Rising to the Top continued from page 19 Formalizing Mentorship Brown has been a strong believer in mentoring almost since the start of her professional career, which was in sports marketing. She described the atmosphere as combative and unhealthy. “This experience showed me firsthand how important it is to foster a supportive and empathetic work environment, which, ultimately, sparked my deep commitment to mentorship,” Brown says. One of her biggest mentors was Brett Musgrove, founder and president of construction company PrimeCo, where she worked before coming to FAR. She didn’t see Musgrove as a mentor at the time, but he offered executive leadership coaching and encouraged her to reach out to other female leaders in the male-dominated construction industry. “At times, it was challenging,” Brown says. “But with Brett’s guidance, I strengthened my hard and soft skills and learned how to build a cohesive sales team that could work together and still be competitive.” Today, Brown strives to formalize mentorships wherever she goes. At FAR, the mentorship program she helped create tracks how often mentors and mentees meet and whether they are meeting the goals they set. The insights allow FAR to improve the program and demonstrate its value to senior leaders, Brown says. “We have seen increased retention and more promotions across the organization, in part, because of this program,” she says, noting that mentorship programs also support external business goals related to product innovation and meeting the financial needs of retirees. “To accomplish this, you need to support the hardworking, dedicated employees within the organization,” she says. “If employees are not supported by their leaders and aren’t offered the appropriate tools and resources, they are likely not going to show up as their best selves.” Kellan Brown Senior Vice President of Business Development and Strategic Partnerships, Finance of America Reverse Kellan Brown Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Kellan Brown was in a high-level business development position at a firm in the construction industry. “I was slated for a promotion with even more responsibility—and big implications for my family and me,” she says. “Once the pandemic started, things changed for me. I mulled over this move with my husband, a first responder, who teaches me every day about the importance of committing to helping people and being there for one another.” As she thought about it more, she knew she needed to take on a larger caregiver role and take a step back from her career. “While this change was difficult and somewhat unexpected, I wanted to get out there and check in with my network of close friends and mentors to see what opportunities might be available,” she says. Through her networking, she connected with an executive at Finance of America Reverse (FAR) who gave her insights into the industry. “Once I understood the product and how it could truly change someone’s life for the better, I accepted the role at FAR, buckled down and started building initiatives that would differentiate us from other lenders in the space,” she says. Brown now leads FAR’s retirement strategies division and executes strategic initiatives aimed at empowering financial professionals with the resources and tools needed to best serve clients as they plan for retirement. A big part of her job is connecting with people across the financial services industry so they can learn more about FAR and what the company is working toward. “I have been with FAR for a little over two years, and it has been a very rewarding experience,” she says. 20 REVERSE MORTGAGE / JULY–AUGUST 2023
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