Lodestar's Lending Leaders

Per Lending Leaders tradition, Jim Paolino and Alayna Gardner sit down with LodeStar CTO David Spektor to take stock of growth and look ahead at the future.

This one's all about keeping creativity alive, even and especially when the market is uncertain. LodeStar's Director of Revenue, Alayna Gardner, chats with Marketing Content Manager Tim Austen to discuss creativity, and how to invest in it—no matter what's happening in the industry.

Jim Paolino sits down for a hard-hitting and heartfelt conversation with Coby Hakalir, VP of Mortgage and Ancillary Services at T3 Sixty, to discuss the difference practicing gratitude can make.

This week's Lending Leaders is a special crossover event... On her other podcast, Thirsty Thursday, Alayna Gardner had the pleasure of interviewing NFM Lending's Managing Director Greg Sher. The conversation was just too good for us not to feature it here, as a special episode of Lending Leaders. Cheers!

Alayna Gardner interviews Nick Friedman, President of Homelight Homes, to talk about the relationship between profitability and growth in the mortgage industry, and how to help borrowers break barriers to homeownership.

It's all about scalability this week. Jim sits down with Optimal Blue's Director of Product Management, Kevin Foley, to discuss how tech vendors can deliver solutions at scale.

LodeStar's own Amanda Benincasa, a Philadelphia area realtor, sits down with Alayna Gardner to share her take on the home buying and mortgage processes.

How do you drive down loan origination costs? Jim and Alayna sit down to discuss LodeStar's new vision for 2025 and onward, and how lenders can push back against the rising costs of loan origination.

Jim takes an opportunity to visit longtime friend, Matthew VanFossen, CMB, CEO of Absolute Home Mortgage and The Big Point-of-Sale. They chat about regulation and what's ahead for 2025.

Alayna sits down with Space Coast Credit Union's Malik Wilkes, CMB, AMP, a passionate advocate for tech-forward loan origination, diversity in the mortgage community, and the value of continuing education.

Jim sits down with Todd Hougaard, CEO of BLITS, to discuss the evolution of tech in the mortgage and title spaces, and what's ahead for 2025.

LodeStar's resident Encompass Admin, Kelsey Wright, our Director of Customer Success, returns to the Lending Leaders Podcast to give an update on the EPC Changeover.

For this week's episode of Lending Leaders, Alayna interviews John Haring, head of compliance at Wilqo.

The Lending Leaders Podcast is back! Jim Paolino sits down with Fractional Chief Strategy Officer at Silk Title Co, Jeremy Potter. Jeremy has a wealth of experience in the legal, regulatory, and mortgage worlds, and his perspective is one you won't want to miss.

LodeStar's Alayna Gardner chats with Chris Gassel, Enterprise Account Executive at Polly, about how lenders can adopt new mortgage tech the RIGHT way.

Jim, Dave, and Alayna sit down together to bid farewell to 2024; a year of immense growth for both LodeStar and SettleWise.

For this week's episode of Lending Leaders Alayna chats with Dan Smokoska, Director of Sales and Growth at HousingWire.

Ever wonder how LodeStar monitors closing costs throughout the entire country? Here to explain just a little bit of what our commitment to accuracy demands is Ron Carvalho, LodeStar's own Director of Data Operations.

For this week's episode of the Lending Leaders Podcast, Alayna interviews Chris Mace, CEO & Founder at Mace Innovations. Together they discuss the unbeatable power of listening—in sales and life in general.

For this week's Lending Leaders episode, Jim talks with Mike Hajjar of American Financial Network, an experienced mortgage advisor and planning specialist. Mike shares his passion for integrity and empathy, and why they need to be baked in to any business model.

For this week's Lending Leaders, Jim Paolino discusses the power of actionable data with Ardley's Head of Product, Haley Rader.

Just before the LodeStar team hits the road and heads out to MBA Annual in Denver, CO, Alayna sits down with LodeStar's National Sales Representative, Michael Hughes, a Denver local, to talk about the conversations that matter most.

For this week's Lending Leaders, LodeStar's own Kelsey Wright discusses the upcoming changeover to Encompass® EPC.

We couldn't be more excited to welcome the lovely Liz Short back onto the podcast! Together, she and Alayna discuss how people in the mortgage space can adapt their strategy to evolve with the market.

So, Jim is buying a house (again). Here to talk about why, and what it's been like participating in the current market, is Jim himself. Alayna and Jim talk about a mortgage pro's take on the home buying process.

This week, Alayna sits down to talk with Wes Horbatuck, VP of Marketing at Dark Matter Technologies, to talk all things marketing for the mortgage industry.

One of Lending Leaders's first and most commonly recurring guests, Matt Einheber, Principal of TitleEQ and Creator of TitleBox, joins Jim to gauge the state of the market as we head into Fall 2024. At the time of recording, there's talk of a rate cut, so there's plenty to speculate about. Head into the weeds with us!

