Reverse mortgage industry veteran Adrian Prieto has joined Mahwah, N.J.-based Longbridge Financial as its new assistant vice president and wholesale lending sales leader, according to a statement the company shared with RMD. In his new position, Prieto will lead the Longbridge account executive and partner liaison team to focus on wholesale business growth, with a particular focus on the broker channel.
With a career in wholesale and retail management spanning two decades, Prieto has spent most of the past 16 years in the reverse mortgage industry. His management experience in the space includes time at lenders including Financial Freedom, Senior Funding, American Advisors Group (AAG) and Liberty Home Equity Solutions. He most recently served in the reverse wholesale and retail branching division of HighTechLending.
“He comes to us with years of experience in the reverse mortgage space,” said Melissa Macerato, EVP sales and marketing in a statement on the hiring. “We are excited to have him on board and we are eager to tap into his valuable knowledge.”
In terms of the immediate responsibilities in front of him, Prieto’s most direct focus will be putting Longbridge into a top 5 lender position by enhancing its wholesale division, and further developing the market share of the company’s proprietary offering, Macerato says.
“Adrian’s immediate and big picture goal is to further develop all wholesale distribution platforms and propel Longbridge into a top 5 lender position,” Macerato told RMD. “He will implement strategic plans to grow our market share in Wholesale and will further strengthen our focus on the competitive broker channel. He also plans on expanding the account executive and partner liaison team and will be actively recruiting to bring more talented individuals on board.”
Prieto adds that he finds Longbridge’s growing position in the reverse mortgage industry promising, and looks forward to building on the company’s successes.
“Longbridge is not only a rising star in the reverse industry but has an exciting company culture which I feel very drawn to,” Prieto told RMD. “It’s a group of professionals you want to do business with. Longbridge has big plans for the future and I am looking forward to contributing to their success.”
Longbridge Financial ranks as the eighth largest reverse mortgage lender by volume as of October 2019, according to data from Reverse Market Insight (RMI). Over the course of the last year, the company has increased its total reverse mortgage market share from 1.9% in 2018 to 2.1% in 2019.
