DS News

26 MOVERS & SHAKERS Got something to share with us? Send it to Editor@DSNews.com. LENDERS/SERVICERS AMERIFIRST HIRES SOUTHEAST REGIONAL MANAGER AmeriFirst Home Mortgage, a division of AmeriFirst Financial Corp. headquartered in Kalamazoo, Michigan, announced in November the addition of Jamie Brown, a 20-plus year mortgage industry veteran, as Southeast Regional Manager. In this role, Brown will oversee and drive AmeriFirst's expansion into Florida. He will work out of Winter Park and Tampa, Florida offices. AmerFirst was founded in 1983 by Mark Jones and David Gahm. Brown previously owned his own mortgage brokerage firm that he sold to Prospect Mortgage in 2010; he then served as Area Production Manager for them until 2012. He was then hired as a Market Leader at Movement Mortgage in October of 2012 to lead in the Orlando, Tampa Bay, and Sarasota markets, until he recently resigned his position to accept this new opportunity with AmeriFirst. SERVICE PROVIDERS ASSURANT WELCOMES NEW LEADERSHIP Assurant, Inc. announced that Marc Connelly has joined Assurant Mortgage Solutions as National Sales Director—with his primary focus being on growing the title and origination valuations product lines for Assurant. Connelly's previous roles include EVP of Business Development at McDonnell and Associates, P.A., a multistate general practice law firm with a focus on real estate law, title development, and settlement services. He also served as a Managing Partner at Epic Real Estate Solutions, where he was responsible for strategic and consultative sales, as well as implementing a revolutionary new technology in response to regulatory changes relevant to lenders, realtors, title agents, and consumers. "Marc's deep background in sales and business development is matched by knowledge and insights into our industry," said Dan Hoppes, SVP, Mortgage Solutions at Assurant. DIMONT ANNOUNCES EXPANDING STAFF DIMONT, a Dallas- based provider of insurance claims adjusting and collateral loss mitigation services to the residential mortgage-and auto-lending industries, announced the addition of three industry experts to its staff. Lynette Richter will serve as the new Director of Investor Claims for DIMONT, with a focus on ensuring compliance with investor and insurer requirements and guidelines. Richter's vast experience includes over 35 years in claims and default management in the mortgage servicing industry. Taylor urman has been appointed Client Development Director, Auto Claims. Suzi Straffon is set to serve as Director of Engagement Marketing. MORTGAGE VETERAN ROBERT CARUSO RETIRES FROM SERVICELINK Mortgage industry veteran Robert J. Caruso has retired as Division President of Servicing for ServiceLink. With more than 20 years' experience, prior to ServiceLink Caruso was the Executive Managing Director, Transaction Services, at Lender Processing Services; the Servicing and Post-Closing Executive for the Consumer Real Estate and Insurance Services Group at Bank of America; — EVP of Servicing Operations at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, plus held senior management positions at Chase and C&S Bank. Despite news of his retirement, Caruso announced that he will be launching a new Keep up with who's doing what and who went where servicing venture—ServiceMac. e startup will be uniquely positioned to buy mortgage companies and with Caruso at the helm, will work to manage a wide array of servicing portfolios. "From its outset, ServiceMac will be customer and investor focused with a strong commitment to compliance in order to address the challenges mortgage professionals are facing today," said Caruso. "The mortgage industry has had the privilege of Bob's leadership for many years. His leadership and contributions have been instrumental to the progress of servicing on so many fronts. He is truly legendary in this business. While I congratulate him on retirement from ServiceLink, I am happy to see he will continue to have a positive impact on our industry." — Ray Barbone, EVP, BankUnited

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