover also helped build the firm’s hedging strategy.

OpenClose promotes April Cave to drive software implementation

Mortgage software and technology provider OpenClose promoted April Cave to director of implementation services. Cave joined the West Palm Beach, Florida-based company in 2019 as an integration specialist. In her new position, Cave will lead a team and design implementation strategy of OpenClose’s digital lending tools in order to increase business among a client base of banks, credit unions and mortgage lenders. Founded in 1999, OpenClose aims to reduce loan manufacturing costs by up to 40% with its suite of loan-origination software.

Cherry Creek promotes Jody Watters to VP of online subsidiary

Nationwide lender Cherry Creek Mortgage recently announced the promotion of Jody Watters to vice president of sales and branch manager at Blue Spot Home Loans, the Denver-based company’s

consumer-direct

digital subsidiary currently licensed in 20 states. Watters was previously Blue Spot’s sales manager, and before joining the company in 2017, he held roles at leading lenders, such as Fairway Independent Mortgage, Home Loans Today and Guaranteed Rate. Watters also ran his own mortgage brokerage for 13 years.

Data and analytics firm dv01 adds Sam Hillier to lead ESG efforts

New York-based dv01, a data and analytics platform serving the structured finance market, recently announced the appointment of Sam Hillier as director of ESG. In the role, Hillier will help lead product development, innovation and commercialization of dv01’s ESG offerings. He joins dv01 from SEI Investments, where he evaluated and recommended sustainable investing strategies and developed

ESG strategy

.

Hillier steps into his role as dv01 develops proprietary technology integrating ESG data from sources, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the U.S. Department of Treasury, into individual loans. As part of dv01’s commitment to transparency, the company will publish ESG market intelligence reports to provide clarity on the evolution of ESG investing in structured credit.

“The industry’s use of loan-level ESG data is practically non-existent at this point, and I see a great opportunity to educate investors and issuers, increase awareness and ultimately build a more transparent market,” Hillier said.