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Industry Leading Mortgage Experts

Leadership Team
Retired Partners
Senior Advisors
Advisory Team
Michael Grad
BIOGRAPHY
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Michael Grad
Senior Partner
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Michael Grad
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Michael Grad
Senior Partner

Senior Partner Michael Grad leads STRATMOR Group’s strategic advisory team, covering a wide range of consulting engagements to implement business growth strategies, process improvements and the use of advanced analytics and technology aimed at building competitive advantage. Michael has over 25 years of industry experience in mortgage banking, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to successful startups, including management of five end-to-end mortgage platform transformation programs.

Grad is well versed in mortgage sales, fulfillment, servicing and default operations, and the program and change management capabilities required to successfully deliver business results. Lenders appreciate his strategy formulation and execution, benefit realization discipline and his breadth and depth real-world solution design and implementation, including his ability to design and implement industry leading consumer banking solutions that incorporate process mapping, process improvement, cost reduction programs and the associated metrics and reporting dashboards.

Adept at integrating data sciences and behavioral modeling teams to define holistic portfolio retention, customer relationship deepening, customer acquisition and compliance solutions, Grad leads his colleagues in the design and implementation of document management workflow projects to streamline sales and back-office processing. His innovative client-centric solutions and programs have redefined client relationships.

Grad holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Cincinnati, and an MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University.

Garth Graham
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Garth Graham
Senior Partner
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Garth Graham
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Garth Graham
Senior Partner

At STRATMOR, Graham manages the company’s mergers and acquisitions activities, providing strategies for some of the largest Independent and Bank-owned mortgage lenders. He also leads the marketing strategy and execution practice, which focuses on lead generation and lead management methods and practices primarily for the consumer direct and retail mortgage origination channels. Garth has more than 30 years of experience in mortgage banking, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to successful startups, including management of two of the most successful e-commerce platforms.

As an executive with ABN-AMRO, Garth was part of the executive group and author of the five-year strategic plan that led to the successful $9 billion sale of the mortgage company to Citigroup in March of 2007 which closed before the market downturn.

At ABN, Garth managed the mortgage.com retail mortgage and Interfirst wholesale channel ecommerce platforms. Administering an over $5 million annual marketing budget, he was responsible for retention and cross sell activities for more than 2 million customers. He launched marketing campaigns in support of mortgage.com consumer portal, generating over 650,000 web site visitors per month, resulting in $22B in originations and $280 million in operating profit over a four-year period. He successfully delivered direct response rates of more than four percent, with a 250 percent return on marketing investment.

Garth was a founder and key member of the executive management team at mortgage.com and led the company through its dramatic expansion in the late 90s and successful IPO in 2000, before its ultimate sale to ABN AMRO. Mortgage.com originated the first mortgage through the Internet in 1997 and was the original platform for the Quicken and Microsoft mortgage initiatives.

Garth also worked for nine years at Chase Manhattan Mortgage, where he developed the corporate and affinity marketing programs, securing Fortune 500 accounts, including the successful sale of Union Member Mortgage Program, an exclusive relationship between Chase Mortgage and the 13 million members of the AFL-CIO.

Garth is a sought-after speaker and mortgage advisor who has been quoted extensively in industry publications, resulting in more than 40 million press impressions over his career. Garth studied Economics and Computer Science at the University of Virginia and has completed Six Sigma Champion and Green Belt Training.

Lisa Springer
BIOGRAPHY
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Lisa Springer
Senior Partner
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Lisa Springer
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Lisa Springer
Senior Partner

Lisa Springer is a Senior Partner at STRATMOR Group, the mortgage industry’s premier data-driven advisory firm. Springer provides strategic direction and leadership to achieve the firm’s goals. This includes oversight of all corporate initiatives, sales and marketing strategies, client experience, advisory services oversight, knowledge sharing programs and STRATMOR’s technology and data strategies.

