Open Mortgage, a multi-channel mortgage lender, has appointed Andrea Easter to the newly created position of chief compliance officer (CCO).
As the head of the Compliance Department, she will manage all risk-related functions within the company, including overseeing the development and implementation of policies and procedures regarding state and federal regulations and agency requirements. Easter will report directly to Open Mortgage President Joe Stephenson and will hold a fiduciary duty to the board of directors.
"As Open Mortgage continues to experience unprecedented growth, it's vital that we diligently safeguard both the firm and our clients with a company-wide compliance approach centered around our brand values," Stephenson said. "Andrea is a proven leader in the financial services industry and her extensive expertise will further enable an effective risk and control environment that can scale as the company grows."
As CCO, Easter will collaborate with the other departments to monitor and assess compliance practices and ensure issues are addressed, investigated, and resolved. She also will be responsible for facilitating an annual risk assessment, as well as internal and third-party audits and investigations. Her duties will include keeping abreast of existing, new, and pending laws and regulations impacting the mortgage industry, while maintaining relationships with industry leaders and federal and state regulators.
Before joining Open Mortgage, Easter worked for Celebrity Home Loans LLC, where she was promoted from vice president of compliance to deputy chief compliance officer. Before that, she was a senior financial examiner of mortgage origination at the North Carolina Office of the Commissioner of Banks. She also has held various mortgage compliance roles at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage; Daylight Discount Mortgage Corp., and at Headway Workforce Solutions for Genworth Financial Mortgage Insurance.
Easter earned her bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina Wilmington and has achieved various training completions from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, and the North Carolina Bankers Association.
She joins the Open Mortgage leadership team following the appointment of multiple executive and senior-level additions in 2021 and 2022. These include the new President Joe Stephenson, Chief Revenue Officer Scott Harkless, and the selection of several senior vice presidents in the Marketing, Human Resources, and Forward Operations divisions.
Founded in 2003, Open Mortgage is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and has retail locations nationwide.
