The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today announced the promotion of Dan Fichtler to Associate Vice President of Housing Finance Policy within the association’s Residential Policy and Member Engagement team, effective immediately.

In his new role, Fichtler will help lead MBA’s housing finance policy development, including serving as the lead staff representative for MBA’s top residential policy committee, the Residential Board of Governors (RESBOG), as well as the RESBOG Nominating and RESBOG Advisory Committees. Additionally, he will coordinate and execute across the association’s key committees, work groups, and task forces, including the Secondary and Capital Markets Committee and the Residential Loan Production Committee (and related subcommittees).

“Dan’s hard-earned promotion comes at a pivotal time in our industry, and I’m confident his expanded responsibilities will play an invaluable role in shaping MBA’s policy work on housing finance reform, government housing programs, and the capital markets,” said Pete Mills, MBA Senior Vice President, Residential Policy and Member Engagement. “I can think of no one more deserving or better suited to assume this position.”

Fichtler previously served as MBA’s Director of Housing Finance Policy, responsible for developing the association’s policy work related to loan production and secondary and capital markets issues.

Prior to joining MBA, Fichtler was a policy advisor at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he served on the staff of the Financial Stability Oversight Council. He has also served as an advisor to the majority staff of the Senate Banking Committee, during which time he helped draft the Johnson-Crapo housing finance reform legislation.

Dan holds a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from Colgate University and a master's in public affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.

United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) has announced the hires of Blake Kolo (CPA, CVA, CFE, CFF) as Chief Business Officer and Lee Jelenic as Chief Innovation Officer. Kolo most recently served as a Managing Director and Leadership Advisor for the Wilmington, Delaware-based Siegfried Group. Jelenic was most recently the Chief Executive Officer of Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford Commercial Solutions, a division of Ford Motor Company.

Kolo and Jelenic will focus mainly on continuous improvement including product innovation, business growth, and continuing to advance UWM as well as the mortgage broker channel.

“We are ecstatic to add a pair of innovative leaders to our team. Blake and Lee are exactly the kind of people who will help lead UWM into the future and they are fully committed to helping our mortgage broker partners grow,” said Mat Ishbia, President and CEO of UWM. “They are in complete alignment with our company from a leadership vision and culture standpoint.”

In Kolo’s six-year tenure at The Siegfried Group, the company’s Detroit office brought in 40+ new clients, a quarter of which were Fortune 500 companies. He also grew the Detroit office from a team of less than 10 to nearly 40, while coordinating a move to a full-time office space at One Woodward in Detroit. Kolo was promoted to Managing Director in under 3 years, one of the quickest appointments to that positon in company history.

“Joining a dynamic company like UWM is a unique opportunity,” Kolo said. “Seeing how they’ve elevated their business to become a top mortgage lender has been impressive to say the least. The atmosphere at UWM is unlike anything I’ve been around before. I’m excited to be part of a great team that is so driven to succeed and is constantly finding new ways to raise the bar in the mortgage lending industry.”

Jelenic spent 11 years at Ford Motor Company, most recently as Chief Executive Officer of Ford Commercial Solutions (FCS), a new business unit within Ford Smart Mobility focusing on creating value for commercial customers. He also served as Vice President of Marketing at the Ford Motor Credit Company where he led global marketing as well as Fintech and new business development. Jelenic also led various acquisition and strategic investments at Ford Credit. Previously, he spent 4 years in Capital Markets at JP Morgan.

“To see what UWM has done over the last few years has been remarkable. By positioning itself as the mortgage industry’s technology leader, UWM is providing brokers with the resources they need to continue to grow market share,” Jelenic said. “I’m thrilled to join a company that has experienced a meteoric rise to become one of the nation’s top lenders and I can’t wait to help UWM and mortgage brokers climb even higher for many years to come.”

UWM has separated itself as the dominant force in wholesale mortgage lending, finishing as the No. 1 wholesale lender in America for four straight years. In 2018, UWM grew its loan volume by 41%, outpacing every other retail and wholesale lender in the country. On top of that, UWM was the fastest growing lender (wholesale or retail) in the entire mortgage market for 2018. Through the first quarter of 2019, UWM continued trending upward, increasing production by 114%.

The company has long been recognized as the premier advocate for pro-broker initiatives, and has led the charge to nationally tout mortgage brokers as the best option for consumers.

–ComplianceEase^®, the nation’s leading provider of automated compliance solutions to the financial services industry, announced today that Sheila Meagher has joined the company as senior vice president of Sales & Client Success, following the promotion of her predecessor, Dan Smith, to senior vice president of Government Relations.

In this new role, Smith will be responsible for expanding the adoption of ComplianceEase software and ancillary services at government agencies and regulators, and for working with regulators, vendors, and trade groups to increase awareness on how technology can improve supervision and audit processes. Since joining ComplianceEase in 2005, he has helped the company’s flagship technology, ComplianceAnalyzer^®, become the mortgage industry’s most adopted automated compliance solution. ComplianceAnalyzeris currently used by 3 of the top 5 banks, 8 of the top 10 non-bank lenders, and 60 percent of rating agency-approved due diligence firms, as well as federal and state regulators. Smith holds an MBA from Duke University, where he was named a Fuqua Scholar; a BA from Calvin College; and a Certified Mortgage Technologist (CMT) designation from the Mortgage Bankers Association.

As senior vice president of Sales & Client Success, Meagher will lead the company’s the sales, on-boarding and on-going client support teams. A proven sales and marketing executive with more than 20 years of experience, Meagher was previously vice president of National Sales at Pro Teck Valuation, a provider of residential real estate property valuations for mortgage originators, servicers and investors. Prior to Pro Teck Valuation, she held senior-level Sales & Marketing positions at UHS America, a provider of quality control solutions for the next generation of mortgage lenders, and LoanPerformance (now part of CoreLogic), the mortgage industry’s first cooperative database and predictive analytics software suite. For a number of years, Meagher ran a successful marketing agency, counseling leading financial technology companies. She holds a Bachelor of Science, Psychology and Biology from Santa Clara University.

“Our long-term growth strategy demands a team of proven leaders who can collaborate with clients and prospects to better understand their evolving needs,” said John Vong, Executive Chairman of ComplianceEase. “Dan has played a pivotal role in ComplianceEase’s growth thus far. And I’m confident that his and Sheila’s combined experience will lead to the development and implementation of solutions that will help take our clients’ businesses, and ours, to the next level.”