Springer has more than 30 years of experience in the mortgage professional services and technology arenas. She is motivated not only by the challenge of leading the mortgage industry’s most trusted advisory company, but also by the ability to bring impactful solutions to its ever-evolving market environment.

“STRATMOR sets very high standards of excellence, expertise, and integrity,” says Springer. “I strive to ensure that the company holds firm to its strategic path with an unwavering commitment to our clients by providing a creative, engaging work environment that encourages the team to always exceed expectations — especially our own.”

Springer has a bachelor’s degree from Regis University where she earned the John S. Brennon award for excellence in Business Administration. She earned her certification for Customer Experience through Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado and currently serves on their Customer Experience board. She is an avid kayaker and enjoys tending to her “Nona Lisa” garden in northern Colorado.

Nicole Yung
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Nicole Yung
Senior Partner
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Nicole Yung
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Nicole Yung
Senior Partner

STRATMOR Group Senior Partner Nicole Yung leads the company’s data and analytics efforts. Yung is responsible for the team that executes STRATMOR’s programs and oversees the analysts who conduct financial modeling, benchmarking and valuation tasks conducted by STRATMOR in its pursuit of timely and relevant mortgage industry data.

Yung is best known for her work on STRATMOR’s widely known and often cited Technology Insight® Study and Compensation Connection® Study. It was Yung who developed the benchmark Lender Loyalty Score® analysis that has become the industry standard for lenders in determining vendor success, and her team works hand-in-hand with the MBA to produce the industry leading PGR: MBA and STRATMOR Peer Group Roundtables Program.

“My team provides these essential insights through our data programs and studies, but we also place this information in the hands of all the STRATMOR experts,” says Yung. “The mortgage industry is constantly changing, and we are able to offer our lenders a data-driven view of the market and the technology that can really help them to make informed decisions about how best to run their business.”

Yung holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Centre College and a master’s degree in Business Administration from Southern Methodist University. She enjoys knitting and traveling with her husband and daughters from her home near Atlanta.

Jim Cameron
BIOGRAPHY
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Jim Cameron
Retired Partner
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Jim Cameron
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Jim Cameron
Retired Partner

Jim Cameron joined STRATMOR in 1999 and put his considerable mortgage banking skills to work in every area of the company, specializing in benchmarking and performance measurement, strategic planning and merger and acquisition services. Cameron was instrumental in the development of the industry-standard benchmarking program known as the MBA and STRATMOR Peer Group Roundtables (“PGR”) Program. In recent years, Cameron took on STRATMOR’s Workshops series, moderating highly interactive sessions with senior executives focused on topics most relevant to mortgage lenders today. He also led a team of highly skilled and experienced mortgage industry specialists, our Principals, in working with clients on their strategic planning and positioning, sales and marketing, technology and operational needs.

“In my 25 years with STRATMOR, I’ve forged relationships with hundreds of executives,” says Cameron. “People reach out to me when they need help, and I enjoy fielding inquiries and connecting prospective clients with the right STRATMOR resources. I like to connect with people, to put myself in their shoes and see things from their perspectives.”

A sought-after mortgage advisor and speaker, Cameron regularly lent his moderator skills to the MBA and other organizations. He holds a bachelor’s in business administration with a concentration in accountancy from the University of Notre Dame and has a passion for serving the homeless. He organizes a team of volunteers to serve in the Bashor Homeless Men’s Shelter in downtown Atlanta for two weeks each year.

Jeff Babcock
BIOGRAPHY
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Jeff Babcock
Retired Partner
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Jeff Babcock
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Jeff Babcock
Retired Partner

Jeff Babcock leads STRATMOR’s mergers and acquisitions practice and was an original partner in the formation of STRATMOR Group’s predecessor company in 1981. Prior to this time, he was with the Robert A. McNeil Company, where he co-managed the mortgage banking subsidiary. Previously, Babcock was a co-founder of PMI Mortgage Insurance Company in San Francisco beginning in 1973.

