Cenlar hires former chief risk officer from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac JV

Cenlar FSB, a mortgage subservicer and employee-owned wholesale bank, on Tuesday announced that it has hired Sara Avery, the former chief risk officer of Common Securitization Solutions, a joint venture owned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Avery, who has been named CRO at Cenlar, developed and built out the enterprise risk management function for Common Securitization Solutions’ technology platform. The Common Securitization Platform plays a key role in the U.S. housing finance market because it’s used to manage the issuance of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s bonds, including the uniform mortgage-backed security that the two government-sponsored enterprises launched in 2019. Avery also worked for nearly a decade at Freddie Mac in various risk-management roles, including serving as senior director of credit enterprise risk between 2009 and 2014.

JON MEADOWS

“Sara has an impressive background and we are excited she will be spearheading our risk management efforts,” said Greg Tornquist, chairman, chief executive officer and president at Cenlar, in a press release. “Under Sara’s leadership, she will use her expertise to enhance and identify opportunities in our current risk framework.”

Avery’s hiring reflects an exchange of executives between Common Securitization Solutions and Cenlar. Louis Glinn, who joined Common Securitization Solutions as chief risk officer in April, previously was Cenlar’s CRO. Anthony Renzi, Common Securitization Solutions’ CEO, served as Cenlar’s president and chief operating officer prior to when he joined CSS in December 2019.

This is the second C-suite appointment at Cenlar of late. The company also announced the hiring of Jason Shockey, former chief information security officer of Cyberpoint International to serve as CISO in August.