Julia Gordon was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Gordon previously served as president of the National Community Stabilization Trust (NCST), a nonprofit organization that works to provide community-based buyers an opportunity to acquire vacant, abandoned and distressed properties in their neighborhood. Prior to joining NCST, she served as senior director of housing and consumer finance at the Center for American Progress. She also previously managed the single-family policy team at the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and before that, worked at the Center for Responsible Lending, the Center for Law and Social Policy, the Legal Aid Bureau of Maryland, the DC Legal Aid Society and the law firm of WilmerHale.
OriginPoint, a digitally driven mortgage origination joint venture between Compass and Guaranteed Rate, welcomed John Stewart as its new executive vice president of national sales. In this role, Stewart will oversee all of OriginPoint’s sales and recruiting operations. With more than 30 years of mortgage and finance industry experience, he will lead the company’s efforts to grow market share and recruit industry talent in both sales and operations. Prior to joining OriginPoint, he served as a division manager at Guaranteed Rate. Stewart also has experience in mortgage joint ventures, including as president and co-founder of Metrocities Mortgage. More recently, Stewart was a co-founder and board member of a large national mortgage joint venture.
Mortgage Connect announced that Jane Kennedy has joined the company as senior vice president of sales and strategy for the company’s default division. Kennedy will oversee the progression of key initiatives, including enhancements to the company’s comprehensive line of default services to meet the unique requirements of today’s servicers, investors and lenders. She also will lead Mortgage Connect’s national default sales team. She brings with her more than two decades of experience, initially working for Land America Lender Services, before heading to another mortgage servicing company where she had worked since 2009.
Eastern Union named Ben N. Weiss to the position of senior managing director of investment sales for New York City and the Greater Tri-State region. Weiss comes to Eastern Union after an 18-year tenure with The Besen Group, most recently holding the position of managing director for investment sales. Prior to that, he served as director of business development with a major pharmaceutical vendor. He attended New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate, where he received a master’s degree in real estate finance and investments. He also earned degrees in psychology as well as Talmudic law.
Mortgage Coach announced the advancement of two of its department directors to vice president-level positions. Suzanne Duniphin was promoted from director of e-learning to vice president of customer experience, while David Bowser was promoted from director of account management to vice president of customer engagement. In their new roles, Duniphin and Bowser will oversee Mortgage Coach’s customer-facing initiatives and services. Duniphin has a 25-year background in mortgage banking and technology, having previously served as training and documentation manager at Optimal Blue, and in multiple leadership roles at a mortgage consulting firm and at independent mortgage lender First Horizon Home Loans. Duniphin joined Mortgage Coach in 2020 as director of e-learning. Bowser has two decades of experience in the industry, having held positions at Volly and ICE Mortgage Technology. Bowser joined Mortgage Coach as director of account management in January 2021 and was promoted to vice president of customer engagement to enhance the company’s strategic customer communication and growth.
Richey May announced that Seth Sprague is joining the firm as director of mortgage banking consulting services. With 25 years of mortgage banking and servicing experience, Sprague comes to Richey May from the Stratmor Group, where he was a principal. Prior to joining Stratmor, he was executive vice president of trading and analytics at Phoenix Capital. Prior to that, he was a senior vice president and servicing asset manager at SunTrust Mortgage, and he has held roles in accounting, analytics and auditing for Bank of America, KPMG LLP and United Financial Inc.
