The 25 Most Connected Mortgage Professionals of 2014

The 25 Most Connected Mortgage Professionals is a list of mortgage professionals selected by their peers and the staff at NMP who are highly connected on social networks and/or have a heavy influence on social media at large. These individuals have a large number of real followers on Twitter, a lot of "Likes" on Facebook or have a very popular blog or video show. In one or more of these respects, they're considered to be one of the mortgage industry's 25 Most Connected Mortgage Professionals. Jennifer Brabson Facebook: www.facebook.com/jennifermbrabson LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferbrabson SlideShare: www.slideshare.net/jenniferbrabson Twitter: @jenniferbrabson As a thought leader and influencer in social media and digital marketing, Jennifer Brabson, marketing director at Village Mortgage in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, brings an extensive background and approach to social media, digital marketing, social media training, development of best practices, and event and traditional marketing to the mortgage industry. Jennifer, who has only been in the mortgage and finance industry since September 2013 when she started at Village, has been instrumental in the rebuild and transformation of the Village Mortgage brand. Ivan Choi Facebook: www.facebook.com/connivan LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=3922449 With 17 years as a retail mortgage banking executive, Ivan Choi has made a difference for communities across the U.S., most notably via a multi-billion dollar financing initiative during the foreclosure downturn. As an industry leader, Ivan currently serves as chairman of the Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA), board member of the National Association of Realtors (NAR), and is a contributor for the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Jody Collup Facebook: www.facebook.com/jody.collup LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jodycollup Twitter: @JodyCollup Jody Collup is currently vice president of marketing for Global DMS, where she oversees the entire marketing process. Previously, she served as marketing director for Calyx Software. Jody is a well-respected mortgage marketing executive who has developed an extensive, high-impact network of industry professionals using a variety of social media outlets and marketing mediums. Richard S. Donine LinkedIn (Public Profile): www.linkedin.com/pub/richard-s-donine/5/718/642 LinkedIn (FGMC Page): www.linkedin.com/company/first-guaranty-mortgage-corp Richard S. Donine brings First Guaranty Mortgage Corporation (FGMC) more than 16 years of mortgage banking marketing experience. Richard provides a unique combination of marketing knowledge, experience and leadership skills, having built successful marketing departments from the ground up for three nationally recognized lenders, two of which were NYSE publicly traded REITs. He received his bachelor’s of science degree–business administration from the University of Southern California. Adam Finkelstein Blog: www.lendersunited.com/mortgage-business-blog Facebook: www.facebook.com/LendersUnited Google+: google.com/+Lendersunited LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/adamfinkelstein Twitter: @LendersUnited Adam Finkelstein has become one of the most respected, trusted and well-known mortgage industry professionals in the last 15 years through origination as a mortgage broker, transitioning to directing, managing and supervising the retail branch division of a mortgage company. Since then Adam founded Lenders United-The Premier Mortgage Recruiting Firm. Lenders United represents some of the leading mortgage lenders and banks throughout the country expanding their retail mortgage divisions, and assisting branch managers and loan originators with finding a new bank to call home. Rick Floyd Blog: www.ChasingExcellenceBlog.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/RickFloydREMN LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/RickFloydREMN Twitter: @Rick_Floyd As partner and executive vice president at HomeBridge Financial Services, Rick Floyd brings more than 20 years of leadership to the national lender’s sales, marketing, training and operations teams. A football fanatic and former scholastic coach, Rick utilizes the philosophies he learned on the field in motivating and empowering his HomeBridge teams to chase excellence in both their professional and personal lives. Allen Friedman LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/asfriedman With more than 25 years in the mortgage industry, Allen Friedman has maintained key positions in operations and sales management, including his current position as the Western regional sales manager at iServe Residential Lending. His focus is always upon building solid relationships, including open and meaningful communication, timely follow-up, and dynamic customer service. Allen has a juris doctorate degree, and in his spare time, enjoys spending as many moments as possible with his wife and two children. Frank Garay and Brian Stevens Web site: www.thenationalrealestatepost.com Frank Garay and Brian Stevens are the hosts of the extremely popular online show, The National