During his years at PMI, Babcock was responsible for national sales, lender marketing and secondary marketing. He 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 initial mortgage banking experience was acquired at Security Pacific Mortgage in Denver. Babcock’s financial services career began with Wells Fargo Bank in 1967, followed by the start-up of On-Line Decisions, an entrepreneurial subsidiary of Inland Steel Company, which developed some of the first interactive financial models for corporate America.

His lengthy and diverse background in mortgage banking enables Babcock to bring to the firm an exceptional knowledge of the industry and its participants. Based in San Francisco, he received an undergraduate and MBA degrees from the University of California at Berkeley.

Matt Lind
BIOGRAPHY
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Matt Lind
Retired Partner
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Matt Lind
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Matt Lind
Retired Partner

Matt Lind, or “Dr. Matt” as he is known within the industry, joined STRATMOR in 1988. He is widely known throughout the industry as a leading strategic thinker, as an innovator in the financial analysis of mortgage production operations and as an articulate and provocative speaker. He also has led dozens of major strategic planning and operations consulting assignments performed by STRATMOR.

Prior to joining STRATMOR, Lind was Senior Vice President for Diversified Operations MONY Financial Services (New York) where he had executive responsibility for all major non-insurance businesses, including mortgage banking. Prior to MONY, he headed corporate planning and development at The Travelers where he led and oversaw Traveler’s entry, through acquisitions, into mortgage banking and securities brokerage.

Lind’s career in financial services started in Washington, D.C. where, after a short stint at the Office of Management and Budget, he became Head of Policy Development and then Executive Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation during the Ford and Carter Administrations. After college, he was an instructor of Electromagnetic Theory at M.I.T. Lind is a graduate of M.I.T. and holds a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University.

Len Tichy
BIOGRAPHY
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Len Tichy
Retired Partner
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Len Tichy
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Len Tichy
Retired Partner

Len Tichy’s career in financial systems began in 1983 when he founded Bankers Microsystems, Inc., Peterborough, New Hampshire, a regional provider of mortgage loan production systems for small banks, credit unions, mortgage brokers, and small- to medium-sized mortgage companies.

In 1988, he founded Lakewood Corporation, Greenfield, New Hampshire, where he served as CEO until its sale to EDS in 1995. The Lakewood loan production system for large-scale mortgage lenders was, for many years, the premier mortgage origination system in the U.S. Following the sale of Lakewood to EDS, Tichy served as senior sales representative and relationship manager for the Lakewood System.

In 1998, he became senior vice president for Strategic Planning and Development at Waterfield Mortgage, a major U.S. mortgage lender. During his tenure Len ran the Direct Lending Division and was also responsible for launching Waterfield’s end-to-end private label fulfillment outsourcing business. He played a key role in managing strategic corporate projects across all lending divisions and in allocating and coordinating IT and business analyst resources. He remained in this capacity until the sale of Waterfield to American Home Mortgage in 2006.

After joining STRATMOR in 2006, Tichy led more than 60 LOS-related assignments for firms such as USAA Federal Savings Bank, MetLife Bank, BBVA Compass, Nationstar, Cherry Creek Mortgage, PrimeLending, Cornerstone Home Loans, Superior Mortgage, Mortgage Investors Group, Republic Home Loans, Evergreen Home Loans, Fairway Independent Mortgage, Florida Capital Bank Mortgage, Redwood Trust, Aurora Bank, Seattle Mortgage, Broadview Mortgage, First Mortgage Company, Mortgage Investors Group, Maverick Funding, Michigan Mutual/First Preferred, OnQ Financial, Yadkin Valley Bank, Crescent Mortgage, EverBank, Cascade Financial, Veterans United Home Loans, First Bank, Sterling Bank, First Continental Mortgage, First Bank Mortgage, New Penn Financial, Golden 1 Credit Union, NewDay Financial, Sierra Pacific, Towne Mortgage, Tower Bank, KeyBank, Universal American Mortgage, Prospect Mortgage, Plaza Home Funding, PHH Mortgage, Pulte Mortgage, Bell Mortgage, Bremer Bank, Colonial Bank, Fremont Bank, KeyBank, SchoolsFirst Credit Union, and Washington Trust Bank, among others.

