Thank you to everyone who attended the Annual Meeting & Expo.
Registered attendees can access copies of the PowerPoint slides by following the directions below. Links to the audio recordings will be added at a later date.
Accessing Session Recordings and Slides
- Login to NRMLAonline.org with your username and password
- Once you’re logged in, come back to this page and look for the Documents tab located at the top of this page next to the Registration Fees tab
- Once you click the Documents tab, the session slides will be displayed in the same order they were presented in the agenda.
If you need assistance, please email Darryl Hicks, VP,, Communications, at dhicks@dworbell.com.
Nick Turansky is the National Account Director at Appraisal Logistics, leading provider of high-quality appraisal management technology and compliance solutions for the residential mortgage industry. Before joining Appraisal Logistics, Nick served as National Sales Director for LenderX. Prior to his experience on the technology side, he served as Vice-President at Community National Bank and was a Regional Banking Manager for MetLife Bank. He started his career as a Branch Manager/AVP for Roslyn Savings Bank (formerly Roosevelt Savings Bank) and then as Senior Branch Manager for Accredited Home Lenders.
Mark O’Neil joined Reverse Mortgage Funding as the firm’s first wholesale account executive in 2013. Since 2015, he has run third-party sales for the firm and has overseen growth of the channel, helping RMF become one of the leading investors in the country. Mark has nearly 20 years of combined experience in the reverse mortgage industry, including work in settlement and retail origination. Mark holds BA and BS degrees from the University of Massachusetts, where he graduated Manga Cum Laude, and a JD from Boston College Law School.
Tim Wilkinson, Vice President of Capital Markets and Pricing, has over 15 years of experience in financial markets, primarily in mortgages, with a focus in the reverse segment. He has experience in a variety of roles, ranging from loan trading and portfolio management to operations and systems implementation. Tim was one of the initial participants in the HMBS market and was involved in proprietary reverse mortgage securitization while at Lehman Brothers. Tim has extensive interest rate and credit hedging experience, and at Aurora Bank FSB, was responsible for daily pricing for mortgage origination. During his tenure at Longbridge, Tim was instrumental in obtaining Ginnie Mae HMBS Issuer approval, and since that time Tim has managed the issuance of over $7bn of HMBS pools. Tim has played a key role in Longbridge’s development of proprietary reverse mortgage products, as well as being responsible for pricing across all of Longbridge’s origination channels.
Julia R. Gordon serves as the Assistant Secretary for Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Ms. Gordon was nominated for this role by President Biden and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 12, 2022. Ms. Gordon brings to HUD more than 30 years of experience in housing finance, policy, and advocacy in both the public and private sectors. Throughout her career, Ms. Gordon has been both a strong advocate for and hands-on practitioner working to achieve equal justice, fairness and equity in housing, and consumer protections. As Assistant Secretary for Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner, Ms. Gordon is responsible for HUD’s policies, programs, and operations supporting the nation’s homebuyers, homeowners, renters, and communities. Prior to joining HUD, Ms. Gordon was most recently the President of the National Community Stabilization Trust (NCST) from 2019-2022 and Executive Vice President of NCST from 2015-2019. At NCST, Ms. Gordon was a passionate advocate and leader for housing equality and neighborhood investment, launching multiple new initiatives supporting neighborhood stabilization and affordable housing.
Tim Rood is Head of Government and Industry Relations for SitusAMC. In his role, Mr. Rood interfaces with policymakers and influencers on matters related to residential, multifamily, and commercial industries. Prior to joining SitusAMC, Mr. Rood served as the Chairman of The Collingwood Group, which he co-founded in 2009. Mr. Rood was also co-founder and managing director of the firm’s predecessor company, Capital Financial Solutions. The Collingwood Group’s primary focus is in the financial services sector, and the firm offers advisory and consultative services combined with access to decision-makers, financial sponsors, corporate boards, and senior industry executives. Mr. Rood brings nearly three decades of mortgage industry and entrepreneurial experience to SitusAMC. He advises organizations to optimize the business opportunities and to mitigate and manage the risks in and around Washington, DC. Mr. Rood is a sought-after and regular contributor to various national media outlets including CNBC, Bloomberg Television, FOX Business News, Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and the American Banker.
