Nine new members were added to the board of directors for the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association earlier this month, including two representatives from companies that do not originate reverse mortgages. The two are: Bob Yeary, chairman, Reverse Mortgage Solutions; and John LaRose, CEO, Celink; the latter a servicing company and the former a servicer, aggregator and technology firm.
According to Darryl Hicks at NRMLA, it has been over 10 years since a non-originator served on the board.
“I appreciate this opportunity and the recognition that says, ‘You’re a contributor and player in this industry’,” said RMS’s Yeary, who noted that he would hope to focus during his tenure on the group’s relationship with Ginnie Mae, which securitizes reverse mortgages through its HMBS (HECM Mortgage-backed Securities) program.
Yeary, whose mortgage career spans nearly 40 years, praised NRMLA for doing “a really good job of focusing on safeguarding seniors, as well as informing legislators so they don’t pass legislation that would be harmful to the program and to seniors. One of the things I like about the reverse mortgage business,” he continued, “is that [practitioners] are genuinely good people and honestly trying to help seniors, which is not always the case in the forward [mortgage] world.”
LaRose said of his board participation: “I am thrilled to be associated with such a fine group of people who are willing to make sacrifices of their time and talent to help move our industry forward.” The association will be well-served, he noted, by the new co-chairs, John Nixon, sales support and integration executive at Bank of America; and Cheryl McNally, national reverse sales manager, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. “I look forward to supporting their efforts any way that I can.”
Other new NRMLA board members include: James Cory, Legacy Home Financing); David Fontanilla, Urban Financial/Knight Capital Group; Dan Harder, 1st Reverse Mortgage USA; Torrey Larsen, Security One Lending; Scott Peters, Generation Mortgage Company; Diana Poulos, Bank of America; and Michele Zachensky, MetLife Bank.
Written by Neil Morse