In all, Tichy played a lead role in more than 170 mortgage LOS implementations during his career and authored several feature articles on related topics for Mortgage Banking Magazine and other publications. He was honored with the MBA’s Tech All-star in 2015 for his 30 year career and innovation in the mortgage technology space.

Tichy was also a charter member of XML Mortgage Partners, an ad hoc industry organization that formed and launched MISMO (Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization). He is a graduate of Ohio University and holds an M.A. in Organization and Management from Antioch University.

Rob Chrisman
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Rob Chrisman
Senior Advisor
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Rob Chrisman
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Rob Chrisman
Senior Advisor

Rob Chrisman is Senior Advisor to STRATMOR Group’s Capital Markets advisory team that focuses on helping clients upgrade their secondary marketing methods and infrastructure. His market commentary on industry developments is one of the industry’s most widely read publications — more than 70 thousand mortgage professionals receive “The Chrisman Commentary” each day.

Chrisman began his career in mortgage banking — primarily capital markets — more than 37 years ago. In addition to owning his own advisory practice, Chrisman LLC, he also serves on the advisory boards of several financial services companies, including AXIS AMC (CA), Inheritance Funding Corporation (CA), Sovereign Lending Group (CA), Radius Financial Group (MA), and the California Mortgage Bankers Association.

“Advisors that supplement the STRATMOR team share a genuine satisfaction in helping clients, whether it is through education and sharing information, streamlining and operation, or helping someone find a buyer for their company,” says Chrisman. “Helping people in the industry by providing information or assisting in finding jobs, serves to indirectly help millions of borrowers either borrow money to buy a home or save money in refinancing, is why I do what I do,” he adds. “Although my background is capital markets, the ability to also have a working knowledge of production, operations, and overarching trends in residential lending is a big plus in not only sending out the daily commentary but also in helping people with their careers. I’ve never been a loan officer, but when someone comes up to me at a conference and tells me they obtained their job through an ad in my commentary, that’s a great feeling.”

Chrisman holds a BS from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and an MBA from UC Berkeley. A true road warrior, Rob spends approximately 60 days each year at mortgage-related events and is a regular guest on The Chrisman Commentary podcast hosted by his son, Robbie. When not traveling, Chrisman enjoys spending time with his geographically diverse family, bicycling, and playing tennis and basketball

Brett McCracken
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Brett McCracken
Senior Advisor
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Brett McCracken
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Brett McCracken
Senior Advisor

Senior Advisor Brett McCracken’s primary focus is consulting with banking and fintech clients on strategic direction and initiatives. His client work includes responsibility for go-to-market strategies, new opportunity acquisition, process analysis, complex front-end workflow design, UI/UX direction, brand management, and the consumer experience for both consumer direct and retail lending operations.

McCracken’s most recent projects include helping clients design business process models and adaptative incubation funnels for marketing initiatives tied to either a unified tech stack or disparate data systems. This work entails deployment of technology that empowers consumers to self-provision online by leveraging sophisticated back-end data validation rules, dynamic pricing and other real-time data calls. He has also been responsible for the analysis, acquisition, and implementation of key cloud-based software platforms such as CRMs, lead management systems, business intelligence platforms, eMarketing, compliance, productivity tools, and point-of-sale systems. McCracken also works with lenders to understand the importance of secret shopping in efforts to analyze and improve their customers’ experiences with them.

“When I compare the process of obtaining a home loan to other financial products, I am motivated to help banks, credit unions, and IMBs create better experiences for their clients and employees,” says McCracken. “I regularly see a significant amount of non-intuitive, transactional friction which I know is avoidable which is why I love an elegant digital experience because I know how hard a team worked to insulate the consumer from backend challenges while providing front-end simplicity.”

