BREAKOUT SESSION: Evaluating Investments in Mortgage Servicing Rights

Founder & Chief Executive Officer, BSI Financial Services

Gagan is a seasoned entrepreneur and executive with 20+ years of experience in financial services and technology. He enjoys solving challenging customer problems in the financial sector and has a proven track record of bringing startup concepts to life and scaling for success, including successfully exiting and selling a global financial services and technology outsourcing company. Since leading an investment group to acquire BSI from a bank in 2006, he has transformed the company from a small loan servicer into a fast growing and leading nationwide mortgage fintech, fostering 70X growth since the acquisition. BSI was named on the Inc. Magazines’ Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies for two years and on The Dallas 100 list of fastest growing companies in North Texas for four consecutive years. Gagan was the finalist for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year in the Southwest Region in 2017. He is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO). Gagan has an MBA from The Wharton School at The University of Pennsylvania and a B Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Chief Investment Officer and Head Economist, loanDepot.com, LLC

As chief investment officer and head economist, Jeff DerGurahian leads the company’s secondary and capital markets efforts and delivers data-driven insights at the crossroads of the US economy and mortgage and housing markets. Through extensive research, DerGurahian and his team analyze the factors facing today’s unprecedented markets, forecasting mortgage origination and macroeconomic trends to shape loanDepot’s business strategy. Among his responsibilities are investor relations, loan trading, hedging, pricing strategies and product development. Jeff joined loanDepot in 2012, shortly after the company was founded. Over the course of the last decade, Jeff has served as a valued advisor and supported the company by enhancing and expanding loan sale execution channels and financing facilities, including establishing three de novo sponsors for private label securitizations. He has also overseen the growth of the mortgage servicing rights portfolio and in-house servicing platform. Before joining loanDepot, Jeff served as executive vice president, capital markets for Prospect Mortgage, LLC (formerly MetroCities Mortgage). Prior to that, he worked as a hedge manager at Tuttle Risk Management Services. Jeff graduated from the University of Virginia with a Bachelor of Science in Finance.

CFO, Plaza Home Mortgage, Inc.

Michelle Richardson is the SVP and Chief Financial Officer at Plaza Home Mortgage, Inc., a privately owned, full-service national correspondent and wholesale lender. An industry veteran with more than 20 years of financial and operational experience, Ms. Richardson joined Plaza in 2019. Prior to Plaza, she was Vice President of Treasury at loanDepot and earlier held finance positions with Icon Residential, T-Force, and IMPAC Mortgage. In her current role, she oversees Accounting, Financial Analysis, Treasury, Payroll, Facilities and Administration and has extensive experience in strategic planning, revenue maximization, cost efficiency, timely and accurate financial reporting and the development of effective systems and controls. Ms. Richardson has her Masters in Accounting and is a Certified Mortgage Banker (CMB) as well as a Certified Treasury Professional CTP).

Director, Consulting Services, Richey May

With extensive experience in mortgage banking and mortgage servicing, Seth Sprague leads the Mortgage Banking Consulting Services practice at Richey May. A sought-after speaker, he often speaks on liquidity and the overall challenges in the mortgage industry. Sprague joined Richey May from the STRATMOR Group where he was a principal. Prior to joining STRATMOR, he was EVP of Trading and Analytics at Phoenix Capital. Sprague also served as SVP, Servicing Asset Manager at SunTrust Mortgage for more than 10 years, where he developed and led their servicing rights valuation team. His career also includes accounting, analytics and auditing roles at Bank of America, KPMG LLP, and United Financial Inc. Seth holds the designation of Certified Mortgage Banker (CMB) from the MBA.

President and Chief Executive Officer, United Capital Markets, Inc.

Austin Tilghman is the founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of UCM, one of the leading MSR Hedge Advisory firms. In that role, he is responsible for overall management as well as marketing and trading supervision. Mr. Tilghman is a thirty-five year veteran of the mortgage-backed securities and interest rate derivatives markets. While at J.P. Morgan, Austin ran the mortgage banking desk and headed a design team to offer the first MSR specific products to mortgage bankers. Austin is a frequent panelist at national and state conferences.