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What does it look like to build a mortgage company with no intention of selling it? In this episode of Connect, California MBA CEO Paul Gigliotti sits down with Phil Shoemaker, CEO of Avera Financial (formerly The Loan Store), for a candid, energetic conversation on sustainable growth, the wholesale channel, non-QM adoption, AI implementation, and what it actually means to put people at the center of a lending organization. Phil has been in mortgage since he was sixteen, helped build Caliber’s non-QM program from the ground up, launched The Loan Store, and is now writing the next chapter with Avera. He’s also one of the most passionate voices on advocacy in the industry and is taking the keynote stage at California MBA’s Legal Issues and Regulatory Compliance Conference in December. In this episode: - Why so many mortgage companies are built to sell and why that creates a short-term mindset that destroys culture - The hire and fire cycle: why Avera is intentionally built to grow sustainably across cycles - Why wholesale will continue to gain share: brokers as entrepreneurs who can offer consumers real choice - Non-QM and the gig economy: why 30% of homeowners have a side hustle that makes up 25% of their income - Avera’s HELOC strategy: a fully automated product doing $200M a month alongside a new manual underwriting track for complex borrowers - Why Gateless improved loan quality but not efficiency at first and what Phil did about it - How AI is finally the technology that will actually bring mortgage costs down - Why implementation risk, not the technology itself, is what determines whether AI delivers ROI - Focus on what you can control: the leadership philosophy Phil was teaching his own son the night before this episode - Why politicians mean well and why industry advocacy is really just about giving them better information Connect is the California MBA’s podcast where strategy, innovation, and leadership come together to shape the future of mortgage finance. Subscribe for new episodes featuring the voices driving the industry forward.

Technology transformation in mortgage isn’t a big bang. It’s an ongoing process of figuring out how to work smarter, adapt to change, and improve the way you do business. And most lenders are doing it wrong. In this episode of Connect, California MBA CEO Paul Gigliotti sits down with Meghan Tidgewell, founder of T-Rex and one of the first six consultancies in the country to earn MISMO’s FRAME AI governance certification. Meghan has spent her career working between business and technology teams, and she brings a refreshingly practical perspective on digital evolution, MISMO standards, AI governance, and what mortgage operators actually need to do to modernize without losing their minds. In this episode: - Why technology transformation is not a one-time event and what a “digital evolution guide” actually does - How to define the real problem before you ever talk to a vendor and why you need input from every level of the organization, not just leadership - Why naming an implementation owner who’s already overloaded is one of the most common project killers in mortgage - The human side of change management: “you’re gonna move my cheese” and how to bring front-end employees along instead of pushing them out - MISMO standards explained in plain English: why shared vocabulary and data patterns reduce integration time and integration headaches - MISMO Link: a new tool that makes finding the right data definition faster and easier than ever - FRAME unpacked: the Framework for Responsible AI in the Mortgage Ecosystem, including the getting started guide, governance policy, system risk assessment, and AI inventory - Why AI is predictive, not rules-based and why that’s a massive mindset shift for front-end mortgage employees - The one practical first step every lender can take in the next 90 days: create an inventory of problems and pick one Connect is the California MBA’s podcast where strategy, innovation, and leadership come together to shape the future of mortgage finance. Subscribe for new episodes featuring the voices driving the industry forward.

