Mortgage Manager Playbook

Michael Cush, Owner, Mortgage Startup Consulting. Highlights include: mortgage industry resists change—and it's dangerous; AI and outside forces are disrupting the status quo; industry still doesn't prioritize customer experience; executives are not preparing for the future and bold, not incremental, change is needed. Mike is a 25 year mortgage veteran.

Jeff Scheuren, EVP, President, COO at Fulton Mortgage. Highlights include: volatility is unprecedented and driven by emotion, not fundamentals; hedging must be hyper-responsive and continually reassessed; communication and tools are vital for loan officer confidence; profitability relies on cost control and technology investment and first-time buyers and new construction are driving activity. Jeff has been with Fulton Mortgage for over 15 years.

Rob Robertson, Author. Highlights include: your pain can become your purpose; don't freeze in the face of life's hits; support systems matter; the NFL taught him more than football and plug into others when your battery is low. Rob has been in the mortgage industry for over 20 years and is currently with First Citizens Bank.

Connor Bartley, Content Creator and Podcast Host, The LO Down. Highlights include: build by design, not by default; internal alignment and realism are crucial; prioritize quality over quantity; leverage technology and community and recruit through relationship, not just offers. Connor has over 20 years in production and recruiting.

Michael Moorhouse, CEO & Founder, Moorhouse Group. Highlights include: three types of distinct leader groups; sales staff disconnect; failure to recognize “true state”; renting loan officers and retention-proof your staff. Michael is a seasoned executive with over 30 years of experience in business management, leadership, and strategic planning.

Michael Kelleher, Founder, Adopt the Brand and Co-Founder, Easy Mortgage Apps. Highlights include: closed-loop digital mortgage model; loan officers must go digital; Zillow's “Super App” is a game-changer; data-driven prospecting and mortgage calculator experience. Michael has over 15 years' experience in the mortgage industry.

Kirk Redding, Co-Founder, President, Promise Home Loans. Highlights include: broker model growth; industry challenges; success factors in the broker model; changing realtor perceptions and the need for strong support system. Kirk has thirty plus years of mortgage banking, brokering and marketing experience.

Kirk Redding, Co-Founder, President, Promise Home Loans. Highlights include: broker model growth; industry challenges; success factors in the broker model; changing realtor perceptions and the need for strong support system. Kirk has thirty plus years of mortgage banking, brokering and marketing experience.

Ralph Armenta, SVP, Incenter Lending Services. Highlights include: growth of private label mortgage securities; shifting trends in mortgage banking; opportunities in Residential Transition Loans (RTL); focus on high volume areas and the four R's of successful lending strategies. Ralph has spent over 20 years in the mortgage business.

Jeff Schummer, CEO, Financial Independence. Highlights include: the importance of understanding the business situation; right people and change coalition matter; vision and communication drive change success; trust is essential and leaders must stay connected to the front lines. Jeff has over 30 years' experience. This is Part 2 of a two part series.

Jeff Schummer, CEO, Financial Independence. Highlights include: four managing challenges in 2025; falsehood of training as an expense; need for structured learning process; five key leadership mistakes and culture of continuous learning. Jeff has over 30 years' experience. This is Part 1 of a two part series.

Chuck Sanders, CEO and Founder at Diverse Mortgage Services. Highlights include: restore the personal touch; minority markets untapped; grass roots engagement opportunity; technology a competitive edge and “Jaime Dimon's stand”. Chuck has over 20 years' experience in the mortgage business.

Rick Roque, VP, Growth at NFM Lending. Highlights include: expansion and discipline; small pool of recruitable LOs; automation and lower costs; super brokers and specialized call centers. Rick has experience as a mortgage broker, entrepreneur and a national leader in growth strategies.

Scott Moriarty, Principle Partner, Mountain View Advisors. Highlights include: proactive technology change management is essential; need to leverage existing systems effectively; focus on data-driven decision-making; leadership empowerment and employee dedicated change management team. Scott has over 25 years of experience in the mortgage and financial services industries.

Eric Mitchell, Author and Chief Revenue Officer, Client Direct Mortgage. Highlights include: five key drivers of the 1% in sales; your personal profound experience; true mentorship; restructuring of sales roles and reluctance to change. Eric has over 25 years' experience in the mortgage industry.

Erica Acie, Head of Originations, Truist. Highlights include: prioritizing the client experience as a foundational KPI; become valued financial advisors; core competencies for sales success; robust on-boarding process and embracing technology. Erica has been in the mortgage industry for over 30 years.

