The Insight Interviews - Powered by Rewire

About Chrissy Brown: Her passion is in creating the operational team and the experience she always wished she had. She wants to help each team member reach their highest potential while helping improve their personal life through balance and appreciation. For more than twenty years she has worked in the mortgage industry, where she has had the opportunity to work in nearly every facet. From starti...

In this episode Steve and Jason discuss: Bringing awareness to our internal state  Experiencing life more mindfully Rewriting the context  Rewiring your mind  Key Takeaways:  The holidays could mean different things to different people. For a lot of us, holidays, like Christmas, mean stress and pressure. We have to be aware of what goes on inside in order to make a choice.&nbsp...

In this episode Steve, Jason, and the Guests discuss: Reflecting on your own gratitude The two most common reasons for gratitude The effect of communities in the workplace  Finding simple reasons to be grateful Key Takeaways:  Listen with deep empathy for what people are grateful for and let that wash over you. Think about your own life and think about your own relationships.  Commu...

About Erika Martens: She currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer for FirstTrust Home Loans. Throughout her career, she has held many roles in diverse departments including compliance, operations, underwriting, and technology, and these experiences have given her a unique vantage point when it comes to strategy, decision-making, and data delivery. If asked, she’d tell you that she has made...

About Jelaire Grillo: Jelaire is the Brand Ambassador at Prosperity Home Mortgage and travels the country training and elevating mortgage lenders and leaders to change the game and maximize their future growth potential using various tools in the PHM technology stack. Traveling in market and the conference circuit allows Jelaire to promote the PHM brand in a public space and elevate the MC brand u...

About Carolynn Monaco: Carolynn Monaco is the Owner/Developer of CTM Job Solutions (RealEstateBestJobs.com), a successful recruiting company specializing in the mortgage industry and banking. Carolynn’s company specializes in such areas as project management, full mortgage branch placement, bank mortgage departments, mortgage & finance companies, banking placements at all career levels and rea...

About Dionne Bass: She has over 25 years of Mortgage banking/lending experience. She is also an approved NMLS Course provider for Continuing Education and Pre-Licensure Courses for Mortgage Loan Originators. She is the Founder and the Owner of Ask the Underwriter , which was created in 2008 as a blog to bridge the gap between Operations and Sales. She has been writing courses and training mortgage...

About Adam Johnston: Mr. Johnston has extensive experience leading and developing diverse teams and functions in mid-size and Fortune 500 companies. Operating under the belief that continuous curiosity, hunger to improve, and thoughtful prioritization are key elements of sustainable and beneficial growth, Mr. Johnston has utilized diverse professional and personal experiences to build an agile car...

About Ray Eickhoff: Fan of DiSC assessment, Clifton Strengths assessment, Patrick Lencioni Five Dysfunctions and Ideal Team Player. Passion for the next generation of leaders and managers to be a guide in developing the soft skills needed in being a servant to those you lead. Avid musician, cyclist, hiker, and gardener. In this episode Steve and Ray discuss: The freedom to find meaning even in dif...

About Brad Rice: Homepie is transforming the real estate industry with a marketplace that allows buyers and sellers of homes the ability to confidently act as their own agent and save a ton of money in the process. Homepie's step-by-step process is revolutionizing a traditionally complex transaction and making it easy for anyone to benefit.  Brad Rice is the founder and CEO of Homepie. Brad’s...

About Audra Agen: As a corporate veteran, Audra has 25 years’ experience of being one of the few women in the room, and in many cases, the only one. While the women she shared the room with may have been outnumbered, they were all uniquely exceptional and Audra became fascinated to learn more about them and their experiences. It became increasingly clear that these women were contributing signific...

About Karen Deis: When she began in the mortgage business, she never imagined that she would become a pioneer and an advocate for women in the mortgage business. In her small town, she was the first woman closing agent, the first woman loan officer, the first woman branch manager, and ultimately the first women-owned mortgage company with an all-female staff. Then something happened: her sister, c...