There are buyers in your market right now who qualify, have the savings, and have the income — but won’t pick up the phone. Not because they can’t buy. Because they’re afraid to. In this episode of Connect, California MBA CEO Paul Gigliotti sits down with Kristin Messerli, Executive Director of First Home IQ, for one of the most thought-provoking conversations we’ve had on the show — covering financial shame, the psychology of homeownership, the ROI of education, and what mortgage professionals can do right now to earn trust with the next generation of buyers before someone else does. First Home IQ is a 501(c)3 nonprofit bringing research, education, and advocacy together to close the homeownership gap — and the data behind the mission is striking. In this episode: - Why over 80% of millennials and Gen Z surveyed reported some form of financial shame — regardless of income or savings habits - Why only 1 in 5 next-gen buyers trust loan officers to help them make smart mortgage decisions - The real ROI of education: how loan officers who invest in community education are expanding their pool of buyers, not just nurturing the ones who already called - The First Home IQ ambassador model: what it means, how it works, and how professionals are growing their brand and business while giving back - MBA Home Base: a new MBA initiative giving loan officers a real voice in advocacy, coaching, weekly market insights, CE credit, and more - Why Dave Savage is leading monthly coaching calls for Home Base members - Financial Fitness Week: November 9th — and why getting involved is one of the easiest first steps - What Kristin would tell every lender right now: stop waiting for buyers to come to you and start showing up where they already are Connect is the California MBA’s podcast where strategy, innovation, and leadership come together to shape the future of mortgage finance. Subscribe for new episodes featuring the voices driving the industry forward.

Non-QM is having a moment. Agency production is down, non-agency is up, and the calls are coming in — not going out. In this episode of Connect, California MBA CEO Paul Gigliotti sits down with Lisa Schreiber, who leads client strategy at eResi Mortgage and brings nearly four decades of mortgage banking experience to the conversation. Lisa makes the case that the market conditions driving non-QM growth right now aren’t a blip — they’re structural. And the lenders who build their product suite now will be the ones ready when rates eventually move. In this episode: - Why 35% of homeowners generate 30% of their income from a side hustle — and what that means for product strategy - Why Optimal Blue data is showing agency production down while non-QM and non-agency production climbs - Ability to repay is not optional: how bank statement, DSCR, and alternative income programs all include built-in credit guardrails - Why DSCR loans typically come in at 70% LTV — and what that means for risk profile - The equity product opportunity: HELOCs, closed-end seconds, and tapping into equity without touching a first-lien rate - How OCR, income analysis tools, and built-in QC layers are changing the economics of non-QM origination - Lisa’s seller experience rebuild at eResi: from Encompass Investor Connect to Guideline Guru to eligibility engines - Why a major insurance firm acquiring one of the non-QM OGs is a massive vote of confidence for the asset class - Why these products are not rate sensitive — and why that matters right now - What lenders should be doing before 2027 to be ready when volume returns Connect is the California MBA’s podcast where strategy, innovation, and leadership come together to shape the future of mortgage finance. Subscribe for new episodes featuring the voices driving the industry forward.

Lenders know they need to modernize. But ripping out the entire technology stack isn't realistic — especially when rates are rising and headcount is getting cut. In this episode of Connect, California MBA CEO Paul Gigliotti sits down with Michael Danlag, Vice President of Strategic Relations, and George Schultz, Vice President of Mortgage Sales at Solugenix, for a practical, no-hype conversation on where operational friction really lives in mortgage, how to modernize without adding complexity, and what it takes to build scalable capacity while keeping quality and compliance intact. Solugenix brings mortgage operations, digital engineering, workflow automation, and AI-enabled solutions together — and this conversation is exactly what lenders navigating 2026 and preparing for 2027 need to hear. In this episode: - Where the most expensive friction in mortgage operations actually is — and why it always lives in the handoffs - Why you should never go in with technology first — identify the business problem, then overlay the solution - The "proof of value" approach: prove what's wrong before spending a dollar on a fix - Why layering technology over a broken process doesn't fix it — it creates a train wreck - How to build nonlinear growth: volume goes up 30%, but headcount doesn't have to - AI and humans working together: where human judgment is non-negotiable and where automation belongs - What trust with a technology partner actually means — and why it matters more when compliance changes - How lenders should be scenario planning right now for what 2027 could look like - Why the AI marketplace is creating a "cloud" of confusion — and how to cut through it Connect is the California MBA's podcast where strategy, innovation, and leadership come together to shape the future of mortgage finance. Subscribe for new episodes featuring the voices driving the industry forward.

