Mortgage Manager Playbook

Rebecca Costanzo, Director, Mortgage Originations at United Community Bank. Key Highlights: high-performing teams ae built through coaching; emotional intelligence is a revenue driver; manage behaviors before you measure results; and today’s best leaders don’t just manage numbers---they understand people.

Eric Mitchell, Chief Revenue Officer , NEXA Mortgage. Key Highlights include: AI is no longer optional; your CRM is the foundation; coaching accelerates success; implementation beats information; and accountability creates growth.

Pat interviewed Ryan Todd, Chief Capital Markets Officer, V.I.P. Mortgage . Key Highlights: fix the process before buying more technology; measure ROI, not vendor features; root cause analysis comes before automation; and the future belongs to lenders who lower cost to produce.

Brian Koss, Regional Manager, Movement Mortgage. Key Highlights: 80% of borrowers forget their loan officer within 2-3 years; generic drip campaigns are dead; your database is either an annuity or a graveyard; and the best loan officers don’t sell loans—they manager debt for life.

Jay Promisco, CEO, GO Mortgage . Key Highlights: the old mortgage model is dying; AI won’t fix a broken company; the loan officer of the future is an influencer and relationship builder; the next cycle will reward profitability over volume; and sales leaders need to simplify.

Tom Finnegan, Principal, Stratmor Group. Key highlights: secret shopping reveals the real customer experience; lack of follow-up is a key problem; too many LOs are order takers instead of consultants; speed matters; and customer experience is now a competitive advantage.

Dave Savage, Chief Growth Officer, TrustEngine & Founder, Mortgage Coach. Key Highlights: the game has shifted from transactional to advisory; consistency separates the Top 1%; prospecting wins before Noon; technology adoption is a mindset, not an age issue; and your database is still the #1 growth asset.

Stephen Moye, Producing Sales Mgr/Sr. Loan Officer, New American Funding. Key Highlights include: ownership is often given without readiness; production skill does not equal operational leadership; ownership is a trade-off, not a promotion; the economics of leadership no longer work; and the industry model is misaligned with the future.

Jay Crowell, President, National Retail Division, Cornerstone Home Lending . Key Highlights: mission over money drives long-term success; the future belongs to human value, not just information; high performers are ruthless with focus; database equals the most underutilized goldmine; and great managers balance care and accountability.

Eric Mitchell, Chief Revenue Officer , NEXA Mortgage. Key Highlights include: change is no longer optional; top talent leaving is the #1 warning sign of a failing organization; learning equals value; the problem isn’t knowledge—it’s execution; and systems are no longer optional especially CRM.

Paul Wyner, Chief Solutions Officer, Revolution Mortgage . Key Highlights include: AI in mortgage is an evolution—not a replacement; the biggest shift is from tools to orchestration; lack of adoption is the real risk; AI should augment not replace human roles; and the real opportunity is freeing salespeople to sell.

Pat Polson, SVP, Div. Sales Mgr for NC/VA/TX. Key highlights: retention starts in recruiting, not after the hire; managers must uncover a candidate’s real “why”; day one onboarding must create a “wow” experience; retention requires ongoing manager involvement; and lenders must be honest, intentional, and structured.

Mike Cush, VP of Purchase Strategy, AmeriSave. Key Highlights: removing friction must start with the consumer, not the lender; too much tech is built to help the lender, not improve the customer experience; AI should simplify the process; best place to reduce friction is a the beginning of the home search; and lenders need to rethink their strategy now because AI will change mortgage quickly.

LaTasha, President, NFM Lending. As a lawyer (and a mom of five), LaTasha wanted to write something for her children about making wise decisions , then expanded it into a creative way to teach financial literacy . Key highlights include: money can be used in more than one way; spending is ok—but not all at once; create a simple plan—spending and saving; future—you needs to have options; and making...

John Owens, CEO Primis Mortgage Co. and author. Key highlights include: culture drives long-term success; leadership begins with self-awareness; core values must be authentic and actionable; culture determines performance and strategy and technology depend on culture.

Brad Blumberg, Co-Founder, Aster Key. Key highlights: Trust is the new currency; Consumer Data is treated as “owned” by institutions—and that’s the core problem; Legacy systems are the biggest security liability; Putting consumers in control unlocks both security and growth; and Trust and privacy are untapped marketing and competitive advantages.

Dave Savage , Chief Growth Officer, TrustEngine & Founder, Mortgage Coach . Highlights include: real competitive edge comes from identifying and addressing consumer needs—even before the consumer is fully aware they have them; success requires delivering data-driven insights directly to LOs in simple, mobile-first formats with scripts and tools to act immediately; top producers differentiate b...

Dave Savage , Chief Growth Officer, TrustEngine & Founder of Mortgage Coach. Highlights include: discussion of transactional training vs advisory model; the trap of price and rate thinking; leadership’s role; the LO as wealth advisor and the use of technology in the future. The illiterate of 2025 and beyond will not be those who can’t read/write but those who can’t unlearn old practices and re...

Rich Weidel, CEO, Princeton Mortgage . Highlights include: industry profitability challenges; misalignment across the organization; productivity as the key driver of cost; cultural and leadership issues and path forward: transparency and smaller profitable teams. Rich has been recognized as the 2019 Most Admired CEO Award – Philly and National Mortgage Professional Top 40 Under 40.

Randell Gillespie, President , LeaderOne Financial . Highlights include: true sales entrepreneurship requires initiative, risk and ownership; avoid the “herd mentality”; managers must foster a “retailpreneur” culture; leadership demands selflessness and coaching and long-term industry growth depends on trust, talent quality and purpose. Randell has been in the mortgage industry for over 25 years.

Bernard Nossuli, COO, iEmergent . Highlights include: minority homebuyers will drive future growth; denial rates are higher for diverse borrowers; data-driven targeting is the new competitive advantage; most lenders lack a forward-looking strategy and market opportunities are being missed due to outdated assumptions. iEmergent is a forecasting, analytics, and advisory company for the mortgage indu...

Andrew Panagos, President, GO Mortgage . Highlights include: mortgage business model is outdated and needs reinvention; senior leadership faces an innovation gap; recruiting young talent requires a different strategy; consumer behavior has fundamentally changed and earn-out and transition models could bridge the talent gap. Andrew has over 27 years of executive leadership.

Jesse Allen, President, Rate . Highlights include: reverse mortgages--niche to necessity; regulatory reforms have made reverse mortgages safer; distribution and awareness are the biggest constraints and future growth requires innovation in tech, training and messaging.

Brian Boyles, National Sales Manager, Middleton Advisory Group. Highlights include: recruiting is still the #1 priority but needs a smarter approach; compensation is over-discussed; leadership quality and culture drive recruiting decisions; the industry is litigious and lacking flexibility; and aging workforce & lack of succession planning is a ticking time bomb. Brian has spent over 25 years...

Jerry Rader, SVP, Strategic Growth & Development , ALCOVA Mortgage . Highlights include: face-to-face communication builds trust; incentivizing retention with shared upside; retention requires a post-sale strategy; cultural fit beats highest bid and respecting people as stakeholders is the #1 retention lever. Jerry has been in the mortgage industry for over 30 years.