Read about the latest happenings in companies across the reverse space. Have exciting news to share? Email us to see it in print!
Karen C. Tankersley Joins UFG Holdings as General Counsel UFG Holdings LLC, the holding company of top reverse mortgage lender Urban Financial of America, LLC (UFA), has named Karen C. Tankersley general counsel. “Karen brings more than 25 years of legal experience, including in-house financial services firm expertise, to UFA’s businesses,” said Steve McClellan, president of UFA, in a statement. In this role, she will lead the legal department for the entire UFG Holdings enterprise and oversee the implementation of new corporate initiatives, corporate governance principles, and other legal and regulatory functions. Tankersley joins UFG from Nationstar Mortgage, where she was executive vice president and chief compliance officer. Prior to joining UFG, she worked for various financial institutions including Aurora Bank FSB, Lehman Brothers, Finance America, LLC and Amresco, Inc. as well as diverse law firms. Tankersley has a B.A. from Texas A&M University and a J.D. from University of Texas Law School.
More Than 700 Reverse Mortgage Brokers Added to ReverseVision Exchange ReverseVision added 733 mortgage brokers to its RV Exchange (RVX) loan origination software, the leading independent reverse loan origination system and lending system of record for the majority of reverse lenders, between July 2013 and June 2014, including 379 brokers added in the first half of 2014. “RV Exchange is the lending system of record for a majority of reverse lenders, so we monitor its privacy-protected aggregate data as a useful indicator for industry trends,” says Rob Katz, ReverseVision executive vice president. According to Katz, although first half 2014 applications through RV Exchange were 22 percent lower than in 2013 applications, loan closings for the same periods loan closings held steady at a similar rate of about 45 percent.
National Field Sales Leadership of American Advisors Group Grows American Advisors Group (AAG) recently added a new regional sales manager and two affinity partner executives to its national field sales team. Jim McMinn will help drive the company’s field sales efforts in the Northeast, managing a growing team whose coverage spans from Delaware to Maine. McMinn brings more than 12 years of experience in reverse mortgage sales to AAG. He joins field sales managers Melanie Parks (West), Tracy Laney (Southeast) and Jim Elder (Central) to grow the national field sales team to 120 loan officers by the end of 2014. Industry veterans Jeff James and Phil Walker will help build AAG’s reverse mortgage footprint by developing affinity partnerships with real estate builders, developers and financial planners. James brings more than 18 years of experience as a seasoned mortgage and real estate professional, with particular expertise in the builder/Realtor segment, having financed more than 70 new construction developments. He joins AAG as vice president, builder division and business development. Walker, a 20-year veteran of the mortgage industry, is vice president of AAG’s financial planner division and business development. He has extensive previous experience as a Series 7 and 66 licensed financial advisor for both Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and Merrill Lynch.
FirstBank’s West Coast Team Continues to Expand FirstBank is pleased to announce the hiring of Gennaro Faiola as the West Coast area manager. Faiola is an industry veteran with more than 10 years of dedicated experience with reverse mortgages. Three additional new hires—Kathleen Dalzell, Suzanne Causley and Barry Korogodsky—are all veteran originators of the reverse mortgage industry. Led by an experienced industry professional like Faiola, FirstBank is confident that our continued expansion will be both strategic and successful. Additionally, Michael Benke has also joined FirstBank as a reverse mortgage specialist in South Carolina.