Sue Woodard
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Sue Woodard
Senior Advisor
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Sue Woodard
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Sue Woodard
Senior Advisor

Sue Woodard brings more than 30 years of financial services and mortgage industry experience, strategic vision and leadership to her role as a Strategic Advisor at STRATMOR Group. Having held many executive and leadership positions throughout her career, Woodard’s specialties are in customer experience, operationalizing excellence in the customer and employee journey, content strategy, and developing personal brand and presence via speaking, media and social media.

Woodard started her career at the ground level in financial services, became a top producing originator, then leveraged her knowledge to become a highly acclaimed industry speaker, subject matter expert and technology executive. Sue has been awarded numerous industry honors, including the NMP Most Powerful Women in Mortgage Banking, the MPA HOT 100 list, the Housing Wire Vanguard Award, and the NMP Most Innovative Award.

Sue is known for her genuine enthusiasm and passion for the mortgage industry, the people working in it, and the customers across the nation that the industry helps create “home.” She applies her breadth of experience and depth of relationships to add tremendous value to each of the clients she serves. Throughout her career, delivering an excellent experience that goes beyond what is expected is the standard – which made joining the team at STRATMOR a perfect fit.

A graduate of Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Woodard completed a double major in Finance and Business Management with a minor in Economics. She serves on the board of HOPE4Youth, a non-profit working to end youth homelessness, as well as on the board of Axis Lending Academy, an industry non-profit. As a bit of a thrill seeker, she has sky-dived over Vegas, fire walked on hot coals, Harley-ed down Route 66, run a Ragnar through the desert and cage dived with great white sharks, but claims nothing has been more exciting than raising her millennial daughter.

Thomas Finnegan
BIOGRAPHY
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Thomas Finnegan
Principal
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Thomas Finnegan
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Thomas Finnegan
Principal

Principal Tom Finnegan focuses his considerable experience on providing insights on mortgage operations inside banks and credit unions. He specializes in strategic planning, organizational structure, compensation, revenue enhancement and secondary marketing strategies, financial accounting and reporting on the mortgage business, sales development, and consumer direct channel and retention strategy development in both bank-owned and independent mortgage operations.

Finnegan joined STRATMOR after having served as President and CEO of the mortgage banking units of FirstMerit Bank, Akron, Ohio, and Huntington Bank, Columbus, Ohio and as a senior mortgage banking executive at Integra Bank and Landmark Savings Association, Pittsburgh. A past president of the Ohio Mortgage Bankers Association and the Mortgage Bankers Association of Southwestern Pennsylvania, Finnegan served on the Residential Board of Governors of the Mortgage Bankers Association and was a founding board member of the Mortgage Bankers Association of Pennsylvania.

Tom enjoys the opportunity to work with organizations as they put together plans for mortgage business growth and operational improvement, leveraging the practical experience he has had in leading mortgage banking units, and STRATMOR offers the rich data and deep experience needed to support these consulting efforts. He has assisted organizations in standardizing operations and reporting, improving revenue, and developing new sales channels. STRATMOR’s ethical, open approach to offering business advice is aligned with his personal views of the importance of character and trustworthiness in the business world and in life.

He graduated with high distinction from The Pennsylvania State University with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. A music aficionado, Finnegan and his wife Beverly reside in Dublin, Ohio and enjoy golf and wine tasting, and offering advice and counsel (when appropriate!) to their two sons. He is an Eagle Scout and a lifelong supporter of the Scouting movement.

David Hrobon
BIOGRAPHY
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David Hrobon
Principal
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David Hrobon
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David Hrobon
Principal

David Hrobon is a STRATMOR Principal with more than 35 years’ experience in mortgage banking. One of the most recognized and respected veterans of the industry, David’s specialties include strategic management, mergers and acquisitions, organizational re-design, loan operations and process and performance management. He has held sales, sales management, ops management, corporate support positions and senior and executive leadership roles over the course of his career. His broad and extensive experience has provided him with a valuable perspective.

