Madison, Wisconsin-based mortgage lender Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation is continuing to reshape the leadership team of its reverse mortgage division with the appointment of Dan Ventura as its VP of reverse mortgage operations.
Ventura, who has been with Fairway since 2007, primarily as a branch manager and ops center manager, will coordinate with the Fairway’s reverse mortgage processing center regional leadership to ensure operational consistency between the traditional and reverse mortgage businesses.
“It’s not possible for me to be any more excited than I am,” Ventura said in a statement. “The teams have come a long way in just over a month and will continue to work hard to achieve consistency in each of the regional processing centers. With the talented, passionate team we have in place, all loan officers will be able to originate with confidence just like they do on the ‘forward’ side. This in turn will result in higher ‘in-process’ referrals and allow our team to grow its business without limitations.”
Ventura and the regional processing center managers will partner with Tom Evans, the EVP of reverse marketing and technology, to find ways to further incorporate technology into the reverse side of the business.
“Dan has already made tech-driven suggestions that will provide immediate efficiency gains,” Evans said. “We are examining our entire toolset from the ground up to find where we can be better, faster and easier for everyone who touches a loan.”
Evans and Tane Cabe, Fairway’s president of reverse lending, described Ventura’s role in similar terms to a Formula One racer’s pit crew.
“If you look at auto racing, a pit stop at the Indy 500 in 1950 took 67 seconds to complete,” Cabe said. “In 2019, the Red Bull team set a new world record of 1.82 seconds! We’re aiming for our Reverse 2.0 ops to become that efficient.”
“If you look at the 1950 process vs the 2019 process for a pit stop, it’s entirely reinvented – more focused job functions, more preparation, and better tools,” Evans said. “We have a great team in place to improve these processes – the next step is to partner with our technology providers to expand their platforms to include expanded reverse functionality.”
Fairway announced the reshaping of its reverse mortgage division in January, shortly after naming Cabe as reverse division president and Craig Barnes as VP of reverse education and training.
One goal is to further normalize reverse mortgages in the industry and for borrowers, Evans told RMD late last month.
“I think we’ve spent decades preserving our little unique space that reverse exists in,” Evans said. “And then, we complain that people don’t know what it is or don’t trust it. The first way to normalize it is to make the originator experience closer to what they’re used to on the traditional side.”
