Digital lending company Blend has announced former Fannie Mae CEO Tim Mayopoulos is joining the company as president.
Mayopoulos will lead Blend's go-to market and corporate support functions and serve on the board of directors, according to the company.
"I'm thrilled to join Blend at a critical point in its growth trajectory and look forward to helping the company continue to drive positive change in consumer finance in the years to come," Mayopoulos said in a statement. "Nima and the Blend team are driving much-needed improvements to the speed, efficiency and transparency of consumer lending. I am confident that the company's growth will continue at a remarkable rate." 
In a blog post on the company’s website, CEO Nima Ghamsari explained the move and why he’s excited to see Mayopoulos join the company.
“The opportunity to bring an innovative and transformational leader with incredible industry expertise on board is the best way I can think of starting 2019. He will help us drive more value to our customer base as we grow,” Ghamsari wrote.
Mayopoulos announced in July 2018 that he was leaving mortgage giant Fannie Mae by the end of the year. Prior to officially leaving Fannie Mae in October, Mayopoulos even forecasted his own move into the financial technology space. In a HousingWire Magazine interview with Editor-in-Chief Jacob Gaffney, Mayopoulos explained he believed his next step was to remain in financial services at an automation-forward fintech firm.
And speaking to the crowd at the Mortgage Bankers Association Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. on his literal last day at Fannie Mae, Mayopoulos said that he planned to stay in the housing business and wanted to focus on technology going forward.
He told the crowd at MBA Annual in October that he “loves to work,” and after some time off for traveling, he plans to stay involved in housing, saying that he has an “abiding passion” for affordable housing and technology.
“We’re facing some tough market conditions right now, but the companies that are going survive and thrive are the ones who can deal with that and move forward in the technological advancements in the industry,” Mayopoulos said. “Look to Amazon and Google for what people want now and in the future.”
And now, Mayopoulos will bring his expertise to the tech-focused Blend.
“His expertise in home lending and broader consumer finance from his days in banking and on Wall Street will be invaluable as we continue to expand our team and scale the company,” Ghamsari said of Mayopoulos.
In his blog post, Ghamsari also announced three additional executive hires for the lending tech company.
Olivia Teich has been brought on as head of product, where she will focus on partnering with consumers and the mortgage industry to identify the areas where Blend’s product can make the most impact to improve lending, according to the company. Prior to joining Blend, Teich held roles leading product at both Dropbox and Jive.
Kallol Das has been named the head of engineering and joins the company from Invoice2Go. Justin Schuster has joined Blend as head of marketing. Schuster previously served in roles at Acxiom and LiveRamp.
(Photos by Stephen Voss)