Real Estate Post. Frank and Brian made the Inman 100 in 2010, a list of the top 100 most influential people in the real estate industry, along with several other notable achievements. Their mortgage and real estate commentary video blog has had 50 million-plus views in under five years. Amy Goldstein Facebook: www.facebook.com/amygoldstein12 Twitter: @Amybmic Amy has been with BMIC Mortgage Inc. for 15 years as a licensed originator in Maryland; Washington, D.C. and Virginia. Amy uses social media to keep clientele up to speed with the ever changing mortgage market. John H.P. Hudson Facebook: www.facebook.com/PremierHudson LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/johnhphudson Twitter: @premier_hudson YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/premierhudson John H.P. Hudson serves mortgage professionals as retail and wholesale production manager for Premier Nationwide Lending and will continue his industry advocacy by serving on the Board of Directors for NAMB—The Association of Mortgage Professionals. "I don’t care if you are a mortgage broker or a mortgage banker … If you are in this industry, you are a mortgage professional,” says Hudson. “Part of my job is to help mortgage professionals encourage, engage and educate themselves and others about what they do. Social media has helped me educate thousands of mortgage professionals on industry issues affecting them and why they need to participate with their trade groups.” Mat Ishbia Blog: www.thebrokerlife.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/UnitedWholesaleMortgage LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/mat-ishbia/14/9a/a8a Twitter: @UWMeasy Considered an advocate for brokers and an innovative leader in the wholesale market, Mat Ishbia unveiled a blog, The Broker Life, to connect originators with helpful information and tips in a forum that allows them to share best practices. With his commitment to enhance broker communications, Ishbia and United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) also recently created a mobile app that has proved to be a great success among their clients. Joshua Jones Facebook: www.facebook.com/JoshuaJonesMMI LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joshuamjones Twitter: @jjmortgage Joshua Jones is a branch manager and senior loan officer for Mortgage Master’s Park Ridge Office in the Greater Chicago Area, with 10 years of experience in mortgage banking and account management with regional and national mortgage lenders. As a member of the Mortgage Master team, Josh offers a “big picture” way of thinking to provide his clients with a vision and attainable goals over monthly or yearly periods. He serves his clients in a way that goes beyond one transaction and carries over into a lifelong partnership. Angie Lee Facebook: www.facebook.com/nycangielee LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/nycangielee Angie Lee is a senior vice president of corporate communications for MCS Mortgage Bankers Inc. Angie has had the privilege of serving as president of the Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA), Metro New York Chapter and the Co-chair of the 2014 AREAA Global & Luxury Summit. Her true passion is connecting people together through a wide range of projects, educational and outreach programs. Mark Madsen Google+: plus.google.com/+MarkMadsen1 Google Mortgage Network: plus.google.com/communities/111167855085138616592 Mark Madsen manages a network of 38,000-plus locally optimized mortgage and real estate niche Web sites for Best Rate Referrals, and he runs one of the largest mortgage professional networks on Google+ with over 1,000 members. Mark's lending career started in 1999 as a Las Vegas originator and he was an early adopter of search engine marketing, mortgage blogging and social media back when MySpace was cool and “The Facebook” was only available for Harvard students. Khai McBride Facebook: facebook.com/khaimcbridepage LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/khaimcbride Twitter: @khaimcbride Khai McBride's business and coaching skills are recognized by companies nationwide and he is regularly invited to speak at top industry events. A master of mindset, performance, influence and database marketing, his ideas are always fresh and creative, but more importantly, effective in today's market. Cody Miles Blog: mortgagedashboard.com/lender-blog LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/codymiles512 Twitter: @MtgDashboard Cody Miles is the inbound marketing director at MortgageDashboard, a cloud-based finance technology company dedicated to designing quality cloud-based mortgage software solutions. Cody is responsible for the inbound marketing activities as SEO of MortgageDashboard, specializing in on- and off-page optimization, as well as content creation and data visualization. Bubba Mills Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bubba.mills.3 LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/bubba-%22eric%22-mills/10/508/8b7 Twitter: @BubbaMills1 Bubba Mills has been in the real estate, mortgage and servicing industry since 1988. He specializes in community branding and community stabilization. Bubba is a member of the National Speakers Association, Advisory Board Member