Joseph DeMarkey is the strategic business development leader of Reverse Mortgage Funding LLC. He is also responsible for government and industry relations. Previously, he was an assistant vice president at MetLife Bank, N.A., where he was responsible for sales management, product development, strategic business development and government and industry relations for the reverse mortgage division beginning in 2008. From 1998 to 2008, DeMarkey was a vice president at EverBank Reverse Mortgage Co. (formerly BNY Mortgage Company) where he managed retail sales and government and industry relations. He has served on NRMLA’s Board of Directors since 2003, was co-chairman from 2007 to 2009 and from 2012 to 2018 and currently serves as chairman of the Executive Committee.
Christopher Mayer is co-founder and CEO of Longbridge Financial, LLC, where he has led the growth of the company to a market leader and top-five issuer of HECM Mortgage-Backed Securities. Longbridge has worked with financial services companies to help bring reverse mortgages to a broader audience and introduced its industry-leading Platinum private-label reverse mortgage. The company has also developed a data and research program on reverse mortgages that allows it to identify and examine new opportunities. In his career as a professor, Dr. Mayer is a renowned expert on housing, credit markets, and securitization at Columbia Business School. He serves as the Paul Milstein Professor of Real Estate at Columbia Business School and holds affiliations with Standard & Poor’s, the Urban Institute, and the National Bureau of Economic Research. Dr. Mayer holds a BA in math and economics from the University of Rochester with highest honors and a PhD in economics from MIT.
Steven J. Sless has nearly 20 years of mortgage industry experience, including 16 years devoted to reverse mortgages. He also is one of the only mortgage professionals to have earned the CLTC®: Certified Long-Term Care designation, demonstrating that he also has acquired the critical tools necessary to discuss the subject of longevity and its acute consequences on a client’s family – financially, physically and emotionally – years down the road. Prior to joining Primary Residential Mortgage, Inc. (PRMI) in 2019, he served as a Top Producing Loan Originator for Maverick Funding Corp, Branch Director for Home Point Financial and National Reverse Mortgage Director for US Mortgage Corp. After starting his tenure at PRMI as Division Manager, he opened The Steven J. Sless Group of PRMI, the Company’s first retail branch dealing exclusively with reverse mortgages. In 2021, The Sless Group opened its second branch in California and Steven was promoted to Division President and Reverse Mortgage Leader overseeing all reverse mortgage related activities across the entire organization.
Melanie Parks has been focusing on helping people attain a more financially secure retirement since 2003. Starting out as a Reverse Mortgage Loan Officer, she directly assisted hundreds of senior homeowners to unlock equity in their homes and secure a less stressful retirement. Through her efforts with homeowners Melanie quickly became the Top Producing Reverse Mortgage Loan Officer in the San Diego market. In 2013, Melanie brought her experience to American Advisors Group as Vice President of National Field Sales where she led the company’s west coast sales presence. After nine years with AAG, Melanie joined Longbridge Financial to launch their new National Field Sales Division as its Vice President. In this role, Melanie continues to build the National Field Sales team and works tirelessly to equip them with resources they need to be successful. She is excited to continue this work with homeowners on a larger scale as she aids her sales teams in the pursuit to demystify reverse mortgages.
Chris Orestis, CSA, President of Retirement Genius, is a nationally recognized financial, health/LTC, and retirement issues expert. He has over 25 years’ experience in the insurance and long-term care industries and is credited with pioneering the Long-Term Care Life Settlement over a decade ago. Known as a political insider and senior issues advocate, Orestis is a former Washington, D.C. lobbyist who has worked in both the White House and for the Senate Majority Leader on Capitol Hill.
As Vice President of National Accounts, Carmen develops and supports a nationwide network of home care and other senior care providers for Veterans Home Care’s brands. Carmen is responsible for these valued stakeholder relationships, identifying sales opportunities and developing comprehensive growth strategies for all parties involved. Carmen’s 20+ years of healthcare administration experience spans multiple levels of care from physician practices to renown hospitals and rehabilitation services. Having an extensive consulting background and subject matter expertise in VA Aid and Attendance benefits for older adult care, she’s a well-received speaker, podcast guest and presenter. Carmen serves on the Home Care Association of America’s (HCAOA) Veterans Affairs Committee and serves as a board member for the National Aging In Place Council, (NAIPC) with whom she co-wrote a book on senior care.
