HUD, Citi, Anchor Loans and Doma make leadership announcements

July 28, 2022 7:12 PM

HUD swears in former Obama official Vinay Singh as CFO

The Department of Housing and Urban Development welcomed Vinay Singh as chief financial officer. After Senate confirmation on June 22, Singh was sworn into the role on July 5. A certified public accountant, he previously served as senior advisor to the administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, assisting agency teams in delivering organizational efficiencies.

Prior to working at SBA, Singh was partner and chief operating officer for the infrastructure practice at KPMG in India. He led several organizational projects, leveraging technology to improve decision-making, a HUD release stated. He also worked in the Obama administration as deputy assistant secretary in the Department of Commerce.

Citi Mortgage hires Wells Fargo alum Darin Lugat as Northeast executive

Citi announced the appointment of Wells Fargo alum Darin Lugat as divisional lending executive within the bank’s mortgage unit. In his new leadership role, Lugat will be responsible for Citi Mortgage’s tri-state division, consisting of New York, New Jersey and Northeast suburban communities. Lugat’s professional mortgage background includes prior management roles at leading banks. Most recently, he served as market manager at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.

Under the direction of Liz Bryant, hired one year ago, the New York-based banking giant’s Citi Mortgage operations has undergone a reorganization of its coverage model since the end of 2021 intended to better align with the retail banking divisions of Citi. In addition to Lugat, the company has added three other division executives across the U.S. this year.

Anchor Loans taps Kevin Llamido for chief operating officer

Real-estate investment lender Anchor Loans named Kevin Llamido chief operating officer. Llamido joins the company after holding the same role at Dunmor Capital. He also previously held leadership positions at bridge lender Genesis Capital and GE Capital, helping manage technology and operations. Llamido will oversee operations for Anchor after a recent expansion, in which it introduced a new single-family rental loan product and hired four account executives. Representatives said the Thousand Oaks, California-based company originated $1.8 billion in loan volume last year.

Doma appoints Mike Smith chief financial officer

Title solutions and real-estate technology provider Doma announced the promotion of Mike Smith to chief financial officer. Previously, he served as chief accounting officer and acting CFO for the San Francisco-based fintech, which went public via SPAC merger in July 2021. Earlier his finance career, which included leadership roles at loanDepot and CapitalSource, Smith helped lead teams through IPOs, acquisitions and other public-company transitions. Before joining Doma, he served as chief accounting officer and director of treasury at Banc of California, Inc. where he was responsible for company-wide accounting and financial planning.

Lendarch hires former Tata leader Karthik Kumar as COO

Mortgage technology consultancy Lendarch tapped banking-industry veteran Karthik Kumar as chief operating officer. In the position, Kumar will oversee operations of the Incline Village, Nevada-based company, drawing on his banking and technology backgrounds to facilitate development of digital tools for mortgage lending. He most recently held the title of global mortgage practice head with Tata Consultancy Services and also served in various roles at Citigroup and Standard Chartered Bank.

Click n’ Close promotes Daniel Forshey, Sady Mauldin to C-suite

Left to right: Sady Mauldin, Daniel Forshey

Wholesale and correspondent lender Click n’ Close, formerly known as Mid America Mortgage, announced the promotion of Sady Mauldin and Daniel Forshey to chief officer roles. A longtime advocate of greater digital adoption within mortgage operations, Click n’ Close rebranded itself earlier this year while also selling its retail division.

With a background in retail and wholesale lending, secondary markets, collateral analysis and compliance, Forshey becomes the Addison, Texas-based company’s chief operating officer in charge of improving efficiency of products and processes. Forshey first joined the company in 2010 as manager and direct endorsement underwriter. Former compliance counsel for Click n’ Close’s servicing division, Mauldin steps up to the role of chief compliance officer, ensuring adherence to policies across all of Click n’ Close’s verticals. She will also maintain legal oversight of quality control, continuing education and vendor management.

First Community adds former Newrez tech exec Andrew Badstubner

Nashville, Tennessee-based First Community Mortgage tapped mortgage technology leader Andrew Badstubner as chief information officer. With a background in technology management and product engineering, Badstubner previously held the same title at Newrez and Ditech. He will be in charge of building and enhancing First Community’s internal and customer-facing digital capabilities to spur further growth for the company. A wholly owned subsidiary of First Community Bank of Tennessee, the lender originated almost $3.5 billion of volume in 2021 through wholesale, correspondent and retail channels.

Dynex Capital appoints Robert Colligan to leadership team

Real estate investment trust Dynex Capital added secondary markets leader Robert Colligan as executive vice president, chief financial officer and secretary to succeed Stephen Benedetti. Colligan comes to Glen Allen, Virginia-based Dynex from Chimera Investment Trust, where he also held the CFO title. A finance-industry veteran, Colligan previously held positions at Starwood Capital, Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns, responsible for matters including financial reporting and investor relations. In the second quarter, Dynex reported $29.3 million in net income.