for Equator and is a speaker for National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP), Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA) and the Five Star Institute. He is a trainer, inspirational speaker, coach and consultant. Bubba has raised millions of dollars for national non-profit companies and local non-profits and churches over his lengthy career. Eric Mitchell Facebook: www.facebook.com/ericmitchell0513 LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=2598334 Eric Mitchell is helping to revolutionize the mortgage industry with real estate agent and sales training events. Having the world’s greatest mentors has allowed Eric to bring cutting edge information to sales professionals that truly change how loan officers and real estate agents work together as a team. Lewis Poretz Facebook: www.facebook.com/lewisporetz LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/lewisporetz Twitter: @lewisporetz Web site: www.socialyo.com An early adopter of social media and long-time mortgage industry vet, Lewis Poretz has a reach of 8,000 Linkedin connections and more than 9,200 Twitter followers. Poretz founded the popular Linkedin Groups "Social Media Basics" and "Mortgage Branch News," is an active LinkedIn Publisher, a "Rainmaker" on activerain.com and a past contributor to the Zillow Mortgages Unzipped blog. Poretz leverages his broad industry reach and marketing skills recruiting mortgage branches and loan officers for a growing lending platform. He founded SocialYo, a digital marketing firm that helps brands and individuals understand how to identify their audience, engage effectively in the social streams and maximize efficiency using cutting edge tools and technology including CRM, pipeline management and e-mail marketing. Rene Rodriguez Facebook: www.facebook.com/betterloanofficers Twitter: @BetterLO Rene Rodriguez is founder and chief executive officer of BetterLoanOfficers.com, the most powerful and easy-to-use online loan officer review management system dedicated to the mortgage industry. Loan officers can collect, manage and promote their reviews in order to build trust, secure more referral relationships and close more deals. Gerald Santoro Facebook: www.facebook.com/NJLoanMan LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/geraldsantoro Twitter: @njloanman Gerald Santoro began his career as a loan officer with a local broker in Middletown, N.J. in the early 1990s.Gerald is currently a mortgage banker with Peoples Bank, an FDIC-insured direct lender, offering in-house processing and underwriting, licensed to originate conventional, jumbo, FHA, VA, USDA, Home Possible, HomePath, HARP and reverse mortgage loans in all 50 States. Adam Stein Facebook: www.facebook.com/LoanTek LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/adamlstein Twitter: @LoanTekOnline Adam Stein currently serves as chief executive officer of LoanTek Inc. Under his direction, LoanTek’s pricing engine has grown to price and deliver over one million consumer facing offers every day. These offers result in efficiencies, cost savings, funded loans and a significant return-on-investment (ROI). John G. Stevens Facebook: www.facebook.com/JohnGStevensUtah?ref=hl LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/johnglenstevens Twitter: @JohnGlenStevens John G. Stevens is the Utah area manager for the Bank of England d/b/a ENG Lending. He is the married to his best friend, Mindy McClure Stevens, and the proud father of three beautiful children. He is active as past president of the Utah Association of Mortgage Professionals (UAMP), as well as a director on the Board for NAMB—The Association of Mortgage Professionals. He has served as president of his Rotary Club, chair of both the Pleasant Grove City and Utah County Planning Commissions, and is active in many volunteer organizations. Jeff Taylor Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Digital-Risk/454111754657290 LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/jeffrey-c-taylor/54/a/258 Twitter: @DigitalRiskCo As a managing partner, Jeff Taylor controls all of Digital Risk’s sales, marketing and governmental initiatives, managing all of the company’s high level client relationships. In addition to his working title, Jeff continues to play an integral role in the development of unique data and process solutions to help better overall industry practices, including exclusive data sources for lenders to make better loans, and forensic review and loss mitigation solutions to help investors manage their portfolios.     Carl White Facebook: www.facebook.com/MortgageMarketingAnimals Facebook: www.facebook.com/MasterMindRetreat LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/marketinganimals Carl White began as a loan officer in October of 2000, and within eight months of opening the doors at Family First Mortgage, he became the top producing branch out of 336 branches nationwide. Carl now trains some of the top producing loan officers across the nation, using his "paint by numbers" approach. In 2013, Carl was honored to receive the coveted "Marketer of the Year" from one of the most prestigious group of online marketers, Digital Marketing. He also has the largest Fan Page for loan officers that exists within Facebook.