Ruth Stephenson, Area Manager, Guild Mortgage. Highlights include: “power hour” approach emphasizing peer accountability; fostering confidence to overcome call reluctance; quantitative feedback and group discussions and commitment and incentives drive increased lead generation. Ruth has been in the mortgage industry for over 20 years.

Jen Poniatowski, Consultant, Center for Practical Management. Highlights include: tailored goal-setting improves performance; activity goals are key to success; training is crucial and often overlooked; managers need development and cultural investment encourages retention. Jen has been in the mortgage industry for over 15 years.

Jen Poniatowski, Consultant, Center for Practical Management. Highlights include: tailored goal-setting improves performance; activity goals are key to success; training is crucial and often overlooked; managers need development and cultural investment encourages retention. Jen has been in the mortgage industry for over 15 years.

Chris Blevins, National Sales Director. Highlights include: difficulty of managing remotely; less is more; start with center of influence; fund the leader and managing the right way. Chris has been in the industry for over 30 years.

Phil Reichers, SVP, National Sales Manager, ServiceLink. Highlights include: tech stack efficiency; serving your staff; feedback is a gift and adding value with each conversation. Phil is an experienced mortgage and technology executive with over 20 years in the industry.

Katherine Gardner, SVP, Open Mortgage Wholesale. Highlights include: size doesn't matter; three C's; value of repeatable process and don't sell scared. Katherine has been in the industry for over 25 years.

Jennifer Fortier,CMB, Mortgage Banking Consultant. Highlights include: importance of a roadmap; falsity of “little tweaks”; problem of work arounds; focus on speed vs hype? and what does success look like. Jennifer has spent over 25 years in the mortgage industry.

Jay Promisco, President, Sierra Pacific Mortgage. Highlights include: “Amazon Impact”; right now and cheap; slowing down the start; track for success and protect your book. Jay is a mortgage veteran for over 20 years.

Brian Weis, Consultant/Coach, Brian R. Weis Consulting. Highlights include: hiring wrong people who don't fit; ignoring current people; lack of support/coaching; lack of manager interface and do it your self-development. Brian has over 20 years of experience in the mortgage industry.

Stewart Vickers, Author. Highlights include: first 10 seconds are key; cheat code; importance of an email list; YouTube analytics and YouTube sales funnel. Stewart shares his proven framework for YouTube success. The book is perfect for sales people and sales leaders because it gives you the step by step guide toward making YouTube work for you.

David Upbin, VP, MBA Education at MBA. Highlights include: ROI of Training; Training Investment = Better Retention; Executive coaching; Joining committees and College programs. David is the leader of the operations, program execution, and financial management of MBA Education.

Tom Finnegan, Principal and Author, STRATMOR Group. Highlights of article include: decline of bank mortgage share; risk and return of mortgage lending; needs-based discovery at branch; mortgage as a set of skills and Big World Theory. Tom is an experienced mortgage banking chief executive and is currently a strategic consultant in mortgage banking.

Mike Seminari, Director of Customer Experience, STRATMOR Group. Highlights include: why you are not getting referrals; “liking” and testimonials are not enough; delighting is delivering the unexpected; 7 keys to customer experience success and 90% of finding a LO is their personal network. Mike has been in the industry for over 25 years.

Mike Seminari, Director of Customer Experience, STRATMOR Group. Highlights include: why you are not getting referrals; “liking” and testimonials are not enough; delighting is delivering the unexpected; 7 keys to customer experience success and 90% of finding a LO is their personal network. Mike has been in the industry for over 25 years.

Suha Zehl CMB, Founder/Managing Director at Z Technology Solutions. Highlights include: implementing AI and fear problem; knowing what you don't know; customer for life experience and emotional connection; “shiny new object problem” and tech stack evaluation. Suha has over 25 years' experience in the industry.

James White, General Manager, Banking at Total Expert. Highlights include: data viewed as a liability not an asset; personalization is fundamental; crawl, walk and run; 4 key data points and high tech/high touch.

Greg Sayegh, Chief Strategy Officer/Co-Founder, InGenius. Highlights include: what is leadership malpractice; if recruiting you “own” them; accountability is not micromanaging; 50% close 92% of sales and key goals in selling. Greg has been in the mortgage industry for over 35 years.

Debra Killian, owner of CLOES.Online. Highlight include: communicate as soon as possible; most important mesh personality with customer; referral customers speak to immediately and offer options to customers. Deb is a 35 year veteran in mortgage lending.