Hometap appoints M&A expert Eugene Wong as chief financial officer

Boston-based fintech Hometap, a home-equity lending alternative, named Eugene Wong chief financial officer. In the role, Wong will help lead and provide guidance on acquisition strategies and the introduction of new products and services. He brings expertise in mergers and acquisitions from prior roles at Silicon Valley Bank and Goldman Sachs, and more recently, served as a strategy and finance leader at Forward Financing.

After raising $245 million in capital earlier this year, Hometap has expanded operations to 18 states.

Rice Park Capital elevates Craig Freel to chief officer ranks

Photo by Sarah Pierce

Private investment firm Rice Park Capital Management announced the promotion of Craig Freel to co-chief investment officer. He most recently headed the mortgage-servicing rights investments unit where he was responsible for MSR portfolio management. “In a short period of time, Craig has led the charge to build an MSR business from scratch into a platform that we believe is rapidly becoming a market leader in the space,” Rice Park Founder and CEO Nick Smith said. Earlier this year, the firm’s MSR investment fund received substantial financial backing of $300 million.

In his elevated position, Freel will serve alongside Matt Kennedy as co-CIO. Before joining the Minneapolis-based company in 2020, Freel was senior vice president of portfolio management at RoundPoint Mortgage Servicing Corp.

Evergreen Home Loans promotes Tamra Rieger to president

Photo by Yuen Lui Studio

Western U.S. lender Evergreen Home Loans announced Tamra Rieger had been promoted to company president. Rieger has served as Evergreen’s chief operating officer since 2019 and executive vice president of loan fulfillment from 2013. In her elevated role, Rieger will focus on driving the development, creation and implementation of the company’s business plan, as well as identifying new models to drive customer value, loan officer engagement and profitability. Rieger joined Evergreen Home Loans 26 years ago and also serves on lender advisory boards of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Asurity names Karol Villavicencio operations director at RegCheck

Compliance software provider Asurity, based in Washington, tapped SitusAMC alum Karol Villavicencio as director of product management and operations on its RegCheck team. RegCheck is Asurity’s newest compliance product aimed at consumer lenders, designed to identify compliance issues and data gaps within the mortgage application process. Villavicencio comes to Asurity after serving as vice president of client and partner success at SitusAMC, where she oversaw user support experience. She has also held several other positions in loan originations, helping implement new technologies that streamline the lending process.

LenderClose brings in Jon Dlouhy, Amanda Werts as marketing VPs

Left to right: Amanda Werts, Jon Dlouhy

LenderClose, based in Des Moines, Iowa, added two vice presidents to its marketing team: Jon Dlouhy and Amanda Werts. Dlouhy will lead LenderClose’s product marketing and brand strategy, developing initiatives for introduction of product innovations, planning and executing digital acquisitions and managing the brand’s creative direction. Dlouhy was most recently director of marketing and communications for Kingland Systems.

Werts will oversee demand generation and sales enablement strategy by advancing the marketing tech stack and customer-relationship management efforts, company representatives said. Previously, Werts served as director of marketing at NCMIC Group where she designed and executed a demand-generation strategy. Before joining NCMIC, she worked in marketing roles at Symphony EYC and Wells Fargo.

AAG adds Dean Griess, Lisa Hamilton, Nate La Coss as VPs

Left to right: Dean Griess, Lisa Hamilton, Nate La Coss

Reverse-mortgage lender American Advisors Group appointed three new finance-industry leaders to serve on various teams throughout the organization. The Irvine, California-based company named Nate La Coss vice president field sales, Dean Griess vice president learning and development and Lisa Hamilton vice president underwriting and appraisal operations.

La Coss comes to AAG from USAA, where he was a real-estate national sales executive leading originations growth. He also was responsible for leading various teams at USAA, such as business development. Griess most recently served as a learning director with Charles Schwab, designing training programs to help its employees succeed. In his new role, Griess will be in charge of developing similar strategies for AAG’s staff. Hamilton joins the lender from City National Bank, where she was vice president focused on mortgage operations, and previously, she also served in leadership at USAA as its director of business risk and control.

Uncle Credit Union adds Michele Murphy to executive team

Photo by Ron Essex

Uncle Credit Union, based in Livermore, California, named Michele Murphy as vice president of mortgage lending. Beginning her real estate and mortgage career in 1989, Murphy has worked extensively in credit unions, previously serving in various roles at OE Federal, KeyPoint, Chevron Federal and SF Fire. She is also a certified credit union business lending professional through the Credit Union National Association and serves on the board of directors of the East Bay chapter of the California Association of Mortgage Professionals. Established 65 years ago, Uncle Credit Union serves approximately 33,000 members in California.