Mr. Cooper hires chief investment officer, VP of corporate finance

Lender and servicer Mr. Cooper announced Tuesday that it is beefing up its ranks with two senior executives.

Ranjit Bhattacharjee, a capital markets veteran, will join the company as an executive vice president and chief investment officer. In his new role, Bhattacharjee will oversee capital markets and correspondent lending.

Bhattacharjee comes to Mr. Cooper from Wells Fargo where he served as head of capital markets and correspondent lending from May 2022 to April 2024. He previously served as executive vice president of capital markets at Caliber Home Loans and spent nearly 15 years at Citi Mortgage. The mortgage executive is slated to start his job on May 6, 2024.

Additionally, financial analyst Kevin Barker assumed the role of senior vice president of corporate finance Monday. Barker will lead Mr.Cooper's business finance teams and report to Kurt Johnson, the company's chief financial officer.

Prior to his career shift, Barker worked for nine years as an analyst for Piper Sandler, his LinkedIn shows. The executive also previously worked at Freddie Mac and at Compass Point Research & Trading.

"Ranjit's deep knowledge of capital markets and correspondent lending and Kevin's extensive understanding of the mortgage industry will undoubtedly bring new ideas and insights to Mr. Cooper," said Jay Bray, Chairman and CEO of the company. "We are excited to welcome these two new leaders to our team as we continue to grow and scale our business."

In January, Mike Weinbach was announced as the next president of the company. He will take over the roll following current leader Chris Marshall's retirement at the end of this year. Weinbach worked at JPMorgan Chase from 2003 through 2020, heading mortgage operations in his final five years there.

Mr. Cooper reported better than expected earnings in the fourth quarter, posting a net income of $46 million. The mortgage lender and servicer also revealed the company's total servicing portfolio, which rose to $992 million in the fourth quarter, is likely to finally surpass its longstanding $1 trillion goal in the first quarter.