Plaza Home Mortgage has announced that Michael Fontaine, chief operating officer, has also been named co-president, with Michelle Richardson becoming senior vice president, chief financial officer. Fontaine, who has been with Plaza for 17 years, had previously held the role of CFO. Richardson joined the company in 2019 as senior vice president of treasury and finance. Previously, she had held senior roles at loanDepot, Icon Residential and IMPAC Mortgage. Kevin Parra, Plaza’s co-founder, CEO and chairman, will now share the President role with Fontaine.
PHH Mortgage has announced that Andy Peach has joined the company as senior vice president, Correspondent Lending. In this role, Peach will be responsible for leading PHH’s correspondent lending business. He joins PHH from Mr. Cooper, where he was senior vice president, Correspondent Sales. Over his 30-year career, he has held a series of leadership positions at leading lenders, including president and CEO at Waterstone Mortgage and managing director and chief production officer at Pacific Union Financial responsible for all sales and operations for the company’s Correspondent, Wholesale, Retail and Consumer-Direct channels. Earlier, Mr. Peach held senior positions at JP Morgan Chase, Aurora Loan Services and Bank of America. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and Marketing from the University of South Carolina.
Guaranteed Rate has named Debi Smith as a vice president of mortgage lending to oversee its new branch in Wildwood, Florida. Smith brings more than 35 years of mortgage experience to her new role, including positions at Citizens First Bank and Pinnacle Financial.
Angel Oak Commercial Lending has announced the hiring of David Pike as managing director and Bob Forsythe as senior managing director. Both began work in early March, operating out of Angel Oak’s Newport Beach, California, office. Pike will oversee lending operations and expansion along the West Coast, focusing on middle-market and larger loan offerings. He has over two decades of experience in the commercial real estate lending industry, most recently as managing director for Cantor Commercial Real Estate. Forsythe will lead Angel Oak’s small-balance loan program. He brings more than 30 years of experience to Angel Oak, most recently as the founding principal of Pacific West CDC. Prior to that, he served as chief operating officer of Lehman Brothers Small Business Finance.
Deephaven has announced the appointment of Shelly Griffin as senior vice president of client development. Griffin’s goal is to help Deephaven’s correspondent partners improve loan volume and borrower satisfaction by making it easy and efficient to originate non-agency products. She brings 20 years of mortgage industry experience to her role, including secondary marketing, operations, training, underwriting and sales. Previously, she served as vice president of client development and director of client risk management at Deephaven.
SimpleNexus has announced the hire of mortgage industry veteran Andria Lightfoot as vice president of professional services. In this role, Lightfoot will be responsible for oversight of the company’s service teams in delivering consultative and implementation services. Most recently she served as chief operations officer at George Mason Mortgage, LLC; previously, she also led technology strategy at Prosperity Home Mortgage and J.G. Wentworth Home Lending. She has also served as senior business analyst at Teraverde.
