From his secret talent and favorite book to his thoughts about the reverse mortgage industry, we get the scoop from Jeffrey M. Birdsell, vice president of professional services at ReverseVision.

Something nobody knows about me is that I play the saxophone. I own an alto, tenor and curved soprano sax. The tenor and soprano are from the 1930s and sound incredible.

My favorite vacation was driving my jeep with my family around Durango, Silverton, Telluride and Ouray, Colorado. Four-wheel driving is adrenaline at 5 miles per hour, and you get to see some of the most amazing scenery.

If I were a professional athlete, I would drive in the World Rally Championship series.

My first car was a full-size Chevy Blazer, lifted with big tires.

If I had three wishes they would be to be fluent in every language so that there was no one I could not communicate with; to invent and sell a product idea so that I could make enough money to buy my own plane, fly around and talk with people from all over the world; and to be able to take the strengths of a dozen different people, combine them into one person and make that person one of the presidential candidates… I know, right?!

If I could meet with anyone, past or present, it would be my grandfather, who passed away when I was 12 years old. He was an engineer with GE and has patents on improvements to the atom smasher.

I never miss an episode of the Tour de France. I know, they’re not really episodes, but for 21 days, once a year, you get to see the most amazing athletes ride 2,100 miles over some of the most beautiful and grueling countryside.

Every morning I hit the snooze button multiple times. I don’t know, it’s just a thing I do that drives my wife crazy. I’ll even set the alarm a little earlier so that I can snooze a couple times before I have to get up.

When I was a kid I bought a Yamaha Moto Bike, which was a full-suspension, one-speed, coaster-brake bicycle. This was back in the mid-70s, before mountain biking was invented, and I would carry my bike to the top of a hill and ride single-track horse trails back down to the bottom.

My first job was sweeping out construction sites for my dad, who was a builder/developer in Colorado Springs. Fifty cents an hour… hooyah!

My favorite time of the day is anytime my wife and I are in my jeep, with the top down and in the mountains. Any mountains… don’t care where.

My iPod go-to is country music, big bands or Glee playlists. A good a cappella group like Pentatonix works as well.

I never want to stop growing and learning from all the different people I work with, play with and live with.

I always talk about the positive things first. While the tendency of the media and people in general is to lead with the negative, I prefer to lead with the positive then address the rest.

The best purchase I’ve ever made was my 2008 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon. It’s still going strong and takes me to some of the most amazing places.

My favorite book is The Martian by Andy Weir. I read it/listened to it three times in a six-month period. It’s sci-fi (hello, they’re on Mars), but with today’s technology (no laser guns and Martian monsters). Amazing book, and I highly recommend listening to the audio version.

If I could trade places with someone for a day, I would choose Elon Musk. To have the means and wherewithal to invent things that can make a difference would be amazing.

For success I have sacrificed absolutely nothing. If I had to sacrifice something, then there would be no success.

If I could time travel, I would visit 200 years in the future to see the technology, and then I would go back 147 years in time and ride the First Transcontinental Railroad.

The biggest challenge in the reverse mortgage industry is for us to stop thinking that we can grow our industry, increase volumes and get this product available to all the seniors that would benefit from it, by ourselves. We cannot do this without bringing in larger banks and financial institutions, and we need to provide them with the training to be productive, ethical and compliant within our industry. We need to welcome new competitors into our space and educate them on how to succeed in our industry, knowing that this creates more champions and educators to spread the word.

Before I entered the reverse mortgage industry I was a residential homebuilder, building custom homes in California. Our focus was ocean view homes in Cardiff-by-the-Sea and single-family homes in Rancho Santa Fe. All my summers growing up I worked on foundation and framing crews, so being in the building business as a general contractor was a natural fit for me.

Industry growth is dependent upon our transition from a mostly needs-based attraction to a retirement solution. This product works equally well as a wealth management tool as it does a needs-based tool. This may require lenders to find loan officers with an additional financial skill set and software providers who can create tools and calculators that demonstrate the impact of a reverse mortgage on a retirement portfolio.

The most important influence technology will have on the reverse mortgage industry is generating the ability to quickly and clearly present and display screens, documents and charts that visually demonstrate the benefits of the loan and make them easy to understand. This will help educate borrowers, financial advisors and others on the benefits of getting a reverse mortgage.

Ideal leaders in this industry realize their company’s success is tied to the growth and reputation of the industry as a whole. We must work together to raise awareness of industry participants who may be unethical, and we must be willing to accept, train and educate new institutions so that together we can educate the public. We currently have leaders like this in our industry, but we need more people like Jim Mahoney, Jeff Taylor and John Button.