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Issue link: http://digital.dsnews.com/i/632772
70 No one lasts 30 years in business without adapting to all the new normals that come along. Business practices change. Industries change. Sometimes whole industries can even change practically overnight, and if you're not already at the forefront when the world suddenly starts spinning in a new direction, you'll be an afterthought before your next coffee break. Property preservation and servicing is one of those whole-new-ballgame kind of industries these days. e difference between the industry today and what it was a mere 10 years ago is a lot like the difference between movies before and after 'Jurassic Park;' the difference between old, clunky technology that limited the ways things got done and slick ‒‒ but expensive ‒‒ computer- driven technology that opens up whole new worlds and possibilities. Celebrating a pearl anniversary at this particular juncture of history isn't something a lot of property preservation firms could boast. But then, that's the kind of unique positioning Mortgage Contracting Services, based in the Dallas area, likes about itself. MCS this year turns the big-3-0 at a time when others in the field are struggling under the weight of increasingly expensive and ever-more-technology- based regulations regarding security and financial responsibility in the real estate industry. at doesn't necessarily mean that things are easy for MCS. It just means MCS decided it would invest in its future. And that $35 million- plus invested in their technology platform has so far worked out pretty well. Its put MCS not just at the fore of the industry, but actually made them part of the conversation federal regulators have about the industry and the kinds of policies that need to be in place. is position at the front of the line shouldn't surprise those familiar with the property preservation industry over the past quarter- century or so. MCS has for a long time been among the most relevant companies in the field, even if that field used to be a lot smaller and more relaxed. Back in 1986, MCS was a small, regional firm based in Tampa, Fla. For most of the early years, the company grew, both in size and influence, but without any specific direction. When Caroline Reaves, the CEO of MCS, joined the firm in 2007, her job was to rein in the size and scale of the company from its newly built office in Plano that would eventually become the company's headquarters. She and John Maxwell, the COO, and with whom she worked at First American, were brought in to essentially chart a direction for the future. Restructuring and repurposing the company began at exactly the right time. Barely a year after Reaves came aboard, the bottom fell out of the economy with such force that the federal government rewrote most of the rules surrounding mortgages and the real estate industry. Quite suddenly, companies that had been operating in the property preservation realm were hit with new regulations for accountability and transparency. Under Reaves and Maxwell, MCS had no plans to wash away in the tide of new regulations. With a leaner, fitter company under their wings, the pair stacked its deck with experienced professionals who were equally long on integrity and good character. Among the first to join was Chad Mosley, an REO specialist who'd worked with Countrywide. Mosley joined as MCS's vice president of business development and is today a senior vice president. By 2011, MCS had hired Marc Hinkle, a longtime servicing manager who'd spent more than 17 years at PHH Mortgage, and who also is now a senior vice president at MCS. It was this foursome along with other seasoned mortgage servicing professionals who joined the team that propelled MCS into its spot at the top of an industry that has quite literally become too difficult for most firms to keep up with. S U C C E S S F O R M U L A / S C O T T M O R G A N SOLID AS A ROCK