Remax, Cenlar, Lower, First American grow leadership teams

September 12, 2025 6:00 AM

Cenlar welcomes Christina Boyle, Mike Merwin to drive business growth

Left to right: Christina Boyle, Mike Merwin

Commercial bank and subservicer Cenlar welcomed mortgage industry veteran Christina Boyle to help drive growth initiatives. Boyle joins the Ewing, New Jersey-based company as executive advisor, growth and partnerships, responsible for developing relationships to drive new business. A longtime leader across banking and home finance, Boyle previously led Freddie Mac's single-family portfolio. More recently, she served as a consultant for Servicemac and Roostify, helping to scale the latter company for its eventual sale and merger with Corelogic.

The company also recently appointed Mike Merwin to senior vice president, investment management. In his new role, Merwin will be responsible for introducing commercial offerings, including a loan acquisition conduit and warehouse financing platform for lending efforts to begin in 2026. He also will help lead Cenlar's home equity loan purchase program. Merwin's mortgage career includes prior tenures at Onity Group, Key Bank, Merrill Lynch and Fannie Mae.

Remax taps Vic Lombardo to lead Motto, Wemlo units

Denver-based real estate giant Remax Holdings recently announced the addition of Vic Lombardo as president of mortgage services. The home lending veteran will head Remax affiliated businesses Motto Mortgage and Wemlo and also serve on the parent company's executive leadership team.

Lombardo recently served as chief operating officer at Guaranteed Rate Affinity, the joint venture business providing mortgage services to real estate broker customers. Earlier in his career, he held various roles at PHH Mortgage and founded and led his own real estate brokerage.

Lower appoints former Rocket executive Jason Morrison to C-suite

National mortgage lender Lower announced the appointment of Jason Morrison to chief revenue officer, tapping him to head growth of its direct-to-consumer business. As chief revenue officer, Morrison will be in charge of recruiting new lending teams and loan officers to support the company's expansion goals. Morrison comes to the Columbus, Ohio-based lender after recently serving in executive leadership at Rate. He also previously spent more than two decades at Rocket, working in a variety of positions across its lines of businesses.

Sagent adds Wells Fargo, Rocket alums Art Calhoun, Kim Warnica

Left to right: Art Calhoun, Kim Warnica

Servicing technology provider Sagent hired mortgage banking executive Art Calhoun as vice president of strategic partnerships. Formerly the executive director of vendor oversight at Wells Fargo, Calhoun will lead Sagent's partner programs to ensure integrations align with business customers' expectations and needs for the company's Dara servicing platform.

The King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based firm also added home lending veteran Kim Warnica as vice president, product marketing. In the role, she will be responsible for product marketing across Dara's core, default and consumer mortgage servicing platforms. She joins Sagent after holding similar prior marketing leadership positions at New American Funding, Homepoint and Rocket Mortgage.

Acra names former Mr. Cooper exec Shawn Stone CEO

Non-qualified mortgage firm Acra Lending welcomed veteran financial services executive Shawn Stone as CEO. As the new head of the Irvine, California-based mortgage shop, Stone will be in charge of leading growth and strategic direction of the company, which offers non-QM loans, through correspondent, wholesale and consumer direct channels. Acra is a subsidiary of HPS Investment Partners, which itself was recently acquired by global asset manager Blackrock.

A former principal leader at Mr. Cooper, Stone comes to Acra after most recently serving as CEO at online loan origination and servicing fintech platform Lendingpoint. Previously he spent two decades at Mr. Cooper, holding the role of chief revenue and originations officer as well as president of its Xome business unit.

Assurance promotes Scott Alexander, adds Mac Cregger, Jay Lapre

Left to right: Mac Cregger, Jay Lapre, Scott Alexander

National home lender Assurance Financial elevated Scott Alexander to chief operations officer. After joining Assurance's over a decade ago, Alexander helped establish the company's operations division and expand its offerings as he rose through the ranks, most recently serving as chief risk officer. With the promotion, Alexander will lead operations, compliance and risk management functions as the company looks toward expansion.

Alexander's promotion follows recent additions of Mac Cregger and Jay Lapre to support enterprise growth at the Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based lender. Stepping into the role of executive vice president of strategic growth, Cregger will drive expansion strategies, including the development of existing partner relationships and identification of new markets. He brings production leadership and management experience from a variety of companies, including both nonbanks and depository institutions.

Lapre joins Assurance as division manager, responsible for supporting growth initiatives through recruitment activities and team building. He previously held several senior leadership roles at several lenders, such as Cardinal Financial, Fairway Independent Mortgage and Security National.

