Homeside Financial, a growing privately held mortgage bank, is adding Jared Ward as the company’s senior vice president of national talent acquisition and strategic growth.

Homeside, which is headquartered in in Columbia, Maryland, began operating in late 2013. The company now has more than 250 employees, across 12 regional locations throughout the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast, and provides home loans in more than 26 states.

As part of Ward’s hiring, who previously served in similar executive roles for New Penn Financial, Movement Mortgage and Bank of America, Ward will open up a regional office for Homeside outside of Atlanta, in Athens, Georgia.

“It isn’t every day you get the opportunity to bring a leader like Jared onto the team,” Dan Snyder, co-founder & managing partner of Homeside said. “We see him as the catalyst for growth as we expand nationally.”