Pat interviewed Michael Hammond JD,CMT at NexLevel Advisors LLC. Highlights include: out of balance sales teams; failure to manage capacity; leveraging best practices; changing manager compensation models and training as an investment. Michael is a seasoned mortgage technology executive with over two decades of experience in financial services industry.

Mark Stiving author of Selling Value, How to Win More Deals at Higher Prices. Most know they're supposed to sell value, but don't know how. Mark discusses how buyers discover value and how salespeople can help.

Joe Camerieri, Director of Sales, Private Label Origination at Maxwell. Highlights include: what is really different between lenders; creating scale; variable cost model; business or product and loans per month are not efficient. Joe has been in mortgage banking for over 40 years.

Bill Kroll, Managing Director, The Casey Group. Highlights include: develop a strategy; set agenda and objectives; don't reinvent the wheel and make sure you get references. Bill retired as EVP from the ABA and has been consulting for various companies, working with Banks and Credit Unions. Bill has over 40 years' experience in the financial industry.

Jon Overfelt, Director of Sales/Owner at American Security Mortgage Corp. Highlights include: preapprovals have ramped up costs; most tech helps consumers; slow second—fast first; leveraging time and don't buy if can't implement. Jon has been in the mortgage industry for over 25 years.

Jeff Scheuren, EVP, President and COO at Fulton Mortgage Co. Highlights include: key factors that drive pricing; start with cost to originate; understanding market rate movement; what is a good proxy and be a true financial advisor. Jeff has been in the mortgage industry for over 30 years.

Rick Sharga, Founder & CEO, CJ Patrick & Co. Highlights include: future for housing is bright; follow population growth; back office productivity is key; work your database and more consolidation of the inefficient. Rick's firm is a market intelligence and business advisory that helps real estate, financial services, and technology companies develop a position of competitive advantage and use it to drive business strategies.

Brian Koss, Regional Director, Movement Mortgage. Highlights include: dual representation doesn't work; no part time people; raising value of professionalism and a la carte selection. Brian has been in the mortgage industry for over 35 years.

Tom Finnegan, Principal at STRATMOR Group. Highlights include: volume and profitability not a relationship; cost per loan now; free agent sales culture; production economics and deeper analysis of sales force. Tom is an experienced mortgage banking chief executive and is currently a strategic consultant in mortgage banking.

S.A. Ibrahim, retired CEO at Radian. Highlights include: winners will be proactive; intermediaries will enter; biggest impact will be AI not NAR settlement and AI in mortgage industry will happen sooner rather than later. S.A. Ibrahim is a seasoned executive with almost 40 years of experience in the fintech sector.

Mark Deitz, Manager Director of Mortgage at SECU Credit Union. Highlights include: networking community; relevant education; involvement in industry and monthly newsletter. Mark has been in the industry over 20 years.

Kevin Peranio, Chief Lending Officer. Highlights include: no dual representation; industries are specialized; impact of buyer's cycle time; mine your own database and master one thing. Kevin has been in the mortgage industry for over 25 years.

Jon Overfelt, Director of Sales/Owner, American Security Mortgage Corp. Highlights include: social media as an connection tool; face to face matters; auto-campaign is not selling; doing what others won't and take action consistently. Jon has been in the mortgage industry for over 25 years.

Dan Ervin, FVP, Mortgage Sales Director at First Merchants Bank. Highlight include: market share growth; WIIFT; living in the “Now” and assume nothing. Dan has been in the mortgage industry for over 30 years.

Greg Sayegh, Chief Strategy Officer and Co-Founder. Highlights include: role of Branch Manager and Regional Manager has changed; 40% industry turnover; churning of low producers and 88% of LOs are doing two loans or less a month. Greg has been in the mortgage industry for over 35 years.

Mark Deitz, Managing Director, Mortgage at SECU. Highlights include: retraining to purchase money market; market shrinkage is an opportunity; sales leadership mindset; peer networking matters and investing in the right people. With over 20 years experience, Mark is a Certified Mortgage Banker, a Certified Mortgage Advisor and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Mortgage Bankers Association of Metropolitan Washington.

Greg Schatz, Director of National Sales, Allied Mortgage Group. Highlights include: target sales strategies for different generation; Gen Z is the first digital generation; leadership matters in CRA; state auditors issue and diversified thinking is required. Greg has more than 30 years' experience in the mortgage industry.