David began his mortgage career in 1985 and worked for a combination of independent and bank-owned lenders of varied sizes, including, the Kissell Company, CitiFed Mortgage, Sears Mortgage, Medallion Mortgage, Consumer Mortgage and WestAmerica Mortgage before joining Wintrust Financial in 2004. He most recently served as Chairman and CEO of Wintrust Mortgage and represented the mortgage company on several of the bank holding company’s committees: Operating Committee, Strategic Initiatives Committee, Enterprise and Mortgage Risk Committees, Digital Experience Committee, Compliance Committee and Retail Partners Committee.

An active supporter of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), David has been actively involved in the MBA’s initiatives on diversity and inclusion, including mPower, the real estate finance industry’s leading network focused on creating opportunities to leverage the power and influence of women in the mortgage workplace. He has also been a member of the MBA’s Residential Board of Governors, a group that advocates for industry oversight and integrity, and he is an active speaker and panelist in support of these topics. He is a staunch supporter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the Friends of the Chicago River and is an active volunteer with annual Habit home building projects.

A graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, David earned a bachelor’s degree in economics, which included a study program in Geneva, Switzerland. He also attended postgraduate classes at the University of Chicago, The Ohio State University, and the University of Dayton.

Silvia Kennedy, PMP
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Silvia Kennedy, PMP
Principal
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Silvia Kennedy, PMP
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Silvia Kennedy, PMP
Principal

Silvia Kennedy, MBA, PMP joined STRATMOR Group in September 2015 with extensive experience in mortgage banking originations and servicing. Silvia’s specialties include strategy, risk analysis, process improvement, systems, and managing cross-functional enterprise-wide teams. As a Principal at STRATMOR, Silvia provides executive leadership and management for STRATMOR’s enterprise engagements.

Prior to joining STRATMOR, Silvia served as a Senior Program/Project Manager for NewBold Advisors where she managed projects for the top 10 Servicers in the mortgage industry. Her primary responsibilities included business process improvement and controls analysis, strategic consulting, and business plan and sales strategy development.

Additionally, Silvia is experienced in loss mitigation, having developed the loss mitigation infrastructure and hired, trained and supervised the staff to support this function at Stewart Lending. In her roll at Litton, she served as the HAMP/NACA Operations Manager responsible for the team of underwriters who traveled to NACA events to approve borrowers for HAMP or NACA modifications onsite. She also served as a HAMP Consultant with Fannie Mae, worked with Freddie MAC on the establishing the second-look program for all servicers and was AVP of Default Services for BANCO POPULAR North America where she managed the department for more than nine years.

Silvia is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) through the Project Management Institute (PMI) and holds a bachelor’s degree Marketing from the University of Houston and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix. Silvia currently resides in Houston, TX.

Mike Seminari
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Mike Seminari
Director, Customer Experience
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Mike Seminari
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Mike Seminari
Director, Customer Experience

STRATMOR Group Customer Experience Director Mike Seminari specializes in operationalizing excellence in the customer journey, implementing creative problem-solving solutions and identifying opportunities to improve the borrower’s experience through communication and commitment. Under Seminari’s leadership, STRATMOR has become an industry leader in the drive to optimize the mortgage borrower’s loan experience through the company’s MortgageCX service.

With more than 20 years of experience in mortgage and banking technology, Seminari has the know-how and the vision to bring insights and technology together to help lenders dominate in the arena of Customer Experience. Seminari has risen to become one of the industry’s leading authorities on Customer Experience through his speaking engagements at major industry conferences, his contributions to STRATMOR-led workshops, his appearances on industry podcasts and in video interviews. He also shares actionable insights in a monthly  “Customer Experience Tip” and is a key resource in STRATMOR’s Customer Experience engagements.

Seminari has a passion for customer experience that is evident in everything he touches. His highest values are kindness, character, and good communication, which makes him an excellent fit amongst his like-minded colleagues at STRATMOR. Some of his favorite quips are, “I won’t eat at a restaurant just because I like the waiter,” and, “Great marketing can sell once, but you need a great experience to sell twice.”

