Cenlar, Movement Mortgage, Rithm Capital make leadership moves

May 22, 2023 5:00 AM

Cenlar names compliance officer, adds chief data scientist

Left to right: Marlon Groen, Jennifer Rowen, Michael Biddle, Theodore Mugnier

Mortgage subservicer Cenlar recently made four new appointments, continuing a trend of leadership growth and additions. The company hired servicing veteran Marlon Groen as chief compliance officer. In the role, Groen will be in charge of regulatory change oversight, program management and compliance training, among other duties. Before coming to Cenlar, Marlon held the role of chief risk and compliance officer at AHP Servicing and previously served in a similar position at PHH Mortgage. His home lending legal experience includes tenures at Sovereign Bank and Arlington Capital Mortgage.

Groen takes over the role from Jennifer Rowen, who was promoted to senior vice president, core operations. Rowen will oversee several Cenlar functions, including investor reporting, bank operations, payoffs, and insurance, escrow, tax and transfer operations. With the company since 2016, Rowen previously held compliance management roles at The Bryn Mawr Trust Co. and Continental Bank.

The Ewing, New Jersey-based company also recently named intelligence expert Theodore Mugnier director of information security. A former U.S. Marine Corps officer, Mugnier will work with Cenlar's cybersecurity team to evaluate risks, ensure compliance and support cyber engineering functions. Previously, he held several cyber security and intelligence roles within the Marines, including with the Cybersecurity Intelligence Directorate at Y-12 National Security Complex, U.S. Special Operations Command, the Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command and U.S. Cyberspace Command.

Cenlar also hired Michael Biddle as chief data scientist to lead its mortgage information factory, a newly created initiative. The effort will leverage Cenlar's wealth of available data to provide insights that inform company operations and also serve client needs. Tasked to lead data science operations in the newly created role, Biddle will be in charge of information procurement and gathering, reporting and artificial intelligence utilization.

Rithm Capital appoints Satish Mansukhani to lead investment strategy

Rithm Capital, the New York-based real estate investment trust and parent company of Newrez and Caliber Home Loans hired MBS expert Satish Mansukhani as managing director in investment strategy. An institutional investor analyst, Mansukhani will oversee in-house research, strategic positioning as well as address new opportunities within Rithm's investment portfolio and operating platforms. He previously held the title of managing director, head of agency MBS research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and similar roles at Credit Suisse and Bear Stearns.

Polly adds former Black Knight, ICE execs Cheryl Messner, Parvesh Sahi

Left to right: Parvesh Sahi, Cheryl Messner

San Francisco-based Polly, the secondary trading platform and capital markets services provider, recently added two new chief officers: Parvesh Sahi and Cheryl Messner.

Stepping in as chief revenue officer, Sahi joins Polly after spending over a decade at ICE Mortgage Technology and its predecessor, Ellie Mae, where he helped lead business development and strategy, including the execution of multiple acquisitions. In the new role, Sahi will help spearhead market rollouts and strengthen customer relationships to grow Polly's network.

Appointed to the role of chief customer officer, Messner will oversee strategies to enhance clients' experience with Polly's platform, including onboarding and implementation and cross-functional engagement. She also will serve as liaison between internal teams. Messner previously spent over a decade at Black Knight subsidiary Optimal Blue, including as its director of product management. More recently, she held a senior executive position at recently merged companies Sales Boomerang and Mortgage Coach.

After a Series B round early last year, Polly has raised $52 billion in total venture capital funding since launching in 2019, according to Crunchbase.

Movement Mortgage names Jake Fehling chief marketing officer

National retail lender Movement Mortgage recently promoted Jake Fehling to a newly created chief marketing officer position. As a member of the Fort Mill, South Carolina-based company's team since 2017, Fehling oversaw content and social strategy and communications and public relations. He previously also worked in executive recruitment and sports business marketing. In the new elevated position, Fehling will steer Movement's marketing initiatives, continuing to employ social media, video and events to promote the company's products and services, and work with Movement's technology team to develop new marketing tools.