Standards are invisible when they're working well — but when they're missing, the entire mortgage ecosystem feels it. In this episode of Connect, California MBA CEO Paul Gigliotti sits down with Amy Moses, Vice President of Strategic Growth at MISMO, for a wide-ranging conversation on the data standards, compliance tools, and AI governance frameworks that every mortgage lender needs to understand right now — before the deadlines hit. From UAD 3.6 rolling out in November to the Mortgage Compliance Dataset piloting with California DFPI in Q1 2027, the pace of change in data and standards is accelerating fast. MISMO is building the infrastructure — but lenders have to show up and engage. In this episode: - What MISMO actually does behind the scenes — and why every lender is already benefiting from it whether they know it or not - UAD 3.6 explained: why this is a systematic change, not just a technology change — and why lenders who haven't started are already behind - The Mortgage Compliance Dataset (MCD): how one standardized file could cut state exam costs in half and end the era of paper-based regulatory reviews - California DFPI's pilot rollout of MCD — Q1 2027 is closer than you think - FRAME: MISMO's AI governance framework — the toolkit small and mid-sized lenders are calling a lifeline - Why 27 state regulators have already downloaded FRAME — and what that means for lenders who haven't - How to get started: mismo.org/CD for MCD resources and mismo.org for FRAME - What the next 12-18 months look like — and the one action every lender should take right now Connect is the California MBA's podcast where strategy, innovation, and leadership come together to shape the future of mortgage finance. Subscribe for new episodes featuring the voices driving the industry forward.

What does it actually take to build a relationship-driven IMB that grows 80% year over year — without losing its culture? In this episode of Connect, California MBA CEO Paul Gigliotti sits down with Artin Babayan, Founder and CEO of Premier Plus Lending, for a candid, open-kimono conversation on what separates focused IMBs from the pack, why saying no to good opportunities is sometimes the best growth strategy, and how deep relationships — not AI automation — will determine who wins the next cycle. Artin spent 20 years as a top-producing loan originator before building Premier Plus into a high-performing Southern California IMB with 43% of production in non-QM, a $20 million minimum production standard, and a culture built from the core out. This is the playbook. In this episode: - Why smaller IMBs can move at light speed when it comes to technology adoption — and why that's their biggest competitive edge over larger lenders - The LOS transition that takes a small IMB 6 months vs. 18 months for a big one — and why that gap matters - Why complexity is the enemy of growth — and how Premier Plus is tackling it head-on - The hard choices: when to let someone off the bus — and why waiting always makes it worse - Why 43% of Premier Plus production year-to-date is non-QM — and why that's intentional in the LA market - The internal model that treats loan officers like clients — and how one LO went from $10-15M a year to on pace for $50M - "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care" — the accountability culture behind the growth - Why deep relationships with referral partners, not AI automation, will separate the winners in the next cycle - The counter-intuitive advice Artin would give any IMB leader right now: say no to good opportunities Connect is the California MBA's podcast where strategy, innovation, and leadership come together to shape the future of mortgage finance. Subscribe for new episodes featuring the voices driving the industry forward.

The closing table is where a lender's money, documents, reputation, and borrower relationship all come together. And it's also one of the most vulnerable moments in the entire mortgage transaction. In this episode of Connect, California MBA CEO Paul Gigliotti sits down with Andrew Liput, President and CEO of Secure Insight, for a wide-ranging conversation on wire fraud, closing risk, business email compromise, and what lenders must do before money ever leaves the account. Andrew is an attorney by trade who saw the problem 25 years ago — lenders sending millions of dollars to closing professionals they had never verified, never vetted, and had no real relationship with. He built Secure Insight to fix that. Since launching in 2012, Secure Insight has overseen close to 60 million closing transactions with zero lender losses. In this episode: - Why the FBI considers business email compromise the largest element of white collar fraud in the United States today - How AI is making phishing schemes more sophisticated — and why criminals are tracking the same trends as the rest of the industry - The real anatomy of a wire fraud incident: how clicking one wrong email three days before closing can open a backdoor into your entire system - The origin story of Secure Insight: why a real estate attorney in 2001 thought it was strange that lenders sent millions of dollars to people they'd never verified - How Secure Insight's database of 95,000+ closing professionals across all 50 states works — and what a risk rating actually tells a lender - TruePay: how settlement agents can instantly verify that a payoff recipient and bank account are legitimate before disbursing funds — no onboarding, no training required - The KYB/KYC enhancement: verifying that the party receiving funds is who they say they are - Why slowing down is the most important thing a closing professional can do — and why speed is the fraudster's best friend - The single most important question every lender should ask before money leaves the account Connect is the California MBA's podcast where strategy, innovation, and leadership come together to shape the future of mortgage finance. Subscribe for new episodes featuring the voices driving the industry forward.

