Homespire, Nations Lending, CapStar make new hires across the country

June 14, 2021 11:26 AM

SimpleNexus founder hands over CEO reins to Cathleen Schreiner Gates

Left to right: Matt Hansen, Cathleen Schreiner Gates

SimpleNexus, developer and operator of a homeownership platform serving parties across the mortgage process, announced its founder Matt Hansen would step down as CEO. Company president Cathleen Schreiner Gates has been promoted to the chief executive position, and Hansen will continue to lead software developers and sales teams at SimpleNexus while developing skunkworks, a newly formed unit within the company. In January, the company obtained $108 million in a Series B funding round led by Insight Partners.

Schreiner Gates became president in September 2020 after joining the SimpleNexus board earlier last year. She previously served as an executive vice president of sales and marketing at Ellie Mae. “Our team’s empathy for our customers and enthusiasm for continuously improving the homebuying process is driving SimpleNexus to develop innovative tools that are fundamentally changing the mortgage experience for the better," said Schreiner Gates. "I am excited to continue helping SimpleNexus chart its course as a mortgage technology game-changer.”

Maxwell names former Goldman Sachs leader Sadie Gurley vice president

Denver-based digital mortgage platform Maxwell announced the hiring of Sadie Gurley as vice president. A 25-year mortgage-industry veteran, she will be responsible for locating growth opportunities with community lenders across the country, leveraging her experience in due diligence and quality-control services. Maxwell’s digital mortgage platform has reached over $6 billion in monthly loan volume.

Gurley comes to Maxwell from Digital Risk where she was in charge of diligence services, and she previously spent more than 10 years at Goldman Sachs as vice president of mortgage-bond trading. “Community lenders represent a market historically underserved by service providers. Sadie, with her robust industry knowledge and experience, is ideally suited to help our growing leadership team expand the tools and features we offer to help these lenders compete against the industry’s largest players,” said Brian Simons, Maxwell’s president.

Homespire taps David Lewis as new leader of renovation lending

Homespire Mortgage appointed David Lewis as national renovation manager, a newly created role at the residential mortgage lender based in Gaithersburg, Md. Lewis will lead the renovation lending division at Homespire, which is licensed to operate in 41 states. An expert of renovation lending, Lewis built platforms for other companies and wrote a book about the topic in his 25-year career. He will lead efforts to develop renovation lending capabilities across Homespire’s network, creating efficient platform for customers and partners.

Homespire is focusing on renovation lending, prompted by recent housing shortages and homeowners' wishes for changes to their properties during the pandemic. “Renovation loans are a terrific option for borrowers in today's changing market,” Lewis said.

Bank Shot hires Emily Trexler as CEO following venture studio investment

Bank Shot, a developer of a proprietary mobile app that enables real estate transactions to be completed via smartphone, named Emily Trexler CEO, following an investment from Rule 1 Ventures. Trexler takes over the helm from Bernadine W. Drake and Glenn Drake, who originally developed Bank Shot technology for Drake Realty, their own real estate brokerage. Trexler comes into the role after helping lead customer success teams at SaaS startups SingleOps and Clockwise.MD.

The Atlanta-based fintech provider also entered a partnership with Rule 1, a venture studio whose funding will go toward further automation of Bank Shot processes. Rule 1 will provide additional business-administration assistance to Bank Shot as well. "It was crystal clear to us that Rule 1 Ventures was the best choice to launch, innovate and grow Bank Shot. They bring to the table comprehensive and expert software developers, the highest compliance with cyber security, a superior operations department, and more," Glenn Drake said.

Evergreen Home Loans names Joe Hamilton its chief information officer

Full-service direct lender Evergreen Home Loans, based in Bellevue, Washington, named Joe Hamilton chief information officer, a new position within the company. He will be in charge of implementing technology initiatives that will enable loan officers to better serve mortgage clients and overseeing several departments responsible for IT operations at Evergreen. Hamilton’s most recent role was CIO of First Guaranty Mortgage Corporation, and he also held positions at Saxony Partners, Goldman Sachs, Hitachi Consulting over a three-decade career.

“Evergreen is already successful in its transition to digital offerings for homebuyers, and I hope to continue that momentum,” Hamilton said. Evergreen is licensed to operate in nine Western states.

Walker & Dunlop taps Kelly Mitchell as new managing director

Hand-out/Walker & Dunlop, Inc.

