Garth Graham

Senior Partner

EXPERTISE HIGHLIGHTS

• High-producing loan originator & retail manager
• Founder of mortgage.com
• Developed ABN's MOAI online broker platform
• Expert in Digital Mortgage, Consumer Direct, M&A and Marketing

BACKGROUND

Garth Graham was a high-producing loan originator and retail manager before starting mortgage.com which, in 1996, became the first company to originate a mortgage on the internet. Three years later, in 1999, with internet originations of over $1 billion per year, mortgage.com completed an IPO and a year later was sold to ABN AMRO. At ABN, Garth had executive positions in consumer direct, marketing and the mortgage.com consumer direct platforms. Garth has given over 100 speeches on mortgage finance, including corporate events, keynotes and panel moderation. Garth is adept at using real time interactive tools, including audience polling and multi-media interactions through personal mobile devices.

Jim Cameron

Senior Partner

EXPERTISE HIGHLIGHTS

• Expert in benchmarking and performance management
• Former CFO/Executive for investment firms and mortgage lenders
• Strategic advisor for mergers and acquisitions and litigation support

BACKGROUND

Jim Cameron has executed a broad range of assignments for STRATMOR Group's clients focused on benchmarking and performance measurement, strategic planning, production franchise valuation, merger and acquisition advisory services, ad hoc market surveys, financial reporting templates and litigation support. Prior to joining STRATMOR, he served as Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer of NF Investments, Inc., a non-conforming wholesale lender. Prior to NFI, Jim served in executive financial management roles at StarMed Staffing, U.S. Home Mortgage Corporation and Arthur Anderson. He has a BBA in Business Administration with a concentration in Accountancy from the University of Notre Dame.

Jeff Babcock

Senior Partner

EXPERTISE HIGHLIGHTS

• Leads STRATMOR Group's mergers and acquisitions practice
• Expert in mortgage lender valuations
• Former mortgage banking executive and innovator
• Founder of PMI Mortgage Insurance

BACKGROUND

Jeff Babcock leads STRATMOR Group's mergers and acquisitions practice. Prior to joining STRATMOR, he was with the Robert A. McNeil Company, where he co-managed the mortgage banking subsidiary. Previously, Jeff was a co-founder of PME Mortgage Insurance where he was responsible for national sales, lender marketing and secondary marketing. Jeff participated in the development of the first mortgage conduit (Pennie Mae) and the original mortgage pool insurance product for the Bank of America's pioneering mortgage-backed pass through security. Jeff's mortgage banking experience also includes positions at Security Pacific Mortgage, Wells Fargo Bank and a start-up called On-Line Decisions (a subsidiary of Inland Steel Company, which developed some of the first interactive financial models for corporate America). Jeff received undergraduate and MBA degrees from the University of California at Berkeley.

Rob Chrisman

Senior Advisor

EXPERTISE HIGHLIGHTS

• Leads STRATMOR Group's Capital Markets practice
• Publishes widely-respected daily market commentary
• More than 29 years of executive leadership in Capital Markets
• Serves on the boards of a broad range of financial services companies
• Served as expert witness for mortgage and real-estate cases

BACKGROUND

Rob Chrisman is Senior Advisor to STRATMOR Group's Capital Markets practice. His daily market commentary is one of the mortgage industry’s most widely read publications. Rob began his career in mortgage banking 29 years ago with First California Mortgage, assisting in Secondary Marketing until 1988, when he joined Tuttle & Co., a leading mortgage pipeline risk management firm. He later ran Secondary for Standard Financial, a sub-prime lender and then was hired by CrossLand Mortgage to start a sub-prime company named OnCall Mortgage. Rob then joined CMG Mortgage, a wholesale mortgage bank, as the Director of Secondary Marketing and eventually re-joined Tuttle Risk Management Services, Inc. (now Compass Analytics).  In November of 2006 Rob left TRMS to become the Director of Capital Markets for RPM Mortgage, a retail residential lender, leaving there in late 2008 to focus on publishing his widely read daily mortgage market commentary. In addition to owning Chrisman LLC, he is on the board of directors of several financial services companies, including Peoples Bank (KS), International City Mortgage (CA), G5 (CA, a.k.a. Institutional Mortgage), Inheritance Funding Corporation (CA), is an advisor to the Board for First Mortgage (CA), is a member of the Secure Settlements Advisory Board (NJ), a senior advisor of the STRATMOR Group, a member of the California Mortgage Bankers Association, and of the Mortgage Bankers Association of the Carolinas and its membership committee. Rob has provided expert witness services for mortgage and real estate-related cases, has lectured to groups around the country.  He holds a BS from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and an MBA from UC Berkeley.

Tom Finnegan

Principal

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EXPERTISE HIGHLIGHTS

• 30 years of mortgage banking operations experience
• Former CEO and Senior Executive of mortgage banks
• Built high-performing sales organizations and marketing strategies to optimize leads, originations and borrower satisfaction
• Drove mortgage banking operations in high production environments

BACKGROUND

Tom Finnigan joined STRATMOR Group after serving as President/CEO of the mortgage banking units of FirstMerit Bank and Huntington Bank, and as a senior mortgage banking executive at Integra Bank and Landmark Savings Association.  He has over 30 years of comprehensive mortgage banking experience, with a particular focus on mortgage banking operations in a bank environment. In his mortgage banking executive roles, Tom built mortgage sales organizations and developed third party production channels, direct origination via call center and relocation finance. He also led development of secondary marketing strategies, servicing, loss mitigation and servicing asset management, production operations and IT, construction lending, bank mortgage portfolio management and affiliated title company operations. Tom is a past president of the Ohio Mortgage Bankers Association and the Mortgage Bankers Association of Southwestern Pennsylvania, served on the Residential Board of Governors of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, and was a founding board member of the Mortgage Bankers Association of Pennsylvania.  He has a BS in Accounting from The Pennsylvania State University.

