Bob Hart replaces Tim Bowler at ICE Mortgage Technology

Bob Hart will become president of ICE Mortgage Technology on Jan. 1, as part of a corporate shuffle which will move Tim Bowler to another unit at Intercontinental Exchange.

Most recently, Hart, who joined Intercontinental Exchange as part of the Ellie Mae acquisition, was the mortgage unit's senior vice president of business and client development.

In his new role, he will oversee overall product strategy and client engagement.

"Bob has been a driving force behind the evolution of ICE's mortgage technology business and its relentless focus on its customers," said Ben Jackson, president of Intercontinental Exchange, in a press release. "Bob understands the complexity of the mortgage ecosystem, the needs of our clients and the challenges they face, and has a remarkable ability to bring together ICE's state of the art technology, people, products and partnerships to create value for all."

Jackson is retaining his other title as chairman of ICE Mortgage Technology going forward.

Bowler became president of ICE Mortgage Technology on March 1, 2023, during a period when the company was working on closing its acquisition of Black Knight. Bowler had replaced Joe Tyrrell, a former Ellie Mae executive, who took the helm when that acquisition was completed in 2020. A little over a year after he left ICE Mortgage Technology, Tyrrell became CEO of Optimal Blue, one of the businesses it was forced to divest to close the Black Knight transaction.

In his previous role at the company, Bowler was president of ICE Benchmark Administration and his new position looks to be a return to that area.

Bowler will be transitioning to a new role within ICE's Fixed Income and Data Services division, where he will focus on high-priority enterprise initiatives using his expertise in index development and financial institution infrastructure.

During the past three years, ICE Mortgage Technology moved from an operating loss of $157 million in the third quarter of 2023 to operating earnings of $22 million in the same period this year. This was the second consecutive quarter this was in the black.

Using pro forma numbers, which make the assumption that ICE Mortgage Technology has owned Black Knight since 2021, the operating profit of $224 million for the most recent period was best since the second quarter of 2022. 

Other mortgage technology hirings

Amy Moses is joining the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization as its vice president of strategic growth.

Moses will lead MISMO's growth and revenue strategy, drive expanded industry engagement, and cultivate strategic partnerships which advance the adoption and the impact of its standards across the mortgage ecosystem.

Since earlier this year, Moses had been a contractor/consultant for MISMO.

Prior to that, Moses had leadership positions at Escrowtab and at Merscorp Holdings (which is now part of ICE Mortgage Technology).

"Amy's deep industry expertise, strategic mindset, and passion for real estate and advancing mortgage standards make her the perfect fit for this role," said Brian Vieaux, who became MISMO's president in October, in a press release. "Her leadership in strengthening our membership community has already been outstanding and I'm confident she will continue to drive innovation, collaboration, and efficiency across MISMO stakeholders and the industry."

Separately, John Levonick has joined Maxex as general counsel, which the company said shows the strategic combined roles of legal, regulatory, technology and structural innovation as it looks to make the mortgage secondary market digital.

Since March 2023, he's been a partner at Garris Horn and prior to this was CEO and co-founder of due diligence firm Canopy. He also spent time at Clayton Holdings and Accenture, among others.

"John brings a rare combination of legal skill, technical understanding and practical experience in the electronification of complex financial markets," said Tom Pearce, Maxex CEO, chairman and co-founder, in a press release.

"His leadership strengthens our ability to meet the insatiable demand for assets from private credit investors while delivering a fully digital secondary market that makes trading more transparent, efficient and scalable for all participants."