First American elevates Tara Smith to lead enterprise growth

Santa Ana, California-based First American Title Insurance Co. appointed Tara Smith to executive vice president of enterprise growth and multibrand strategy. In the role, she will be responsible for growth planning efforts across the title subsidiary of First American Financial and also help head its leadership forum, which provides career development opportunities for employees interested in advancing to senior roles. Smith joined the company in 2024 after previously serving as a group president at Stewart Information Services' title insurance business.

Livegage adds servicing, capital markets expert Michael Blair

Mortgage servicing fintech Livegage welcomed Michael Blair as chief operating officer responsible for strategy, product development and client engagement activities that support growth of the company's artificial intelligence-backed platform. His responsibilities will also have him overseeing the product suites serving both mortgage servicers and investors, tapping into his background in operations and capital markets. An industry veteran, Blair previously held the same title at mortgage servicer Loancare and earlier in his career, served as an executive at financial services institutions Cenlar and Keybank.

Proof welcomes fintech technology leader Ian Macallister

Identification authorization technology provider Proof announced the addition of veteran fintech executive Ian Macallister as executive vice president of strategy and business development. His responsibilities will include the development of business partnerships across financial services businesses to support growth of Proof's identity verification tools. Macallister joins Boston-based Proof after holding similar strategy leadership positions at fintechs Plaid, Unit 21 and Early Warning, scaling the uptake of technology tools in the banking industry.

Meridianlink names Denise Cox chief customer officer

Photo by Steven Noreyko

Lending software platform Meridianlink recently welcomed technology expert Denise Cox as chief customer officer. Cox will be responsible for oversight of the Irvine, California-based firm's services, support and customer success teams to best assist bank and credit union clients using its platform. With leadership experience at firms across different industries, Cox joins Meridianlink after most recently holding the same title at restaurant technology platform Olo and previously worked in key customer-facing roles at the likes of Omnicell, Cisco and Netapp.

Land Gorilla appoints tech expert Ben Sizemore to chief information officer

Construction lending platform Land Gorilla welcomed Ben Sizemore as its chief information officer. In the role, Sizemore will be responsible for the San Luis Obispo, California-based company's technology strategy, with an eye on scalability to support expansion. With expertise in cloud infrastructure, data security and development and planning, Sizemore previously held senior technology leadership roles at First Guaranty Mortgage Corp. Bayview Loans and Lakeview Loan Servicing.

Logan Finance promotes Dave Weatherford, adds Paul Dobynes

Left to right: Paul Dobynes, Dave Weatherford

Non-QM wholesale and correspondent lender recently promoted Dave Weatherford to executive vice president, third-party originations production. Weatherford was instrumental in growing the company's East division in his former role of sales director, and in his elevated position, he will continue to build upon his responsibilities to support cross-channel programs. Before joining Logan, he held senior roles at Finance of America, Newrez and Loanstream Mortgage.

Tha Hauppauge, New-York-based company also named Paul Dobynes as its Western managing director of sales. In his new role, Dobynes will be responsible for growing Logan's network on the West Coast, along with Nevada and Arizona. Dobynes most recently held a key executive role at Village Capital & Investments, with prior tenures at First Guaranty Mortgage Corp., Plaza Home Mortgage, Athas Capital and RFM Mortgage.

WFG hires tech and AI expert Ryan Ozonian for new leadership role

Title insurance and closing services provider Williston Financial Group tapped technology entrepreneur Ryan Ozonian as senior director of innovation and AI, a newly created role at the Irvine, California-based company. In the position, Ozonian will help lead discovery and development of artificial intelligence-backed tools to support WFG's enterprise technology program. His responsibilities will also include oversight of WFG's AI automations and technology solutions team.

Earlier in his career, Ozonian was behind the launch of two technology firms, including Mention Mobile and Cyber Dust, which received the backing of Mark Cuban.

Anniemac taps Jeff Hutchinson to ramp up retail production

Anniemac Home Mortgage recently appointed Jeff Hutchinson as senior vice president of retail production. The owner of his own recruiting firm, Hutchinson works directly with lenders, providing talent placement and merger-and-acquisitions consulting services. In his new role at Mount Laurel, New Jersey-based Anniemac, Hutchinson will help lead its Momentum Group division, while concurrently serving as head of his recruitment business.

Momentum Group, Anniemac's national retail growth engine, launched in 2024, founded by Hutchinson, along with Ian Aubourg and Rick Dionne. The platform is expected to lead to production of over $600 million in loan volume this year, Anniemac said.

Servicelink welcomes return of sales executive Aaron Fain

Mortgage services provider Servicelink welcomed the return of Aaron Fain as vice president, national sales executive. In the role, he will be tasked with developing client growth strategy and new customer relationships. Most recently, Fain served in sales leadership at Boston National Title and previously held key positions at Old Republic Title and Altisource. He previously was a member of the Servicelink team between 2006 and 2010.