Mahwah, N.J.-based reverse mortgage lender Longbridge Financial announced the hiring of three new employees – two account executives and one partner support specialist – who will be working for the company’s wholesale lending division.
Cesar Flores, a 10-year veteran of the reverse mortgage industry, joins Longbridge as a wholesale account executive. His experience has included roles related to processing, management and reverse mortgage underwriting, and he served most recently as a lender support specialist with Reverse Mortgage Funding (RMF).
Previous roles he has held in the reverse industry specifically include sales and management positions with American Advisors Group (AAG) and Liberty Home Equity Solutions.
Bruce Ramirez has been operating in the reverse mortgage space for the past few years, first as a sales advisor for Liberty Home Equity Solutions, before becoming a sales manager at Trinity Mutual. He then served at American Advisors Group (AAG) as an account executive and later as a wholesale lending sales manager, before assuming a similar role at Liberty before arriving at Longbridge.
Flores and Ramirez will work alongside Longbridge’s wholesale team in a further effort to forge strong working relationships with the company’s wholesale partners.
Kristi DeLa Cruz has been appointed as a partner support specialist, bringing with her experience in the wholesale lender support space due to previous experience in similar roles at HighTechLending and Finance of America Reverse (FAR). Her responsibilities will include her providing lender support to Longbridge’s wholesale partners, while aiming to increase the channel’s efficiency.
“Having the opportunity to bring in talented and experienced reverse wholesale professionals like Bruce, Cesar and Kristi to help us grow the broker market is another step forward for Longbridge’s wholesale growth plans,” said Adrian Prieto, AVP wholesale lending at Longbridge in a press release announcing the appointments. “These new additions will complement and add fresh ideas to the established veteran team in Longbridge’s wholesale division.”
Longbridge Financial is currently ranked 7th on a list of top reverse mortgage lenders by volume, based on November 2019 data recently tabulated by Reverse Market Insight. Its wholesale reverse mortgage endorsement volume makes up nearly 74% of its total figure over the prior 12 months.