What if the back and forth that slows every mortgage application — the missing documents, the unanswered questions, the manual follow-ups — could be handled automatically, without replacing the loan officer? In this episode of Connect, California MBA CEO Paul Gigliotti sits down with Athan Zhang, Co-Founder and CEO, and Brianna Lin, Co-Founder and COO of CopperLane AI, for a conversation on what's possible when AI is built specifically for mortgage origination from the ground up. CopperLane's AI agent Penny works from the moment a borrower starts an application — fetching documents, flagging inconsistencies, explaining why each document is needed, and keeping the loan moving — all so the loan officer can stay focused on what only a human can do: own the relationship. In this episode: - Why the loan officer will always own the relationship — and what should never be automated - How Penny works from application intake all the way through post-underwriting conditions — it's the entire loan lifecycle, not just the top of the funnel - What CopperLane means by the copilot-to-autopilot spectrum — and why starting in co-pilot mode is the right call for every new lender - How reasoning traces let CopperLane literally open Penny's brain and see why she made every decision - Why Penny doesn't just request documents — she explains why they're needed, flags inconsistencies across files, and follows up proactively with the borrower - The letters of explanation use case: how Penny catches a large unexplained deposit and goes back to the borrower before it ever hits the loan officer's desk - Why siloed systems and inconsistent workflows are quietly costing lenders more than they realize - The one thing lenders should stop doing manually — and the one thing they should never stop doing personally Connect is the California MBA's podcast where strategy, innovation, and leadership come together to shape the future of mortgage finance. Subscribe for new episodes featuring the voices driving the industry forward.

Appraisal modernization. UAD 3.6. Property data as infrastructure. These aren't back-office compliance topics — they're the next competitive battleground in mortgage. In this episode of Connect, California MBA CEO Paul Gigliotti sits down with Kenon Chen, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Growth at Clear Capital, for one of the most forward-looking conversations on collateral, data, and AI we've had on the show. Kenon has spent more than two decades at the intersection of strategy, product, and valuation — and he's here to talk about what's changing, what it means, and why lenders who aren't moving right now will be in survival mode when November hits. In this episode: - What appraisal modernization actually means right now — beyond the buzzword - UAD 3.6 explained: why moving from a doc-based to a data-based approach is the fulfillment of the digital mortgage promise - The November 2 deadline — what lenders need to be doing operationally, technologically, and with their people - Why the lenders jumping in early are gaining competitive advantage — and why the ones waiting will be stuck checking boxes - How Clear Capital is already live on UAD 3.6 with hundreds of reports — using computer vision and AI to deliver quality earlier and reduce round trips - Why property data is the glue that stitches together disconnected systems across origination, servicing, home equity, and capital markets - What happens when a borrower sees a different home value in their servicing portal than when they apply for a HELOC — and what that costs a lender in brand trust - Why silence is still an answer: if you're not giving consumers accurate property analytics, they'll get them somewhere else - Where AI is headed in valuation over the next 12-18 months — and why appraisal needs to be part of the top-of-funnel strategy, not an afterthought Connect is the California MBA's podcast where strategy, innovation, and leadership come together to shape the future of mortgage finance. Subscribe for new episodes featuring the voices driving the industry forward.