Kelly Rogers is a Certified Gerontologist with more than 28 years of experience working with seniors and their families. She has a strong passion to educate and advocate for seniors, and her background in both senior care and financing makes her a perfect fit as the National Sales & Business Development Coach at Longbridge Financial, LLC. As a previous Senior Care Agency owner and co-founder, she uniquely understands the many challenges that agencies and seniors face. This experience has ignited a spark in her to educate people about additional ways to overcome the retirement and senior care crisis. Kelly is passionate about assisting seniors, their families, and care providers through the inclusion of housing wealth in retirement and care planning. This approach allows a higher quality of life, greater caregiver retention, better care for our seniors, and prevents costly and unnecessary hospital re-admittances. Kelly’s drive in life is truly helping seniors and their families understand how they can afford the proper services and care they deserve.
Gail Balettie is Senior Vice President, Client Satisfaction for Celink. Prior to Celink, she spent 12 years at Financial Freedom Senior Funding Corporation where she initially served as First Vice President, National Production Operations Manager before moving over to servicing in 2011. Her reverse mortgage servicing experience has included leading borrower-facing functions, such as the call center, line of credit draws, payoffs and payment plan changes, as well as end of loan functions, like HUD Claims and Assignments. Balettie has over 25 years of mortgage operations and management experience, including 16 years in the reverse mortgage space. Balettie co-chairs NRMLA’s Servicing Committee and she is also active on the HUD Issues Committee. Balettie attended the University of Texas in Austin, majoring in Business Administration.
Rex Lamb joined Celink in June, 2018, as part of the Financial Freedom acquisition. He and has over 25 years of mortgage operations, compliance, and management experience. Mr. Lamb is responsible for managing the Celink Risk Department which includes Risk Management, Escalations, Quality Control, Vendor Management, and State Licensing. Prior to joining Celink, Mr. Lamb was with Financial Freedom as Director of Late Stage Default including Foreclosure, REO, and Bankruptcy. Prior to joining Financial Freedom, Mr. Lamb held officer titles at Selene Finance and Litton Loan Servicing in Houston, TX. He was responsible for servicing compliance, default operations, and analytics in various positions. Mr. Lamb is an active member of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association.
Ken Frye has over 30 years of Financial Services experience, including both forward and reverse loan servicing. In his current role as the Chief Operations Officer for PHH Reverse Servicing, Ken is responsible for all aspects of reverse servicing operations. Prior to joining PHH, Ken held various executive level positions within the mortgage industry, including Executive Vice President of Reverse Servicing for Ditech Mortgage. From 1998 to 2010, Ken was Head of Servicing and Senior Vice President of Wilshire Credit Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Merrill Lynch. Ken started his financial career in Public Accounting focusing on Financial Services, which included roles with Ernst and Young as well as US Bank.
Dr. Pfau is Professor of Retirement Income at The American College of Financial Services, a higher education institution for financial planners. He serves as co-editor of the Journal of Personal Finance. He also hosts the 
Lon Fuentes is a strategy consultant who specializes in helping sales professionals achieve breakthrough productivity. As a certified executive coach, his passion and expertise revolve around practical applications of behavioral and cognitive techniques for personal transformation. He uses proven tools from behavioral science (strengths research, sales call reluctance, motivational mapping, applied neurobiology) in crafting customized, high performance coaching solutions for individuals and sales teams. Lon was the former Chief Administrative Officer of Financial Freedom, where he was responsible for the Office of Strategy Development, Human Resources, Strategic Communications, Training and Development, and Organizational Strategy. He started his career as a management consultant for Ernst and Young, after obtaining his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Jim is a founding member of the Weiner Brodsky law firm, who advises clients on strategic business initiatives, federal compliance and regulatory matters, mergers and acquisitions, asset purchases and sales, and secondary mortgage market transactions. As a former HUD Deputy Assistant Secretary, he has deep experience in FHA and Ginnie Mae (as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) requirements, issues and opportunities, and also is Co-General Counsel of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association. Jim is a Director of Enterprise Community Development, the nation’s sixth largest affordable housing developer and community owner with over a billion dollars of investments in 16,000 homes in 110 communities in the mid-Atlantic.
