Rocket Companies has appointed Heather Lovier as its chief operating officer, replacing Bill Emerson, who will continue as the company’s president. Lovier joined Rocket in 2003 and has served in various roles throughout her tenure, including executive vice president of client experience operations, chief client experience officer of Rocket Mortgage and most recently, chief operating officer of RKT Holdings. Lovier will continue her role as COO of RKT Holdings in tandem with her new role.

Fannie Mae is adding Patrice Ficklin, head and founder of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Office of Fair Lending & Equal Opportunity, as its new fair lending officer. Ficklin has been with the CFPB’s fair lending office since she helped establish it in 2011. Ficklin will rejoin Fannie after serving as its associate general counsel for more than a decade.

Proper Rate, a joint venture between Rate and @properties, has announced the appointment of Chris Knapp as president. Knapp brings over 29 years of industry expertise to the role, including 11 years with Rate.

Lower has announced the addition of Craig Montgomery as its new chief strategy officer. In his new role, Montgomery will oversee retail strategy and expanding the company’s tech-driven platform.

New American Funding (NAF) has announced that Craig Stammler has recently joined the company as regional vice president. Stammler joined NAF in June and previously worked for loanDepot, Wells Fargo and Countrywide. In his new role, he will oversee the southern Idaho and northern California markets. His focus will be on growing NAF’s existing teams, managing profitability and developing branch leadership. 

Change Lending has announced the appointment of Madison Simm as chief financial officer. He has over 25 years of experience in the financial services sector, having held senior executive roles at banks and mortgage lenders, most recently serving as president of real estate at Texas Capital Bank. In his new role, Simm will be responsible for overseeing all financial operations and advising the management team in their strategic planning and capital markets activities.

Xactus has announced that Joseph Peterson has been named chief financial officer. In this role, Peterson will oversee the company’s financial operations, including managing the strategic direction of Xactus’ accounting and finance functions, developing policies, procedures and financial controls, overseeing financial systems, ensuring the accuracy of internal and external reporting, identifying investment opportunities, securing funding, and managing risk. Peterson brings more than 30 years of financial experience to his position. He most recently served as executive vice president and chief financial officer at Sagent Lending Technologies.