California based retail lender american pacific mortgage (APM) has made a leadership change while continuing to expand in the Midwest and Southeast.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Bill Lowman was named Vice Chairman of APM, a newly created position, while Ned Payment was promoted from President of APM to Chief Executive Officer. Dustin Shepard also rose from executive vice president to president, according to the lender. The changes became effective from Wednesday.
Lowman’s priorities will include focusing on APM’s strategy, counterparty relations, lender mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity, as well as his work on the company’s board of directors. mortgage bankers association (MBA).
“For many years, we have been very deliberate about succession planning at the executive leadership level,” Lowman said in a statement. “We believe these changes position American Pacific Mortgage for continued growth and stability.”
The new CEO, Pointe — whose 12-year career at APM includes roles as SVP of operations, EVP of production and most recently as president — will run the day-to-day operations at APM.
The company said Shepard, APM’s new president, will be responsible for driving the company’s production and supporting APM’s more than 400 branches.
In addition to roles as Branch Manager and Regional Manager at various lenders, Sheppard has climbed through the ranks at APM as a Loan Officer, and most recently served as APM’s EVP of National Production.
APM Chairman Kurt Reisig will remain in his position and will remain actively involved with other strategic opportunities including key counterparty relationships, employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) management and M&A.
“Both Bill and I will be directly involved with Ned and Dustin on a day-to-day basis,” said Reisig. “We believe these changes better position APM for growth.”
The leadership change at APM comes amid the lender’s quest for expansion.
In 2022 alone, APM to acquire 11 Arizona-based branches sunstreet lending and SunStreet, Minnesota with 25 branches of the retail lender Lend Smart Mortgage and from 51 branches Amerifirst Financial Inc.
The lender also brought over 45 former retail branches America’s Finance Companies Inc. (FoA) closed its forward mortgage segment months later.
Lowman said a total of 900 employees joined the company from the four deals completed by APM last year, including 540 LOs. housing wire,
Established in 1996, APM is a lender to approximately 3,600 employees and 1,500 mortgage loan originators with more than 440 branches nationwide. The lender offers a range of products including conventional, jumbo, FHA, VA, USDA loans and reverse mortgages, as well as renovation and construction loans.
While APM sees production decline by nearly 42% to $13.8 billion in 2022, mainly due to rising rates and drying up of referee business, the lender expects 25% growth in 2023 from M&A deals that will help it grow in 2022. was closed.
Still-high inflation and mortgage rates won’t discourage APM from expanding further this year. The California-based lender plans to expand its market presence in the Midwest and Southeast.
“The more disruption, the more opportunity. When it’s tough for them, it’s tough for us. We went into this bear market ready to take advantage of it,” Lowman said.
