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MortgagePoint » Your Trusted Source for Mortgage Banking and Servicing News 32 October 2023 C O V E R S T O R Y A uthentic human connection and empathy are the keys to building great technology products. This is the core belief of PhoenixTeam, a technology company that specializes exclusively in the design, delivery, and care of mortgage technology solutions in the federal government and commercial spaces. "PhoenixTeam is in the business of people. We celebrate the power of relation- ships, empathy, and intellectual curiosity," said Tanya Brennan, Managing Partner and CEO of PhoenixTeam. "Great teams make great software." PhoenixTeam refers to each of its team members as practitioners, an ode to the continuous journey of practice and learning that is required to create delightful products. PhoenixTeam's prac- titioners form and lead empowered teams to develop a deep understanding of their client's problems and discover the optimal solutions. Brennan says that as practi- tioners, we know the best way to overcome a challenge is to roll up our sleeves, ask questions, and learn by doing the work. Often referencing a popular Theo- dore Roosevelt quote (seen on page 34) to inspire practitioners to take chances, PhoenixTeam encourages its team mem- bers to learn through failure and to pursue ambitious goals on behalf of its clients. As Roosevelt said, "… The credit belongs to the (person) who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly …" Bren- nan said, "That is PhoenixTeam, through and through." In the Right Place, At the Right Time T he founders of PhoenixTeam—Tanya Brennan, Tela Mathias, and Tom Westerlind—first met in 2001, fresh out of college working as entry-level manage- ment consultants who aspired to make a difference. Tela, Tom, and Tanya, who together refer to themselves as "T3," were each assigned to a multiyear project to support Department of Veterans Af- fairs (VA) Loan Guaranty Service (LGY) through its major redesign of the LGY program to include regulatory, operation- al, and technology changes. From the beginning, T3 knew that one day they would start their own company. "The goal was to build a company we would want to be a part of," said Tela Mathias, Managing Partner and COO of Phoenix- Team. "We wanted to create a great place for the talented people we already knew in the field, people that had been with us for years and years, while making a real differ- ence for the mortgage industry, both on the federal and the commercial side." PhoenixTeam officially launched as a minority, woman-owned small business in 2015, just as the industry was imple- menting the new TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) Rule. "Looking back, it was an opportune time to start," said Tom Westerlind, Managing Partner and CFO of PhoenixTeam. "We were in the arena with our customers, working side by side to implement TRID on a tight timeline. We were able to help our customers be successful during a difficult time, and word spread from there." With more work coming in, Phoe- nixTeam hired its first two practitioners, Lindsay Bennett and Melanie Lewis. Both quickly took on client engagement leadership roles and went on to lead two of PhoenixTeam's biggest commercial accounts. In 2019, they became the first two team members invited to join the Phoenix- Team ownership group as Partners. Since then, the company has grown from a team of five to over 130 passionate, dynamic, and creative humans. "They say you become who you surround yourself with, and I first joined PhoenixTeam because of the opportunity to reunite with a remarkable group of individuals who had left a lasting impact on me, both personally and profession- ally," said Chase Carpenter, Managing Practitioner. To date, PhoenixTeam's growth has been organic and 100% via personal referrals from its clients and practitioners. PHOENIXTEAM IN THE ARENA MortgagePoint explores how a minority, women-owned small business stays on the frontlines of ever-changing mortgage tech. B y T H E F I V E S T A R E D I T O R I A L T E A M & P H O E N I X T E A M