Regions Bank adds affordable housing expert Steve Gildersleeve

Steve_Gildersleeve_feature_Regions (1).jpg

Birmingham, Alabama-based Regions Bank welcomed Freddie Mac alumnus Steve Gildersleeve to its real estate capital markets division as syndications lead in the affordable housing group. In the role, he will arrange sourcing and development of relationships for low-income housing tax credit funds as well as assist in management of LIHTC distribution. Gildersleeve will be based in Regions' Great Neck, New York office. The bank is one of the nation's largest participants in affordable housing finance through the LIHTC program.

With experience in tax credit syndications, real estate development and underwriting, Gildersleeve most recently served as director of LIHTC equity production at Freddie Mac. He also has held several roles at Bank of America.

Go Mortgage taps former Fairway leader Jessica Manna for C-suite role

Columbus, Ohio-based Go Mortgage named industry veteran Jessica Manna chief marketing officer. Manna joins the national lender after most recently holding the title of president of digital strategy and innovation at Fairway Independent Mortgage and previously helped lead marketing efforts at various financial institutions, including other top lenders. In her new role, Manna will oversee Go's digital marketing initiatives to garner greater brand recognition and position brand messaging for business growth.

Treliant appoints Karin Lockovitch as senior managing director

Home lending industry and financial services consultancy Treliant added Karin Lockovitch as senior managing director, regulatory compliance and mortgage services division. Lockovitch has held several leadership roles overseeing compliance, credit and risk for many types of products and services at financial companies, such as Bank of the West, Zions Bancorporation, Ally Bank and loanDepot. She also has worked as a regulatory consultant to other banks and fintechs.

In her new role, Lockovitch will assist Treliant clients in creating and managing enterprise risk frameworks and in implementing responsible lending and mortgage servicing programs.

Kiavi names Alex Urmersbach chief financial officer

Real estate investment lender Kiavi appointed former Athas Capital executive Alex Urmersbach as chief financial officer. In the position, Urmersbach will oversee the San Francisco-based lending platform's financial strategy and operations, including accounting, capital markets and business operations functions, to effectively serve its clients and capital market partners. Before joining Kiavi, he served as CFO at Athas and held leadership positions with Panorama Mortgage Group and Teleperformance, a global business outsourcer.

Formerly known as LendingHome, the company has produced over $13 billion in loans to assist small businesses and real estate investors in the purchase and renovation of properties.

Supreme Lending welcomes return of Candice McNaught

Photo by Kurt Nelson

Supreme Lending announced the return of Candice McNaught, who rejoined the company as its senior vice president of national sales in its Dallas corporate office. Earlier in her career, McNaught operated one of Supreme's leading branches, averaging $330 million in annual production, and also led its marketing efforts for a decade. She has also served as a loan officer with other leading nonbanks. In her new leadership position with the national retail lender, she will take a leading role in developing marketing strategy, creating products and overseeing branch production.

CBC Mortgage adds directors Mark Leslie, Alicia Wood

Alicia Wood

Affordable housing lender CBC Mortgage Agency recently welcomed Mark Leslie and Alicia Wood as new directors. Previously a trader with Stearns Lending, Caliber Home Loans and more recently, Guaranteed Rate, Leslie brings a background in risk management, hedging and agency MBS background in his new role as director, capital markets. In the position, he will navigate capital markets with an eye on opportunities to scale CBC's continued growth.

Wood joins Cedar City, Utah-based CBC as director of servicing and asset management, a newly created role at the company. Wood will be in charge of the company's entire servicing operations, including oversight of loss mitigation for first and second mortgages. Her professional background includes leadership in servicing operations for non-QM and nonagency lenders, including Angel Oak.