Jim Milano is a member of the law firm of Weiner Brodsky Kider PC, based in Washington DC, where he practices in the areas of mortgage banking, consumer finance, financial institutions and mortgage and secured transactions law. Milano serves as co-general counsel to the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association and is nationally recognized as one of the leading lawyers in the area of reverse mortgage law. A significant portion of Milano’s practice focuses on matters involving the marketing, origination and investment in, and servicing of, reverse mortgages.
Sergey Dyakin has extensive experience in managing technology development for mortgage and investment analysis products, as well as a deep expertise in modeling, acquisition, servicing and securitization. Prior to joining Celink, he was the founder of Aldan Group, a consulting company focused on cloud adoption by financial services companies. Dyakin’s involvement in reverse mortgages began at New York-based Fortress Investment Group from 2010 through 2016. During his time there, Dyakin helped Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc. create from scratch a leading reverse mortgage servicing business (Champion Mortgage).
Thomas’ expertise is a blend of business and technology. He holds a master’s in computer science from the Swiss Institute of Technology as well as an Executive MBA from UNC. With 40 years of experience in technology companies — 15 years thereof as reverse mortgage technology executive — our industry is in his DNA. Thomas holds multiple patents, including patents on reverse mortgage technologies. Before starting QuantumReverse, he built and sold his old company, ReverseVision.
Stephen Ryczek is the President of Constellation Mortgage Solutions (CMS), a provider of enterprise mortgage loan origination and servicing technology, where he drives technology initiatives. As President since 2019, he is successfully positioning the company as a leading digital enterprise loan origination and servicing technology for the residential mortgage industry. Stephen also plays a key role with CMS’ parent company – Constellation Software Inc. – with key involvement in new acquisitions that continues to build Constellation’s fintech footprint in the mortgage industry. Under his leadership, he oversees multiple companies and drives cross-functional growth.
Peter Bell is the founder and CEO of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association. He has a 45-year background as a housing policy analyst and advocate in Washington, DC. In addition to his work on reverse mortgages and retirement finance issues, he is a nationally recognized authority on affordable housing development and finance issues and is frequently called upon to testify before Congress or advise federal agencies on housing matters. In addition to NRMLA, Bell also serves as the CEO of two other national trade associations, National Aging in Place Council and the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association.
As president of NRMLA, Steve Irwin oversees the association’s initiatives to serve as an educational resource, policy advocate and public affairs center for consumers, lenders and related professionals. His background includes experience with strategic planning, organizational design, portfolio acquisition, risk management and quality control. He received his B.A. from Grinnell College and his MBA from the University of San Francisco.
Michael Kent has served as President of Liberty Reverse Mortgage since April 2015. Before joining Liberty, Kent spent four years at Reverse Mortgage Solutions, Inc. (RMS) where he was President of Loan Originations. In addition to his reverse background, he has over 30 years of “forward” mortgage experience and he has held leadership roles across various lending functions, including sales, operations, and secondary markets. He currently serves as Co-Chairman of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association. Michael was born and raised in Chicago and attended Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. He is active in several non-for-profits working in the areas of homelessness, world hunger and women’s cancer.
A 27-year mortgage banker, Scott Norman led the original campaign to amend the Texas Constitution to authorize reverse mortgages in the state in 1999, when he founded the Texas Association of Reverse Mortgage Lenders. He later closed the very first reverse mortgage loan in Texas. Norman has also testified numerous times before the legislatures of California, Arkansas and Minnesota to help craft legislation to protect senior homeowners around the country. He got his start in the mortgage business in Austin in 1993, later becoming President of the Austin Mortgage Bankers Association. Norman is currently the vice president of Field Retail and Government Relations for Finance of America Reverse and he serves as Co-Chairman of NRMLA’s Board of Directors for the 2021-2022 term.