Lisa Springer

Chief Executive Officer

EXPERTISE HIGHLIGHTS

• CEO and strategic driver of STRATMOR Group
• More than 30 years of experience in professional services and mortgage technology
• Extensive sales management expertise at that senior executive level
• Experienced in building companies from start-up to success

BACKGROUND

Lisa Springer is a Senior Partner and CEO of STRATMOR Group. As CEO, Springer leads the firm’s strategic brand and growth initiatives while providing direction in overall practice management, sales and marketing strategies, consulting services, human resources, vendor management, accounting and corporate communications.

Lisa has over 30 years of experience in mortgage professional services and technology arenas. As EVP of Sales at Motivity Solutions, Springer’s responsibilities included development and execution of go-to-market sales and product strategies. She was instrumental in building Motivity Solutions from a startup to the industry leader in business intelligence in the mortgage space.

As EVP of Sales for Mortgage Cadence, an industry leading financial and technology firm, Lisa drove the sales strategy and managed several teams to effectively sell and deploy enterprise software.

Lisa has a bachelor’s degree from Regis University where she earned the John S. Brennon award for excellence in Business Administration.

Nicole Yung

Senior Partner

EXPERTISE HIGHLIGHTS

• Leads STRATMOR Group's analytic services practice
• Expert in financial modeling, budgeting, forecasting and benchmarking
• Experince in valuation analysis and acquisition integration for M&A
• Manages STRATMOR's annual Compensation Connection research

BACKGROUND

Nicole Yung has lead responsibility for STRATMOR's analytic services, including the financial modeling and valuation tasks required by many of STRATMOR's merger and acquisition and operational clients. Nicole also had primary responsibility for the annual STRATMOR Compensation Connection product that benchmarks mortgage compensation. Further, Nicole is active in generating the reports, analyses and presentation materials that are at the heart of the MBA/STRATMOR Peer Group Benchmarking Program. Finally, Nicole has become the firm's expert in designing and executing the many Web-based surveys that STRATMOR conducts across a wide-range of topics and clients. Prior to joining STRATMOR, Nicole spent seven years as a Financial Analyst at The Associates in Dallas, TX and CitiMortgage in St. Louis, MO. She began her career as a Management Trainee with The Associates and rose through the ranks to become Vice President, Financial Analysis at CitiMortgage supporting the Correspondent and Direct Lending channels. Her experience encompasses budgeting and forecasting, financial modeling, benchmarking analysis and acquisition integration. Nicole is a graduate of Centre College in Danville, KY where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. She also received a Master of Business Administration from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX.

Seth Sprague, CMB 

Principal

EXPERTISE HIGHLIGHTS

• 20 years' experience in mortgage banking and valuation
• Specializes in mortgage servicing rights (MSRs), servicing, cash flows, liquidity and mortgage profitability strategies
• MBA from the University of Colorado, Denver
• Instructor with the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) School of Banking since 2007

BACKGROUND

Seth Sprague has more than 20 years of mortgage banking and servicing valuation experience. He specializes in mortgage servicing rights (MSRs), servicing, cash flows, liquidity and mortgage profitability strategies.

Prior to joining STRATMOR, Seth served as EVP of Trading & Analytics at PHOENIX, an advisory firm for MSR and whole loan trading, mortgage services and analytics. Additionally, Seth served as Senior Vice President—Servicing Asset Manager at SunTrust Mortgage for more than 10 years, where he led the servicing rights valuation team.

In 2018, Seth was selected as Secretary of the MBA’s Certified Mortgage Banker (CMB) Society and serves on several committees with the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) including the Financial Management Steering Committee, MBA’s Servicing Council for the 21st Century, MBA’s BASEL III and the Servicing Compensation Working Group.  Seth holds an MBA from the University of Colorado – Denver and an undergraduate degree from the University of Richmond with a concentration in Accounting.

Mike Seminari

MortgageSAT Director

EXPERTISE HIGHLIGHTS

• Expert in optimizing the mortgage borrower experience20 years’ experience in mortgage and banking technology
• Proponent of the Net Promoter Score (NPS) as a mortgage industry standard
• Deep understanding of social media and social interactions for loan originators and lenders
• Author monthly MortgageSAT Tip and regular contributor to Insights Report

BACKGROUND

Mike Seminari offers a unique perspective on how technology, mortgage banking and the customer experience optimally work together. Mike joined STRATMOR Group in 2016 from Velocify where he served on the company’s NPS Board that was an integral in the company’s 30-point improvement in customer satisfaction. At STRATMOR, Mike has grown the MortgageSAT Borrower Satisfaction Program into an industry-leading customer experience service program that was recognized with the prestigious Innovation Award from the Progress in Lending Association in 2018. He is adept at multi-media interactions, including blog, podcast and webinar broadcasts. Mike has authored more than 40 articles on borrower satisfaction, drawing from MortgageSAT’s rich data set (more than 150,000 surveys annually) and his monthly MortgageSAT Tip is available on the STRATMOR website and to tens of thousands monthly through Rob Chrisman’s column in Mortgage News Daily.