The Mortgage Bankers Association awarded the MBA NewsLink Tech All-Star Award on Tuesday to three visionary leaders in the mortgage technology industry.
This year’s honorees are Harry Gardner, Director of Digital Services with ICE Mortgage Technology, Pleasanton, Calif.; Christy Moss, CMB, Head of Sales and Marketing with FormFree, Athens, Ga.; and Eloise Schmitz, CEO and Co-Founder of LoanNex, St. Louis, Mo.
Since 2002, the MBA NewsLink Tech All-Star Awards have celebrated industry leaders who have made outstanding contributions in mortgage technology.
“We have an exceptional class of Tech All-Star Award winners,” said Rick Hill, Executive Vice President of MISMO and MBA Vice President of Technology. “They have produced a remarkable body of work that has moved the needle forward and reflect our increasingly diverse base of mortgage technology innovators.”
Harry Gardner, ICE Mortgage Technology
Harry Gardner is the first three-time Tech All-Star Award winner. He leads product management for MERSCORP Holdings Inc., including the MERS® System, MERS® eRegistry and new product development. He also provides eClosing and eVaulting subject matter expertise to help guide development of new product offerings for the Encompass loan origination system and Simplifile (all part of ICE Mortgage Technology).
Gardner has been a significant contributor to the mortgage industry during his 20+ year tenure as an industry expert and MISMO leader. He has served the industry in numerous roles, including Chair of the Board of Directors for the Electronic Signature and Records Association (ESRA), President of MISMO, Chair of the MISMO Residential Governance Committee, and then as a member of its Board of Directors. Most recently, Gardner was instrumental in identifying an industry pain point and led the MERS® RON (remote online notarization) Video Storage product from concept to close in less than 12 months.
Christy Moss, CMB, FormFree
Christy Moss, CMB, was responsible for rallying lender support behind post-recession, agency-led technology initiatives that helped stabilize the mortgage industry and usher in the digital mortgage age.
Early in her career, Moss cultivated a deep understanding of both origination and the secondary mortgage markets during a cumulative 15 years at CitiMortgage, Wachovia and GE Capital Mortgage Services. This experience was a springboard for her decade-plus post-crisis role with Fannie Mae, where her work as a digital evangelist for the GSE’s digital lending initiatives made her a household name for mortgage lenders and technology innovators alike. Dubbed “the face of Fannie Mae” by her GSE colleagues, Moss earned a reputation industry-wide for her outsized-role in introducing lenders to and educating them about Desktop Underwriter, Collateral Underwriter and Day One Certainty. She personally helped more than 100 lenders gain seller servicer status.
Eloise Schmitz, LoanNex
Eloise Schmitz is CEO and Co-Founder, LoanNEX, a next-generation engine for products, pricing and dynamic eligibility in the residential mortgage marketplace. She has guided the company since its inception and has seen LoanNex grow to a combined 32 correspondent and wholesale lenders on the platform.
LoanNEX currently prices just under 14,000 loan scenarios a month, a number that continues to rise. Those loan scenarios account for $7.5 billion in Non-QM loan volume. The LoanNEX Brokers Marketplace is a smart tool that serves an expanding market. It allows brokers to stay on top of non-agency market trends and monitor which Lenders have the solutions that fit best for their borrowers. Brokers no longer must wait for answers, they are now at their fingertips. The Broker Marketplace is the only interactive platform where a broker can shop, engage and transact with lenders in the Non-Agency space.
Gardner, Moss and Schmitz were honored in person Tuesday at the MBA Technology Solutions Conference and Expo.