NEXA Lending has named Geri Farr chief executive officer, putting her in charge of day-to-day operations while founder Mike Kortas shifts his focus to acquisitions, partnerships, new business concepts, and other opportunities.
Kortas is not leaving NEXA. He is moving into the company's Executive Partner role, which NEXA describes as its highest earned level of leadership, alongside UMortgage founder Anthony Casa. The move removes Kortas from day-to-day operations while giving him a broader mandate to help shape the company's growth strategy.
The change has been taking shape since NEXA's acquisition of UMortgage last month, when Kortas said he would relinquish the CEO title and become an Executive Partner alongside Casa, creating what the two described as a co-equal leadership structure.
Farr's appointment answers the remaining question of who will run NEXA's increasingly complex operations as Kortas and Casa focus on what the company builds next.
“I have never cared about being called CEO, I care about growth, I care about winning, and most importantly, I care about finding new ways for our loan officers to make more money,” Kortas said. “Geri is better equipped to run this company day to day than I am, and my ego is not big enough to pretend otherwise.”
“The best thing I can do for our loan officers is put the right person in the CEO seat and go spend my time creating what comes next,” he added.
Farr Takes Over Operations
Farr joined NEXA in 2025 after a career that included leadership positions across wholesale and distributed retail mortgage lending.
Her relationship with Kortas predates NEXA. Farr was Kortas' manager at NOVA Home Loans nearly two decades ago.
“I knew Mike before NEXA, I knew him before the scale, before the platform, and before the thousands of loan officers,” Farr said. “What has never changed is how his mind works. He sees opportunities other people do not see, and once he sees one, he becomes relentless about making it real.”
Farr said her responsibility as CEO is to make sure NEXA has the leadership, discipline, infrastructure, and execution needed to support the ideas developed by Kortas and the company's other Executive Partners.
“Putting Mike behind a desk managing the day-to-day business is simply not the highest and best use of Mike Kortas,” Farr said. “Let him build, let him challenge assumptions, let him chase the ideas everyone else says are impossible. My job is to make sure the organization can execute when those ideas become reality.”
Farr will lead an executive team that includes Chief Administrative Officer Rana Mortensen, Chief Operating Officer Jason duPont, Chief Strategy Officer Tammy Richards, and Chief Financial Officer Von Maharaj.
Building The Economics Around LOs
The separation between operating NEXA and developing its next business models comes as the company rolls out a series of initiatives centered on scale and the economics available to its originators.
In March, NEXA was developing a servicing-aligned income program designed to give affiliated originators a pathway to recurring income tied to the long-term performance of loans they originate. NEXA said the program would operate subject to applicable compliance, licensing, and investor requirements.
More recently, NEXA launched NEXA Unlimited, expanding access to its 100% revenue model.
Kortas and Maharaj said that the model is supported by NEXA's scale, production volume, acquisitions, lean operating structure, and broader ecosystem of businesses and systems. Kortas' new role puts developing additional businesses and economic opportunities squarely within his responsibilities.
According to NEXA, Executive Partners will develop new business concepts, identify acquisitions and partnerships, challenge existing models, and create opportunities intended to increase the economics available to NEXA originators.
Casa said the structure allows him and Kortas to focus on developing those ideas while Farr and her executive team operate the company.
“Mike and I can be in the market, talking to loan officers, talking to mortgage company owners, looking for opportunities, challenging each other and coming up with ideas that can materially change the economics of this business,” Casa said. “Then you have an incredible CEO and executive team capable of turning those ideas into reality.”
A Broader Pitch To Broker Owners
The leadership structure also fits NEXA's broader push to bring established mortgage businesses onto its platform while allowing them to retain their identities.
NEXA acquired UMortgage in August, with Casa joining NEXA as an Executive Partner. Subsequently, Wisconsin-based Mortgage Nerds joined the platform while retaining its brand and shifting much of its operational infrastructure to NEXA.
NEXA is now pitching its Executive Partner structure as another potential path for established mortgage-company owners who want to shed day-to-day operational responsibilities without walking away from building their businesses. The company says proven owners and leaders could potentially earn their way into the role and continue recruiting, building teams, and helping shape NEXA's direction.
“Imagine what some of the best mortgage owners in America could create if they did not have to spend their day worrying about payroll, compliance, licensing, accounting, operations, and infrastructure,” Kortas said. “That is what I want people to understand about Executive Partner.”
Farr now becomes responsible for operating an increasingly larger NEXA platform, while Kortas focuses on where it goes next.
“If removing my title helps us grow faster, I will remove the title,” Kortas said. “If putting Geri in the CEO seat makes NEXA better, she gets the seat.”