For episode of Lending Leaders' fifth season, Alayna Gardner, AMP, sits down with Amanda Morrow, AMP, Director of Investor Relations at Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group. Together they chat all things values, and rep the irreplaceable value of in-person industry conferences.

Welcome back, Lending Leaders listeners, to the fifth season of LodeStar's podcast. Per tradition, Alayna Gardner, AMP is sitting down with LodeStar's co-founders, Jim Paolino and David Spektor to kick off yet another exciting season of insightful conversation and fun!

For this final episode of the Lending Leaders 2024 Summer Session, Jim and Alayna lament the emergence of Halloween candy in grocery stores and reflect on SettleWise's successes so far.

For the fourth episode of the Summer of SettleWise, Lending Leaders host Jim Paolino interviews Shawna Proztman about her role as Title Operations Manager with SettleWise. She recounts her journey into title and how her specific expertise is exactly the kind of thing that differentiates SettleWise's quality of service.

For the third installment of Lending Leaders' Summer of SettleWise, Jim and Alayna go into the power of branding, and the challenge of acing the particulars.

Welcome back to the Summer Session, sponsored by SettleWise. Jim and Alayna jump back in to their discussion of SettleWise and chat all things brand. How to brand, how NOT to brand, and everything in between.

Welcome to the 2024 Summer Session, brought to you by SettleWise! We're diving right in by discussing why we decided to found SettleWise, a national title company, in a less-than-hospitable market.

It's that time again! The Lending Leaders Podcast has concluded its fourth season, and Alayna Gardner chats with LodeStar Co-Founders Jim Paolino and David Spektor to mark the occasion.

For this week's episode of Lending Leaders, Jim interviews Michael Barnett, CEO and Founder of Loanspark, about what SMBs need to know to succeed in the world of finance and lending.

For this week's special episode of the Lending Leaders Podcast, Alayna Gardner chats with LodeStar's Marketing Content Manager Tim Austen about his original webcomic, "A Tale of Two Mortgages," the cost of content marketing, and the importance of trying new things.

LodeStar's Jim Paolino talks with Melissa Langdale, COO of the Mortgage Collaborative, about how they got started in the industry, the future of mortgage lending, and what it really means to collaborate.

This week, Alayna had the pleasure of speaking with Stacy Holindrake, a veteran of the mortgage industry with a strong background in Mortgage Operations. Together they discuss new opportunities and the joy of problem solving.

For this week's episode of the Lending Leaders Podcast, Alayna chats with Monica Raciti of Vesta. Together they talk about technology, how it's changed our industry, and how we can build trust amid the changes.

For this week's episode of the Lending Leaders Podcast, Alayna chats with longtime friend and industry partner, Olga Faynshteyn, Business Development Manager at LenderLogix. Olga is no stranger to the world of optimizing the loan origination process with key tech—especially since she just got to use LenderLogix products to buy her own house.

While at TMC's "The Mane Event" in Louisville, Kentucky, Alayna had the opportunity to chat with Stephen Huang, Key Account Director at MeridianLink, about sales, the benefits of being a vendor vs. a lender, and the importance of sticking to your core values.

For this week's episode of the Lending Leaders Podcast, Jim talks with Rich Swerbinsky about his long career, growth over the years, leadership, and developing a decision maker mindset.

For this week's episode of Lending Leaders, Jim chats with Allen Pollack, a product innovator, board advisor, and strategist, about the mortgage industry, tech, and how to build bridges and relationships in lending.

For this week's Lending Leaders episode, Greg Uttal, President at Cyberlink Software Solutions, was kind enough to talk with us about tech, implementation, the benefits of AI, and what matters most when it comes to implementing automations.

For this week's episode of the Lending Leaders podcast, Jim Paolino interviews Josh Friend, the CEO and Founder of InSellerate, a powerful marketing automation platform for lenders. Together they discuss missed opportunities and how to avoid them.

For this week's episode of Lending Leaders, Alayna chats with Brandon Goldstein of Cape Analytics about how AI can be more than just a buzzword and elevate customer experience.

LodeStar's Alayna Gardner chats with Lynnette Nuese, Director of Sales at Constellation Mortgage Solutions, about how lenders and vendors can work together to improve the loan origination process and ace tech implementation.

LodeStar's Jim Paolino chats with longtime friend and recent homebuyer, Brian Popek, about the ups and downs of buying a home in a less-than-ideal time.

Jim Paolino talks with CEO and Founder of BeSmartee, Tim Nguyen, about what's ahead for mortgage in 2024, and how companies should size up various challenges on the horizon.

NFM Lending's Greg Sher sits down with Alayna Gardner to discuss the impact of social media, the need for true leadership, and which marketing and leadership strategies really make the biggest difference in today's mortgage industry.