About Brian Coester: He has a broad base of experience in starting, running, expanding, and scaling businesses within real estate verticals. He is a trained Real Estate Appraiser and Real Estate agent and has direct experience in developing leadership teams across the globe. He has over 20 years of experience in starting and growing businesses from zero revenue to scale, developing technology syst...

About Dana Georgiou: Dana is a seasoned mortgage professional with nearly 30 years of mortgage lending experience, including executive management in sales, marketing, and operations for the last 15 years.  Her expertise includes the development of high-performing sales teams, creating sales growth and strategy, perfecting and implementing solutions to streamline new loan production, as well a...

About Carol Schultz: She is the founder and CEO of Vertical Elevation and is a talent equity and leadership advisory expert. Recognized for her proficiency in corporate leadership, she's spent three decades helping executives gain clarity in their careers, make bold leadership moves, and create cultures of performance. Schultz and her team have helped hundreds of companies—from seed stage pre-init...

About Cyndi Garza: She is a multi business owner and a senior leader who has recruited, coached, trained and retained over 200 loan officers who have closed multi billions in sales.  She began Optimized Success Coaching five years ago where she and her team of employee Success Strategists focus on helping women create multiple streams of revenue along with growing their corporate role and fin...

In this episode Steve and Jason discuss: The weeds and grass analogy  We all need hope and positivity  Taking action and doing it now  Resources and mindsets useful for reducing stress Key Takeaways:  Remember the weeds and grass analogy. Crowd out the negative thinking with hopeful, generative, positive ideas. Think about the possibilities, not only about what is but what coul...

About Scott Hoolahan: Scott has more than 31 years’ experience in every aspect of consumer lending, including debt servicing, collections, and mortgage originations. Today this single father of two adult children enjoys working in the mortgage business, and seeking opportunities to be of service to others, in the industry and his community. In this episode Steve and Scott discuss: Applying the les...

About Donna Wright: She has 30 plus years of experience in the mortgage industry, having helped lead both Fortune 500 and midsized mortgage companies. She successfully transitioned from originator to regional sales manager and national production manager at leading financial institutions, including the likes of Wells Fargo and Bank of America among others. She has proven leadership in recruiting,...

About David Hrobon: David Hrobon is a principal with more than 35 years’ experience in mortgage banking. One of the most recognized and respected veterans of the industry, David’s specialties include strategic management, mergers and acquisitions, organizational redesign, loan operations and process and performance management.  He has held sales, sales management, ops management, corporate su...

As chairman of American Pacific Mortgage, Kurt has led the company since its inception and through its steady, strategic growth over the last 25 years. In 2020, APM was named one of the largest independent mortgage banks in the country. Under Kurt's chairmanship, APM moved from an independently owned company to become partially employee-owned—giving shares of the company back to APM employees and...

About Wil Armstrong: He is an entrepreneur and small businessman whose business background includes start-ups, executive leadership, and active investing in the areas of technology and financial services. He has served as a board director, C-level officer, investor, and advisor to dozens of different businesses.  Wil is presently Chairman and CEO of Three Tree Capital, a privately held invest...

About Brandon Montemayor: He was born and raised in Santa Clarita, CA (North Los Angeles). He played college baseball at Clemson and UL Lafayette and has coached baseball for over 20 years. He has an amazing wife and 2 kids (both boys 9 and 12 years old). He started in real estate at 19 when rehabbing a shoulder injury. He runs a top local team with 2 sales specialists and 2 full time admins. He s...

About Joey Abdullah: He is a graduate of the US Naval Academy and Johns Hopkins University with degrees in both Economics and Finance. Joey’s goal is to offer advice that helps customers build wealth and prosperity with real estate quickly by helping them make smarter mortgage decisions. He will always help customers to manage their mortgages over time to ensure that they always have the best opti...

About Tammi Knapp: Tammi has owned several businesses ranging from a gym, a software development company and now a real estate firm.  She loves figuring things out and helping others blaze a trail.  In her current role, her passion is to take new real estate agents and turn them into highly trained and educated top producers. For her, watching that progress is pure joy - not easy, but sa...