Commercial lending firm Walker & Dunlop announced the hiring of Kelly Mitchell as its managing director. Mitchell will be responsible for outreach to Walker & Dunlop’s large, institutional clients in both the U.S. and abroad. Prior to joining the company, Mitchell was senior director of multifamily structured transactions at Fannie Mae and started her career at Deutsche Bank Berkshire Mortgage.

The firm, based in Bethesda, Md., is the country’s largest provider of multifamily capital, originating $31 billion in transactions and financing over $24 billion of multifamily properties in 2020. "We are thrilled to welcome Kelly, who has extensive experience interfacing with institutional clients and structuring large volumes of complex loan originations,” said Don King, Walker & Dunlop’s executive vice president and multifamily finance group head. “She has established long-standing relationships with multifamily borrowers throughout the industry.”

Greystone names Marc Fox, Niraj Patel to chief officer positions

Left to right: Marc Fox, Niraj Patel

Commercial real estate finance company Greystone appointed Marc Fox as its chief financial officer. Fox held the same position at Ladder Capital Finance and also previously managed global assets as an executive vice president and treasurer at GMAC Commercial Mortgage. Greystone’s current CFO Bruce Bolick will retire at the end of 2021. “Marc’s experience is a perfect fit for Greystone and the path we envision for our future,” said founder and CEO Steve Rosenberg. “With the recent growth across a range of platforms and offerings for our clients from sales advisory to lending and servicing, and the increased activity and interest we are seeing from the capital markets, Marc’s expertise will be invaluable as we harness those opportunities.

The New York-based company specializing in multifamily and health care financing also named Niraj Patel as its new chief information officer. Patel comes over to Greystone from the digital service and consultant agency DMI, where he was global head of artificial intelligence and analytics. He also previously served in leadership roles at IBM Global Business Services, Selex ES, ISGN and GMAC Commercial Holdings. “With his background in the lending sector and in-depth exposure to running AI, machine learning, and managing complex matrixed teams, Niraj is poised to propel Greystone to the next level in meeting our technology services goals,” said Curt Pollock, co chief operating officer at Greystone.

AXIS Lending Academy brings three new directors onboard

Left to right: Kevin Peranio, Brian Vieaux, Sue Woodard

In an effort to to improve diversity, equity and inclusion within real estate finance and home lending, AXIS Lending Academy added Kevin Peranio, Brian Vieaux and Sue Woodard to its board of directors, after launching in May. The academy, located in San Francisco, provides a comprehensive 90-day program for students of all backgrounds pursuing careers in the mortgage industry. The educational program includes training and mentoring opportunities with a team of experienced leaders.

“Bringing my dream of a more diverse and equitable mortgage industry to life has been an exciting adventure,” said Paul Gigliotti, AXIS Lending Academy’s president, cofounder and chair. “Having added three genuine mortgage industry superstars to our board of directors will enable us to make meaningful changes to the way the industry operates.”

Peranio is responsible for all loan production as the chief lending officer at Paramount Residential Mortgage Group, or PRMG, whose headquarters are in Corona, California. He also previously held leadership positions at North Star Lending and First Magnus Financial in a career spanning two decades.

Vieaux is president and chief operating officer of FinLocker, located in St. Louis, a provider of digital personal finance assistance tools and technology for consumers. He has three decades of home mortgage experience, which includes leadership roles at Citigroup, Flagstar and IndyMac Bank.

Woodard is a 30-year industry veteran who is currently chief customer officer at Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based Total Expert, a customer-relationship management and engagement platform built for the financial services industry.

AXIS’s board of directors also includes Gigliotti, Bianca Broos, Dan Greiner, Brendon Weiss and Jerri Herrera.

Nations Lending adds Mark Bishop, Tim Dowling to assist growth

Left to right: Mark Bishop, Tim Dowling

Independence, Ohio-based Nations Lending announced the hiring of Mark Bishop to head national training efforts. As national corporate training leader, Bishop will be in charge of education programs for the company’s loan officers, branch managers and regional leadership, who operate across all 50 states. Bishop comes to Nations Lending from Caliber Home Loans, where he served as vice president, head of learning and development. Previously, he managed traveling training teams supporting Bank of America’s mortgage-default servicing unit.

"The lending industry has been notoriously behind the ball when it comes to employee development, particularly because the space is seeing rapid technological advancement and is constantly changing due to regulatory guidance," Bishop said. "The lenders that can not only keep up but stay ahead of continuing education are the ones who will excel over the long haul.”