When a natural disaster destroys a home, the mortgage servicer is one of the first calls a homeowner makes. What happens in those first days and weeks can determine whether a family rebuilds — or falls through the cracks. In this episode of Connect, California MBA CEO Paul Gigliotti sits down with Ron Malik, Senior Vice President of Default Servicing at Dovenmuehle Mortgage, one of the nation's most experienced mortgage subservicers. Dovenmuehle has been an instrumental partner in California MBA's wildfire recovery and rebuilding work — bringing the operational expertise that turns strong policy ideas into solutions that actually work for homeowners. This is the conversation behind the work. In this episode: - What a servicer's disaster response actually looks like from day one — proactiveness, task force deployment, and identifying impacted borrowers immediately - How Dovenmuehle balances speed, empathy, efficiency, and investor requirements all at once during a disaster - What forbearance really is — and why it has to be clearly explained to every homeowner before they sign - Where the rebuild process breaks down: insurance proceeds, draw schedules, inspections, liens, and the gap between what insurance pays and what rebuilding actually costs - Why the $100 million California Disaster Rebuilding Fund matters — and why that solve isn't always available - How Dovenmuehle's participation shaped real legislative outcomes — helping California MBA move to neutral or supportive on key forbearance bills - Why no one can do this work alone — and what true servicer and trade association collaboration looks like in practice - What success looks like for wildfire families and participating servicers one year from now Connect is the California MBA's podcast where strategy, innovation, and leadership come together to shape the future of mortgage finance. Subscribe for new episodes featuring the voices driving the industry forward.

Affordability. Access. Inventory. These words get thrown around constantly — but what do they actually mean for the families sitting in a financial literacy event in Atlanta wondering if they'll ever own a home? In this episode of Connect, California MBA CEO Paul Gigliotti sits down with Nora Guerra, Senior Vice President of Community Lending Solutions at Guild Mortgage, for one of the most inspiring and grounded conversations on affordable homeownership we've had on the show. Nora has spent her career — including time at Freddie Mac — focused on one mission: getting real information to real people so they can make one of the most important financial decisions of their lives. She's hosting over 50 financial literacy events across the country this year alone. This is what boots-on-the-ground advocacy looks like. In this episode: - Why the biggest myth holding buyers back is the belief they need 20% down — and how to dispel it - The power of comparing a PITI with MI payment to a rent payment — and the aha moments that follow - Why 19 years of renting could have been 19 years toward a paid-off mortgage - How HUD counselors are one of the most underutilized resources in the housing ecosystem — and how Nora deploys them at every event - Freddie Mac's free, multilingual Credit Smart financial literacy curriculum — and how to access it - Guild's Workforce Housing initiative: 22 teacher union partnerships and 11 programs that can help teachers live in the communities they serve - The Homium shared equity program: a 40% shared equity second with no monthly payment, already transforming Detroit - How Nora is inviting local politicians — from city council members to U.S. Senators — to her events and showing them the data firsthand - Why responsible access to credit and expanded access to credit are not opposing ideas - The generational opportunity: 50 million millennials who haven't bought yet, and Gen Z just entering the workforce Connect is the California MBA's podcast where strategy, innovation, and leadership come together to shape the future of mortgage finance. Subscribe for new episodes featuring the voices driving the industry forward.

Every lender is being pitched AI right now. But how many are actually implementing it successfully — and what separates the ones that do from the ones that don't? In this episode of Connect, California MBA CEO Paul Gigliotti sits down with Varant Herculian of JazzX AI for a candid, execution-focused conversation on what it actually takes to move from an exciting AI demonstration to real-world adoption inside a mortgage operation. Varant brings nearly three decades of mortgage industry experience — from originating loans to leading digital strategy and operational transformation — and now he's helping lenders reimagine their entire operating model with AI. This is not a product pitch. It's a masterclass in change management. In this episode: - Why the Frankenstein ecosystem of stacked point solutions is the core problem AI needs to solve — and what an intelligence layer actually means in practice - The difference between a point solution and a true end-to-end AI platform: connected decisions, shared context, and no rip-and-replace of existing systems - Why real adoption starts with business outcomes, not technology — and why the North Star metrics matter more than the implementation plan - The agile production launch philosophy: why five loans in a real production environment teaches you more than five months in a conference room - How to build a champion network, capture testimonials, and cascade adoption at scale - The two workflow scenarios every lender falls into — and how JazzX solves for both - Tunable autonomy: how lenders can start in recommendation-only mode and gradually increase AI autonomy as trust and evidence grow - How to establish baseline metrics from day one so ROI can be proven — not assumed - Why lenders are more open to upfront implementation costs than you'd think — if you can prove the value first Connect is the California MBA's podcast where strategy, innovation, and leadership come together to shape the future of mortgage finance. Subscribe for new episodes featuring the voices driving the industry forward.