In addition to serving as a leading lender of Federal Housing Administration-guaranteed mortgages, CBC operates the Chenoa Fund, a provider of down payment assistance programs. Founded as a subsidiary of federally chartered Native American tribal enterprise Cedar Band Corp., CBC also underwent a rebranding effort this spring.

Newly launched Iron Title welcomes Ana Villela-Murillo, Angie Yoo

Iron Title Insurance Agency, based in New York, named Ana Villela-Murillo as senior vice president of operations. Rolling out operations in February this year, Iron Title is currently licensed in 14 states and expects to add another 20 later in 2023. Villela-Murillo will be in charge of Iron Title's growth into Arizona and other states, similar to her previous responsibilities in former roles at Stewart, where she was most recently group vice president, and First American. She also becomes a member of the Iron Mountain executive team.

The company also announced the hiring of Angie Yoo as senior vice president of underwriting and compliance. Experienced in commercial underwriting background, Yoo previously served at Boston National and Chicago Title.

Restb.ai adds appraisal veteran Tony Pistilli as general manager

Restb.ai, the Barcelona-based artificial intelligence technology firm providing image tagging and other image detection services, tapped Tony Pistilli as its general manager of valuations. In his new role, he will work with the company's product team to better enhance tools and services to best suit real estate appraisal customers, such as computer vision. He will also build relationships with key businesses in valuation and appraisal industries to grow Restb.ai's customer base. "AI that can instantly and consistently analyze property photos is a game changer," he said.

A certified residential real estate appraiser in two U.S. states, Pistilli has worked with a range of lenders, government agencies and appraisal firms in his career, including U.S. Bank and Supreme Lending.

Volly welcomes hires industry sales leader Tom Rice

Marketing technology firm Volly appointed Tom Rice as senior vice president of sales and account management. In the role, Rice will lead the company's sales team to drive revenue growth and execute market plans. The Woburn, Massachusetts-based firm provides home lending technology solutions and services to banks, credit unions and mortgage lenders and is a subsidiary of New Capital Partners.

Previously, Rice helped head business development and sales efforts at CUNA Mutual and most recently, served as a senior vice president at Open Lending, a technology platform serving the auto industry.

Mobility Market Intelligence welcomes Shayna Wilmet, Brian McKray

Left to right: Shayna Wilmet, Brian McKray

Mobility Market Intelligence, provider of data intelligence and tools for mortgage and real estate businesses, announced the appointment of home lending veteran Brian McKray as director of product development. In the role, he will be responsible for leading design of new features and functionality for MMI's platform, tapping into his marketing background to ensure cohesion with overall enterprise goals and customer demands. Before joining Salt Lake City-based MMI, McKray most recently served as director of marketing optimization for Celebrity Home Loans. He also helped lead marketing teams at Castle & Cooke Mortgage and Academy Mortgage, helping upgrade technology systems.

Earlier this spring, MMI also named Shayna Wilmet as regional director of growth. In the position, Wilment will work with the company's enterprise clients to increase adoption of its tools and identify new possibilities for growth. Previously, Wilmet worked extensively in client management with SimpleNexus as well as Ellie Mae.

Axis Lending Academy adds Tai Christensen, Jacob Gaffney to board

Left to right: Tai Christensen, Jacob Gaffney

Education nonprofit Axis Lending Academy recently announced the addition of Tai Christensen and Jacob Gaffney to its board of directors. The online mortgage training program, introduced in 2022 to open up home lending careers to more diverse candidates and address the industry's staffing and education gap, provides professional development and mentorship opportunities.

Christensen is co-founder and chief diversity officer at Arrive Home, an organization providing down payment assistance programs to traditionally underserved communities. She also hosts a podcast focused on diversity and inclusion for the California Mortgage Bankers Association and is chair of the American Mortgage Diversity Council. Gaffney is a co-founder of media advisory firm Gaffney Austin, which serves the housing and home lending community. He previously served as editor-in-chief of HousingWire.