The full-service mortgage lender also named Tim Dowling as its new Midwest regional manager. Dowling spent the last two decades in mortgage and banking roles in the region, including as senior vice president at Guaranteed Rate. He also held leadership roles in the region with Prime Lending and Bank of America.

"There's tremendous opportunity in the Midwest," Dowling said. "I made the decision to come to Nations because not only did they recognize that opportunity, but they also foster a culture that allows its loan officers and regional managers to capitalize on it.”

AMAC taps Peter Miklius to help lead acquisitions in the Southeast

Arbor Management Acquisition Company, a commercial real estate investment firm based in New York City, announced the appointment of Peter Miklius as vice president, acquisitions. Miklius will be based in the company’s Atlanta office and will help lead AMAC’s expansion efforts in the Southeast through the sourcing of multifamily acquisitions and development opportunities. He previously was acquisitions manager at Fogelman Properties and investment manager at Cortland Partners, companies with a strong presence in the southeastern U.S.

“I’m thrilled to join AMAC given the company’s tremendous success of multifamily investment across other regions of the country,” Miklius said. “I look forward to leveraging AMAC’s platform and robust industry relationships further to expand its multifamily footprint across the southeastern U.S.”

Planet Home hires Caleb Mittelstet to manage distributed retail

Photo by Jason Andrew

National lender and servicer Planet Home Lending named Caleb Mittelstet as its executive vice president, national production, distributed retail sales. Mittelstet spent more than two decades growing distributed retail channels, including with Summit Funding, where he was an executive vice president. He also held retail leadership roles at Pacific Union Financial, CMG Financial and PrimeLending. “Our distributed retail originations have more than doubled year-over-year. With Caleb leading the channel, that growth momentum will accelerate,” said Michael Dubeck, CEO and president of parent company Planet Financial Group.

Mittelstet’s appointment is the latest in a series of hirings and promotions at Planet Home Lending, headquartered in Meriden, Conn.

DLP Real Estate Capital promotes Scott Meyers to president

Financial services and real estate investment firm DLP Real Estate Capital, with headquarters in Lehigh, Pa., and St. Augustine, Fla., promoted Scott Meyers from senior vice president of sales to president at DLP Lending. Meyers has close to two decades of experience in real estate, investments and investment lending and will lead the introduction of DLP’s lending affiliate program, enabling local lenders to develop their businesses with the assistance of DLP’s services and tools. A leader in the multifamily market, DLP has over $1.25 billion in assets under management.

“Scott’s impact on DLP has been extraordinary, and I’m excited to see him step up and drive even more growth to DLP’s lending platform and the company as a whole,” said founder and CEO Don Wenner.

LBA Ware adds Georgia Capalbo to client success team

Cloud-based software provider LBA Ware tapped Georgia Capalbo as client-success product liaison, a role in which she will assist lenders with employing LBA Ware’s CompenSafe tool to its fullest potential. More than 100 mortgage companies partnered with LBA Ware, based in Macon, Georgia, to automate many of the tasks behind incentive compensation management with CompenSafe.

Capaibo has over a decade of experience in administrative commercial banking roles, including at State Bank, where she supported business intelligence, business analytics and third-party software management. “Georgia’s commercial mortgage banking knowledge makes her a powerful addition to the team,” said LBA Ware CEO and founder Lori Brewer.

Peapack-Gladstone names Neil Viotto senior vice president

Peapack-Gladstone Bank, headquartered in Bedminster, N.J., announced the hiring of Neil Viotto as its senior vice president, director of residential and consumer lending. Viotto will lead the loan-origination team, overseeing residential and consumer lending and new business development and underwriting. Prior to joining Peapack-Gladstone, he served as vice president, mortgage originations manager and compliance officer at Somerset Savings Bank. With almost three decades of mortgage-banking experience in New Jersey, Viotto also held positions at Superior Mortgage Corporation, Crystal Mortgage Corporation, Superior Bank, First Union Bank/The Money Store and Avco Financial Services.

CapStar hires Heather Anderson as mortgage loan officer

Nashville-based Capstar Bank, a subsidiary of Capstar Financial Holdings, announced the hiring of mortgage industry veteran Heather Anderson. She will serve as a loan officer for the Nashville market. She comes to CapStar from Pinnacle Financial Partners in Nashville, where she was a mortgage advisor, and previously served as a mortgage loan officer at First Tennessee.