Based in Los Angeles, Mike received his undergraduate degree in Finance from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. An accomplished musician and published songwriter, Seminari enjoys sharing his love of music with his wife and two daughters.

 

Jennifer Smith
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Jennifer Smith
Principal
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Jennifer Smith
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Jennifer Smith
Principal

As a Principal at STRATMOR, Jennifer Smith provides her expertise and executive leadership for STRATMOR’s engagements. Her specialties include business and technology transformation, process improvement, strategy execution and optimization, and change management.

Smith has more than 25 years’ experience in mortgage banking. Prior to joining STRATMOR, Smith was the SVP of Enterprise Initiative Planning and Execution at Gateway First Bank/ Gateway Mortgage Group, LLC where she led enterprise program and process execution, including the conversion of an independent mortgage company into an $1B+ bank. She also served as the Head of Change Management Oversight at Santander Consumer USA, where she established governance and oversight for the company’s transformation initiatives and regulatory enforcement action obligations.

“My STRATMOR colleagues and I all ‘speak mortgage’ and individually have decades of experience; collectively, I don’t know of any other firm that has such depth and longevity of knowledge,” says Smith. “We also share a passion for helping our clients be successful and to do what is right by their clients/end customers. What that means for our clients is that we approach every engagement from the standpoint of seeking first to understand why they currently do things the way they do and then create a solution that will not only improve their business but also be more easily adopted and sustained by their organization.”

Smith holds a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from Arizona State University and a Master of Science in Management and Administrative Sciences with a focus on Organizational Behavior and Strategy Implementation from the University of Texas at Dallas. When not fending off her cats while enjoying her favorite Texas BBQ or doing yoga, Smith enjoys spending time outdoors with her family.

Dennis Trent
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Dennis Trent
Principal
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Dennis Trent
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Dennis Trent
Principal

Dennis Trent is a Principal at STRATMOR with more than 35 years’ experience in mortgage banking originations and servicing. Dennis’s specialties include strategic planning, risk management, compliance, quality control/assurance, performance and program management, and command center execution.

Prior to joining STRATMOR, Dennis operated Whitehall Business Solutions, a consulting business working with top 25 banks, mortgage lenders, and credit unions. Dennis was a partner and Chief Operations Officer at independent mortgage lender de novo-Oak Street Mortgage where he also directed two Loan Origination System (LOS) conversions and a servicing system implementation. Additionally, Dennis served as EVP of Operations for Banc One Financial Services and AVP President of Operations for Household Finance.

Much of Dennis’s experience comes from his years of building major operations centers for startup businesses and in the business transformation of existing operations. He has helped clients improve performance in all aspects of their business, including overseeing program execution for key events such as system conversions and loan transfers.

A graduate of Loyola College, Dennis holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. He currently resides in Carmel, Indiana.

Kris van Beever
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Kris van Beever
Principal
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Kris van Beever
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Kris van Beever
Principal

Kris van Beever joined STRATMOR Group in 2015 with more than 30 years of experience leading, defining, designing, building and deploying enterprise-wide technology solutions that align with strategic business objectives. As a Principal at STRATMOR, Kris provides executive leadership and management for STRATMOR’s technology and process engagements.

Kris was the Chief Architect and Technical lead in the design and development of a proprietary loan origination system (LOS) for Ameriquest and was directly involved in all aspects of software development and integration, documentation, business rules, UI design and code reviews. After a successful implementation, Tavant Technologies acquired the LOS, and it was used by several sub-prime lenders. Additionally, Kris has completed projects for many top and mid-tier mortgage companies including LPS, Black Knight, and Freddie Mac.

As CIO of Wilshire Credit, Kris was instrumental in implementing a change management system that accounted for regulatory change concurrently with continuous improvement to a proprietary servicing system and managed business transformation of the IT organization. He has served as the lead Architect and Technical Project Manager in the consumer lending space on several re-design and custom development efforts in both origination and servicing over the past 15 years.

Kris holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Rutgers and a Master’s in Computer Science from New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT).

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