Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation announced on Thursday the formation of a new leadership team composed of regionally-focused reverse mortgage senior vice presidents (SVPs). This is the latest move in the company’s new reverse mortgage division strategy.
The new team includes several Fairway and industry veterans, including Genie McGee, Christine Jensen, Rob Kanyur, Derek Helms, Steve Cox, Rick Rodriguez and Michael Inkman. The company has also appointed a new hire, Susan Pomfret, to join as a reverse regional SVP.
Pomfret, who previously served at CrossCountry Mortgage and Liberty Reverse Mortgage, will serve as reverse SVP for the northeastern region alongside David Lazowski, producing manager.
“I’ve been hooked on reverse since the beginning,” Pomfret said. “I was part of the initial pilot program for the HECM in ‘89 and have been educating folks ever since about the potential benefits. Connecting with Fairway is an amazing and exciting next step, and it gives me goosebumps to help many more retirees.”
Kanyur will serve as the regional reverse SVP for the southern southwestern region, while McGee will serve the role for the southeastern region.
“Financial advisors are a key piece of Fairway’s business model and will continue to be so,” McGee said. “That being said, there is an enormous portion of our demographic who can benefit from our guidance and do not have a financial advisor. This is doubly true in populations with high need. We can be the reverse mortgage company that serves everyone.”
Jensen will serve as regional reverse SVP in the central north region based in Colorado, and described the changes implemented as an indication of a high level of support from Fairway’s leading executive team.
“[CEO] Steve Jacobson, [SVP] Gregg Steinhaus, and the entire exec team have shown so much support for reverse,” Jensen said. “They are totally behind us and have our backs – [and] that security allows for unprecedented creativity. Each member of this group has a specific set of gifts, and building off those unique skillsets will diversify and grow our platform.”
Cox will serve in the pacific northwestern region, while Inkman, Rodriguez and Helms will serve in the southern central, northern southwest and mid-Atlantic regions, respectively.
This is the latest development in the reorganization of Fairway’s reverse mortgage division, which started in February with the appointment of a new leadership team. In an interview earlier this month, the new team said these changes are part of Fairway’s efforts to normalize the reverse mortgage offerings across the company nationwide.
“I think we’ve spent decades preserving our little unique space that reverse exists in,” Tom Evans, EVP of reverse technology at Fairway, said earlier this month. “And then, we complain that people don’t know what it is or don’t trust it. The first way to normalize it is to make the originator experience closer to what they’re used to on the traditional side. So, if someone knows that [they need to go through] five steps to do a traditional refi or a purchase loan, let’s get as tight to those five steps as we can so that for the originators, they don’t feel the difference anymore.”
