When Teresa Whitehead became the CEO of Citywide Home Loans in 2012, the small mortgage company’s net worth was $4.5 million. As of the end of 2016, the company has grown considerably and has a net worth in excess of $20 million. Citywide’s financial strength has increased while funding expansion in numerous states and across more than 50 branches.

Whitehead has taken Citywide from $400 million in production to more than $3 billion in the last two years, funding all of the growth out of profits generated by the company. In this journey toward expansion, Whitehead has been careful to ensure that change results in increased efficiency and market share without losing Citywide’s “soul” in the process. She also ensures that senior-level executives are still very well-versed in the company’s daily manufacturing of individual loans.

There is much competition for high-producing loan originators in the Citywide footprint. As CEO, Whitehead has driven the company to become sophisticated in process and market penetration, while staying connected and in touch with the sales force.

Known as the “mama bear” of Citywide, Whitehead knows virtually all 750 employees’ names and is able to structure and deliver the most complicated of borrower transactions.