William (“Willie”) Newman With 25 years of mortgage industry experience, Mr. Newman is an acknowledged expert and innovator in the field.
Mr. Newman was one of the primary architects behind InterFirst Wholesale Mortgage Lending (InterFirst). Over a period of 8 years, InterFirst grew from a small local mortgage originator to an industry leader in third party lending. In 1997, InterFirst’s parent company, Standard Federal Bank, was acquired by ABN AMRO. Over the following 10 years, Mr. Newman continued the build out of what became ABN AMRO Mortgage Group (AAMG). During his tenure, AAMG became a diverse, multichannel top 5 mortgage lender and top 10 mortgage servicer.
During his tenure at AAMG, Mr. Newman demonstrated the ability to spot opportunity and innovate. Most notably, Mr. Newman led the development of the first Internet-based wholesale lending portal known as MOAI. He also rebuilt Mortgage.com into a leading consumer direct website and lending operation. Finally, Mr. Newman started ABN AMRO Capital Markets Group (AMCAP), which became a leader in direct distribution of originated whole loan products.
Most recently, Mr. Newman built Cole Taylor Mortgage (CTM) from scratch. Over his 4½ year tenure, CTM became a top 40 lender; a top 40 servicer; and a major contributor to Cole Taylor Bank’s financial performance.
Mr. Newman holds a BBA in Finance from the University of Michigan and an MBA in Finance and business economics from Wayne State University.
Michael Jones has spent over 25 years in the mortgage banking industry and has held the title of Chief Financial Officer for the past ten years. Mr. Jones’ experience spans the development of start-up companies to managing multi-billion dollar operations through high growth and down market cycles. His expertise is rooted in financial and operational process improvement that drive sales and reduce overhead costs. As an organizational leader, he has been instrumental in building investor relationships, restructuring operations and building forecast models that have produced millions in revenue. Mr. Jones also has a track record of building successful teams and developing professionals in the areas of accounting, finance and capital markets as a mentor.
As CFO of AFI and United Wholesale Mortgage, Mr. Jones provided direction on strategic planning, financial modeling, retail and wholesale acquisitions and new servicing platforms. At AFI, he led the development and implementation of corporate policies and controls, financial reporting and budgeting as well as regulatory, investor, risk management, operational metric and KPI reporting.
Prior to his CFO roles, Mr. Jones served in senior leadership positions at Lehman Brothers Bank and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, where he managed financial analytics and led both organizations through multiple portfolio acquisitions that increased their loan origination and servicing footprint.
Mr. Jones earned a Masters of Business Administration in Finance and Economics from the University of Iowa and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Drake University. Additionally, Mr. Jones is a certified Chartered Financial Analyst through the CFA Institute.
Rob Spellman began his Mortgage Banking career in 1985. He has held senior leadership roles at Flagstar Bank, OneWest Bank, Indymac, Fannie Mae and Washtenaw Mortgage.
His career began at Washtenaw Mortgage, creating their Secondary Marketing hedging and delivery program as well as their Wholesale Lending Channel -- growing Washtenaw Mortgage from a start-up to one of Fannie Mae’s top 40 sellers/servicers. While at Fannie Mae, Mr. Spellman served as a consultant/subject matter expert in product development and risk management for the International Housing Finance Services group on projects in the Caribbean, South America and England.
At Flagstar Bank, he served as EVP Mortgage Banking Production, leading the sales and marketing group to record revenue in 2012. During his tenure at Fannie Mae, he also was the lead product developer for Flex 100, InterestFirst, Enhanced Streamline Refinance and LIBOR based ARMs.
Mr. Spellman earned his MBA and BA in Economics from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Brian Brizard previously served as the Principal and Founder of 3AB Funding Co. Prior to joining 3AB, Mr. Brizard was with Sallie Mae Home Loans for five years, where he served as President of the home lending group and Vice President of the parent SLM Corp. He helped develop Sallie Mae’s multi-billion dollar retail branch network and wholesale channel which originated and serviced loans in 43 states. Mr. Brizard founded Pioneer Mortgage in 1991, and grew the company from a small mortgage broker to a multi-state mortgage lender with more than $1 Billion in annual volume. Pioneer Mortgage was named an Inc. 500 Company in 1999 and 2002, in recognition of its exceptional rate of growth. He led the sale of Pioneer to Sallie Mae in 2003. At Pioneer he served as President and CEO, and built an exceptional and talented sales force. Under his leadership, Pioneer’s originators were frequently recognized as top producers in the mortgage industry's annual volume surveys.
Mr. Brizard’s professional career has included working with several innovative and successful companies in mortgage, real estate, title insurance, and technology. He served as Board Member and CFO for Online Tech, where he helped lead a sale of the firm to News Press Gazette Company in August 2012. He remains active as a board member of several portfolio companies of 3AB.
Mr. Brizard holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from California State University at Sacramento and an MBA with Finance Concentration from Wayne State University in Detroit.