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M R EP O RT | 13 MCROWD operational success at Mid America for years to come." ROB SAUNDERS Sierra Pacific Mortgage announced Rob Saunders as their new VP/Divisional Sales Director for their Wholesale Lending Channel. Saunders, who is a regular top producer with more than 20 years of industry experience, will oversee the organization's Western division. "Rob is adept at big picture strat- egy and market share growth while also understanding the importance of detail," said Amy Mahar, EVP Third Party Originations. "Having started his mortgage career in operations, he has an innate respect for the workflow and understanding of pro- duction's role in optimizing efficien- cies. He is a strong recruiter and has organically built large, high producing teams throughout the Western U.S. Both his drive and sales leadership experience will make an immediate impact for our Western TPO team and our TPO channel overall." Most recently, Saunders served as the Managing Director-West for Home Point Financial. Earlier in his career, he held leadership positions at national lenders Caliber Home Loans and Plaza Home Mortgage. "Sierra has been a competitor my entire career," Saunders explained "and I've watched as they maneuvered the challenges of this industry. When the opportunity presented itself, I knew this was a team I wanted to be a part of." MICHELE WELCH Embrace Home Loans, a top-ranked national mortgage lender, announced that Senior Loan Officer Michele Welch has been recognized by The Realtor Association of Pioneer Valley (RAPV) as Affiliate of the Year. Welch also received the affiliate award from RAPV in 2018. The Affiliate of the Year award is the highest form of recognition RAPV can bestow on an affiliate member, according to the group. It is given based on a member's activities within RAPV, community service outside the association, and business activity. A RAPV member since 2016, Welch has served on the group's Community Service, Affiliate-Realtor, and Government Affairs committees. "I'm delighted to be recognized with this award," Welch said. "RAPV is a great organization, and I enjoy serving on its committees. In particu- lar, I like working with the Community Service committee to help those in need in western Massachusetts." "Michele has demonstrated a tre- mendous amount of support to the association with her community out- reach. She has volunteered in RAPV's community service efforts through fundraising, shelter support, taking the lead in supporting the Shriners hospital blanket project, and has been heavily involved with Revitalize CDC," RAPV said in a statement on the award. SERVICE PROVIDERS KIMBERLY BROWNE DAVID OLSON Washington-based Chrysalis Holdings LLC, an investment company focused on building and growing successful fintech businesses, named David Olson its Chairman and Kimberly Browne its President. The firm's largest holding is NewDay USA, a prolific VA lender. David Olson brings a unique com- bination of experience in investment banking, private equity, financial ser- vices, and management of public and privately held companies. Kimberly Browne brings valuable expertise in corporate finance, including ware- house lending, capital markets, and operations. "David has been an advisor to Chrysalis and NewDay USA since 2009, providing guidance about financial markets and capitalization strategy," said Robert Posner, CEO of NewDay USA and CEO of Chrysalis Holdings. "In his role as Chairman of Chrysalis, David will provide significant value and direction for our future strategic growth." Olson, a Wall Street veteran, is the founder and CEO of Wind River Capital LLC, a boutique investment bank. Previously, he was the Vice- Chairman of the financial institu- tion's group (FIG) at Piper Jaffray. He was Chairman and CEO of River Branch Holdings LLC, before its sale in September 2015 to Piper and was previously the chairman and CEO of Guggenheim Merchant Banking, the private equity arm of Guggenheim Capital in New York and Chicago. Kimberly Browne will serve as President of Chrysalis Holdings and has over two decades of investment banking and financial services experi- ence with residential mortgages. As President, she will lead corporate finance, capital market strategies, and investor relations. "Kimberly brings years of Wall Street experience at the highest levels to Chrysalis Holdings," Posner said. "She will play a pivotal role in institutionalizing the company's primary holdings including expand- ing warehouse lending to support the significant growth we project for 2021." ERIC HOLMES First Community Mortgage (FCM) has named Worthington- based Eric Holmes AVP. He has 25 years' experience in the mortgage industry and can originate mortgages for consumers in the many markets in which FCM is licensed across the country. "Eric has a great depth of experi- ence, focusing on home lending for first-time buyers and self-employed individuals, and especially enjoys solving challenging loan scenarios," said Dan Smith, President of First Community Mortgage. "It's to his credit that those challenging cases are often referred to him by Realtors, financial planners and CPAs to help their borrowers increase cash flow, reduce expenses and save for college or retirement." Holmes serves on the Board of the Columbus Mortgage Bankers Association and is Chair of the CMBA's Ethics Committee. He also is a founding member of the Community Lenders of Central Ohio, a select group of experienced and knowledgeable mortgage lenders who work together to find lending solutions for borrowers and referral partners that might need help with a particularly challenging or unique financing scenario. "My clients trust me to provide them with honest answers and straight advice on mortgages," Holmes says, "and I'm fortunate to have many Realtors, Financial Planners, and CPAs who entrust me with their own clients and serve them in the same way." JOE LAGNER ReverseVision, national provider of Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) and private reverse mortgage sales and origination technology, announced the promo- tion of its President Joe Langner to President and CEO. In this expanded role, Langner will lead ReverseVision's mission to empower America's seniors to use home equity as part of retirement finance. Langner has more than 30 years' executive experience driving growth at marquee mortgage technology and software companies. A former COO and Chief Sales Officer at Ellie Mae, Langner was a member of the senior leadership team that substantially grew its market share leading up to the firm's initial public offering in 2011. Previously, Langner served as CEO at Blue Sage, a cloud-based, digital lending platform; President at PCLender, a Fiserv affiliate; EVP at Sage, a global leader in operations management technology; and SVP at Dun and Bradstreet, a global provider of business decisioning data and analytics. "Having had the opportunity to interact directly with Joe during his time at Ellie Mae, I was tremendously excited to have him bring his en- ergy, knowledge, and experience to ReverseVision. Joe is well-known and respected throughout the mortgage industry for his deep and technologi- cally-grounded understanding of the digital mortgage ecosystem," said Jeb Spencer, Board Chairman and Managing Partner of TVC Capital. "Joe has a keen aptitude for working closely with lenders to help them strategically grow their businesses with innovative, cost-effective and advanced software technologies." Know someone moving up in the industry? Email us at Editor@theMReport.com.