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MortgagePoint » Your Trusted Source for Mortgage Banking and Servicing News 34 August 2023 F E A T U R E boom of the COVID-19 years emerged to collide with the realities of inflation, with the Federal Reserve beginning a series of rate hikes designed to slow the inflationary pressures, but which also put a damper on the originations sector. Potential homebuyers started considering their options as mortgage rates crept higher and housing inventory shortages, already a challenge before the COVID-19 years, became exacerbated even further as many homeowners felt reluctant to sell or move since that would mean leaving their old, much lower, rates behind. In January 2023, Thorn's role at Wells Fargo faced a new development: the bank announced it would be stepping back from the multitrillion-dollar U.S. mortgage market amid regulatory pressure and the impact of higher interest rates. As part of this shift, Wells Fargo announced it would be shutter- ing its correspondent business and "sig- nificantly" shrinking its mortgage servicing portfolio through asset sales. "We are acutely aware of Wells Fargo's history since 2016 and the work we need to do to restore public confidence," said Kleber R. Santos, Senior EVP and CEO of Consumer Lending for Wells Fargo. "As part of that review, we determined that our home lend- ing business was too large, both in terms of overall size and its scope." Now nearly two years into her role at Wells Fargo, Ann Thorn took some time to speak with MortgagePoint about her three- decade career in mortgage, how she and her team are working to achieve the bank's new vision for its servicing portfolio, and why it's critical to have the right people and processes in place, as, when it comes to mortgage ser- vicing, "there is always a next crisis." The View From Two (or 30) Years In W hen asked if her career has shaped out the way she once envisioned it, Thorn laughs and responds, "I don't think you wake up one day and say, 'I'm going to be a mort- gage servicer,' you know?" Thorn's pre-mortgage career began in outside sales, selling copiers out of the back of her car in South Chicago. From there, she moved on to selling industrial chemicals, as she puts it, "pounding on the back doors of huge plants." Eventually, she decided she wanted something different. She eventually found work at Fleet Mortgage in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, making, as she recollects, around $11,000 a year. "It just grew from there," says Thorn, "and I never got out of it." Fleet Mortgage was acquired by Wash- ington Mutual in 2001, and then eventually by JPMorgan Chase, but Thorn remained a constant at the organization through multiple changes of signs and stationery, rising to the rank of First VP of Default Services and even- tually racking up more than 20 years with the company, finally leaving in June 2011, when she moved over to roles at Bank of America. Rarely a short-timer, she stayed with BofA for more than a decade before accepting a position with Caliber Home Loans, where she served as Chief Loan Administration Officer. That gig lasted about two and a half years— until Wells Fargo came knocking on her door. One of the things Thorn most enjoyed about her career path through some of the biggest financial entities in the world was the opportunity to move around within the organizations, to learn the ropes for origina- tions, servicing, and operations, both within the mortgage sector and even the automotive side of things. "I like change," Thorn told MortgagePoint. "So, here I am, 30-some-odd years later and still in servicing because it is ever-changing. Every day is a challenge, and I learn some- thing new every single day." That was no doubt a useful philosophy to adhere to for someone stepping into managing Wells Fargo's massive portfolio amid and after the challenges of COVID-19, to say nothing of now being issued the task of shrinking and rethinking that very same portfolio to hew to the bank's new direction. Even with Wells Fargo scaling back its mortgage commitment, there were still plenty of challenges to be managed as homeowners continued to exit forbearance and deal with an economy that industry soothsayers have been predicting would tip into a recession for months now. When asked about how she prioritized her approach when she first joined Wells, Thorn said, "Some of the biggest items we had to tackle [involved] ensuring I had a servicing organization structured to handle the overarching issues. I needed to ensure we had the right talent in the right positions, and I spent the better part of the first 18 months ensuring that we had that structure and getting the right talent in place. It was no "I like change. So, here I am, 30-some- odd years later and still in servicing because it is ever- changing. Every day is a challenge, and I learn something new every single day."