Rocket, United Wholesale Mortgage add new members to c-suite

Rocket names Nicole Beattie chief servicing officer

Rocket Mortgage appointed Nicole Beattie as its chief servicing officer to lead the company’s servicing operations, which had a total portfolio of $2 trillion in unpaid principal balance and 9.1 million loans as of June 30, following its 2025 acquisition of Mr. Cooper. Beattie started at Rocket 22 years ago as a mortgage banker. Most recently, she served as CEO of Rocket Close, a title insurance, property valuation and settlement services provider, after leading Rocket Mortgage’s servicing team for more than four years.

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UWM taps Vandad Fartaj as first chief investment officer

United Wholesale Mortgage appointed Vandad Fartaj as its first-ever chief investment officer. In the newly created role, he will lead capital markets initiatives and investment strategies while helping shape the company’s capital strategy and portfolio management efforts. Fartaj brings three decades of experience across mortgage banking, capital markets, investing and finance. He joins from PennyMac, where he spent 15 years and served as chief investment officer, playing a key role in developing investment strategies and driving long-term value.

NEXA taps leader of business development program expansion

NEXA Lending welcomed Andrew Deyo as a key producer and leader of its Business Development Marketing program, which is designed to create additional avenues for participants to build business relationships. Deyo joined the company along with a team representing approximately $100 million in annual mortgage production, including roughly $60 million of his own expected production this year. Prior to entering mortgage, Deyo served 13 years in the United States Army, where he completed two deployments and became one of the Army’s top recruiters.

Flyhomes adds three members to leadership team

Flyhomes, a buy-before-sell platform, appointed Tyler Moynihan as vice president of business development, where he will focus on expanding strategic distribution partnerships with mortgage lenders, homebuilders, brokerages and technology platforms. Moynihan spent 12 years at Zillow, where he served as vice president of partnerships and corporate development and helped lead the $500 million acquisition of ShowingTime. He joins from Opendoor, where he held a leadership role.

The company also tapped Nihit Nirmal as vice president of product Wendy Tieu as director of partner enablement. Nirmal served as group chief product officer at Funding Societies, one of Southeast Asia’s largest SME lenders, and previously held roles including senior vice president of product and growth at Lendingkart. Tieu will support the company’s loan officer network as it expands its platform.

STRATMOR Group taps Coby Hakalir as managing director

STRATMOR Group, a mortgage industry advisory firm, announced that Coby Hakalir joined the firm as managing director. Hakalir will advise lenders and real estate professionals on business strategies and technology solutions. His career spans leadership roles across multiple lending channels and extensive advisory experience serving mortgage lenders, investors, real estate companies and affiliate businesses. He joins from T3 Sixty, where he served as managing director.

MBA elevates five employees to associate vice president positions

The Mortgage Bankers Association promoted five employees to associate vice president positions. Julie Kind was elevated to associate vice president of program development, Lisa Leonard to associate vice president of commercial real estate finance marketing, Amanda Lodato to associate vice president of residential marketing, Alisha Sears to associate vice president and regulatory counsel and Dina Shahin to associate vice president of contracts and procurement. 

Kind joined the MBA in 2022 from Freddie Mac’s Single-Family division, where she served as senior director of marketing and customer outreach. Leonard has been with MBA since 2013, while Lodato has been at the MBA for 10 years.

Long & Foster appoints Daniel Dennis as president and CEO

HomeServices of America and Long & Foster Companies announced that Daniel Dennis has been named president and CEO, leading the residential real estate brokerage and its affiliated businesses serving the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Dennis most recently served as senior vice president of sales and service at RE/MAX, where he worked with brokerage leaders across the country and led teams focused on recruiting, agent support and expansion. 

Earlier in his career, he spent more than a decade leading Roberts Brothers, a HomeServices of America brokerage in Alabama, and later served as president of Illustrated Properties in South Florida. Dennis succeeds Patrick Bain, who stepped down following a 16-year career with Long & Foster, including more than three years as president and CEO.

Floify names Bryan Traeger general manager

Floify, a mortgage point-of-sale platform and subsidiary of Porch Group, named Bryan Traeger as general manager, effective Oct. 12. Traeger most recently served in corporate development at Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Minnesota and spent nearly six years at Maxwell, where he led acquisitions including LenderSelect Mortgage Group and point-of-sale platform Revvin. Prior to joining Maxwell, he was vice president of corporate development, information technology and marketing at HomeServices Lending, a Berkshire Hathaway company.

TrustEngine announces VP of adoption and partnerships

TrustEngine, a mortgage technology solutions company, appointed Brandon Durham as vice president of adoption and partnerships. Durham will oversee customer adoption strategy, expand strategic partnerships and help lenders maximize the value of TrustEngine’s technology. He most recently spent 11 years at Homeowners Financial Group, where he rose from production support manager to director of training and business technology, overseeing a 15-platform technology ecosystem supporting more than 300 employees and 125 sales professionals.

Prior to joining Homeowners Financial Group, Durham held roles at Stonegate Mortgage Corporation, National Residential Mortgage and Caliber Funding.

Title Resources Group appoints chief technology officer

Title Resources Group appointed Brian Ruzycki as chief technology officer. In this new position, Ruzycki will oversee the company’s technology organization. He brings more than 20 years of technology leadership experience spanning mortgage lending, servicing, capital markets, fintech, subscription software and real estate technology.

Ruzycki joins from MAXEX, where he served as chief technology officer and led the company’s technology platform, cloud infrastructure strategy and artificial intelligence initiatives. Prior to MAXEX, he held senior technology leadership roles with RoundPoint Mortgage Servicing, Homeowners Financial Group, Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation, Carrington Mortgage Holdings and Xome.

Westcor Land Title elevates residential division manager

Westcor Land Title Insurance Company announced the promotion of Mandy Bacco to senior vice president, residential division manager. In this role, she is responsible for developing governance frameworks, optimizing processes, leading change management efforts and ensuring alignment between business strategy and operational execution. Throughout her tenure with Westcor, Bacco has played an instrumental role in advancing strategic priorities, improving operational effectiveness and supporting sustainable growth.

Homes for Heroes names Amit Kulkarni CEO

Homes for Heroes, a network dedicated to helping firefighters, EMS, law enforcement, military members, healthcare professionals and teachers save money when buying or selling a home, appointed Amit Kulkarni as CEO. Kulkarni had served as interim CEO since April, following his appointment to the company’s advisory board in November 2025.

ORSNN adds two members to c-suite

ORSNN, an electronic trading platform for institutional whole loan markets, announced it appointed Aaron Khoo as chief product officer and Werner Koepf as chief technology officer. Khoo will lead product strategy with a focus on digitizing traditional loan sale workflows and building security, compliance and data fidelity into product requirements. He joins from Amazon Web Services, where he most recently served as general manager of the control tower and service catalog, leading product and engineering for cloud governance and management services. 

Koepf will focus on technology strategy and engineering execution, including platform architecture, infrastructure, security and reliability. He previously served as chief product and technology officer at LILT AI and senior vice president of engineering at Karat and Conversica.

ORSNN also welcomed Ken Plank as senior advisor, credit unions. He will advise on the lending and portfolio needs of credit unions, drawing on experience across commercial, mortgage and consumer lending, credit administration and credit risk management. Plank previously served as executive vice president of lending and chief lending officer at Numerica Credit Union, following earlier banking roles at Washington Trust Bank, Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank.