South Carolina-based Movement Mortgage has hired two executives away from rival Fairway Independent Mortgage to boost the growth and development of its distributed retail sales team.
The nonbank lender named the 34-year veteran Sarah Middleton to the new position of chief growth officer to attract, onboard and develop sales leaders. Meanwhile, Kevin McGovern will be the director of coaching, responsible for creating a coaching platform.
The new hirings come amid a challenging landscape for mortgage companies due to surging rates and fears of a recession in the U.S., which is bringing volatility to the market.
Movement originated around $14 billion in mortgage loans in the first half of 2022, down 17% year-over-year, according to estimates from Inside Mortgage Finance. However, the company notched $7 billion volume in the second quarter, up 4.5% compared to the previous quarter.
Middleton joined Fairway in 2013, where she was the president of sales development and recruiting. She also led the company’s internal coaching platform, Fairway Ignite. Middleton had prior stints at Guild Mortgage Company and Liberty Financial Group.
McGovern was the executive vice president for Fairway and chief operations officer for Fairway Ignite, the coaching platform with 175 coaches and over 4,000 clients served.
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Movement’s CEO and founder Casey Crawford said in a statement he respects what Steve Jacobson, founder and CEO, built at Fairway and highlighted, “Our entire community is better today with Sarah on our team.”
Movement has more than 4,000 employees, 650 branches in the U.S. and is licensed in 50 states. The lender claims it funds around $30 billion in residential mortgages annually.
In March, the lender laid off around 170 employees, multiple company sources told HousingWire.
The latest pink slip wave represents the second large-scale layoff Movement made in the last five years. Movement cut 180 jobs in 2018 due to a nationwide downturn in the housing and mortgage market.