Credit scoring is one of the most consequential — and least understood — topics in mortgage right now. And it's moving fast. In this episode of Connect, California MBA CEO Paul Gigliotti sits down with Devin Norales, Head of Mortgage and Capital Markets at FICO, for a deep-dive conversation on credit score modernization, FICO 10T, and what it means for lenders, originators, capital markets professionals, and the borrowers they serve. FICO is used by 90% of top US lenders and remains the standard for consumer credit risk. And now — with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac releasing more than a decade of loan-level FICO 10T data — the industry is finally positioned to take the next step toward adopting the most predictive credit scoring model ever built. In this episode: - What FICO 10T actually is — and what the "T" stands for (trended data) - Why 10T is a video, not a photo — and what that means for how lenders see borrower credit behavior - How 24 months of trended history changes the picture for borrowers who manage credit well but look risky at a single point in time - The rental data question: only 3.5 million of 77 million renters have data furnished to credit bureaus — and what FICO is doing about it - Improved treatment of authorized users, medical collections under $500, and what's new vs. classic FICO - FICO 10T for Free: the program already running with 70+ lenders that lets them receive 10T alongside their classic score at no extra cost - Why the VA space and non-QM are the first places lenders can start using 10T right now - How 10T can sharpen MSR pricing grids and improve secondary market execution - Why both scoring models should be implemented at the same time — and what chaos looks like if they aren't - What policymakers need to understand about credit modernization before layering on new regulation Connect is the California MBA's podcast where strategy, innovation, and leadership come together to shape the future of mortgage industry. Subscribe for new episodes featuring the voices driving the mortgage industry forward.

Lenders are spending more on technology than ever — and getting less return than they expected. Why? Because most of them don't know what they have, what it costs to run it, or whether it's actually delivering. In this episode of Connect, California MBA CEO Paul Gigliotti sits down with Vince Furey, who leads the mortgage vertical at MeridianLink, for a wide-ranging conversation on technology strategy, borrower experience, data, and what lenders need to focus on right now to be ready for the next cycle. Vince brings 30+ years of industry experience — from originating loans in 1992 to leading the mortgage platform at OpenClose before its acquisition by MeridianLink — and he doesn't hold back on what lenders are getting wrong or what the best operators are doing differently. In this episode: - Why the age of the first-time homebuyer has gone from 30 to 40 in just 10 years — and what that means for lenders - Why lenders' cost per loan has gone up 3-4X despite all the technology they've added — and what to do about it - The "purpose built for lender innovation" philosophy: why MeridianLink gives lenders full administrative control over their own workflows - How one MeridianLink client doubled their volume without doubling their staff - The Gen Z and late millennial borrower: why they want a fully digital experience that can pivot to human instantly — and what happens when lenders can't deliver that - Why data aggregation is king right now — and how MeridianLink's Insight BI platform lets lenders benchmark themselves against peers - How lenders can use their own data to identify and cure potential fair lending issues before regulators surface them with AI - Why MeridianLink Intelligence is built natively on the data layer — giving it a full 360-degree view of every loan Connect is the California MBA's podcast where strategy, innovation, and leadership come together to shape the future of mortgage finance. Subscribe for new episodes featuring the voices driving the industry forward.