Waterstone hires Jeff McGuiness to head the mortgage unit

Waterstone Financial has hired Jeff McGuiness as president and CEO of its mortgage banking subsidiary Waterstone Mortgage. He's the fourth person to hold the top spot since the summer of 2018.

McGuiness joins Waterstone Mortgage as the company is coming off a record quarter in mortgage origination volume. It did $1.3 billion in the third quarter, and more importantly purchase business was 64% of the total during a period in which 52% total production for all lenders was refinancings, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Most recently, McGuiness was the chief sales officer at Embrace Home Loans, but before that, he was CEO of the Lenders One Cooperative. McGuiness was also the head of mortgage and consumer banking at Aurora Bank, as well as managing director of CitiMortgage's retail and correspondent origination channels.

The top post at Waterstone Mortgage had been filled on an interim basis by Doug Gordon, CEO of the parent company and president and CEO of WaterStone Bank since July 31, when Andy Peach left the company. He had taken the post in August 2019. Peach is now the senior vice president of correspondent sales at Mr. Cooper, according to his LinkedIn profile.

In June 2018, A.W. Pickel III was brought in to be president of Waterstone's mortgage unit, with Eric Egenhoefer, its founder, remaining as CEO. However, almost two months later Egenhoefer left the company entirely and Pickel became CEO.

But Waterstone Financial terminated Pickel "for cause" the following March.

"We are pleased to have Jeff McGuiness join Waterstone Mortgage," Gordon said in a press release. "His experience, expertise, and connections in the mortgage industry will lead the future growth of Waterstone Mortgage. Jeff's leadership style will complement the strength of the executive team and enhance the success of our mortgage banking operation."