BUSINESS OPERATIONS TRACK: Financial and Operational Considerations in the Servicing Retained/Released Decision in a Volatile Market

Seth D. Sprague, CMB

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.

Aaron Iuteri

Senior Vice President, Client Experience, Servbank

With over 40 years in the financial sector, Aaron Iuteri has played a pivotal role in developing and implementing servicing solutions that prioritize regulatory compliance and customer satisfaction. His leadership has been instrumental in reducing client escalations, thereby bolstering Servbank’s reputation as a premier subservicing solution. Before joining Servbank, Iuteri was a licensed debt collection manager for a national component servicer and the head of retail for a local commercial financial institution. Throughout his career, he has consistently delivered top-tier solutions, minimized regulatory exposure, and enhanced overall customer satisfaction for his servicing clients. His keen understanding of the evolving regulatory landscape and market trends has made him an invaluable asset in product development.

Cristi Richey

Vice President, Business Account Management Solutions, Fannie Mae Single Family

Cristi Richey is Vice President of Business Account Management Solutions – Single Family Business. She leads the mortgage servicing strategy for all Fannie Mae customer facing teams, including but not limited to, relationship and performance management of approximately 1,400 servicers. Her organization is responsible for day-to-day monitoring of servicer performance focused on enabling safe and sound risk management, strengthening the servicing infrastructure and leading relationships of Fannie Mae approved servicers. She creates alignment on the servicing strategy across the company and ensures proactive decision-making to safeguard 17.6 million loans ($3.6 trillion UPB) of Fannie Mae’s Single-Family Servicing portfolio. Richey and her team leverage Fannie Mae products, tools, and resources to drive towards the mission of improving access to equitable and sustainable housing and enhancing Fannie Mae’s financial and risk position. She joined Fannie Mae in January of 2010 and has held various roles during her tenure within the Single-Family Servicing organization, including Servicing Relationship Management and Performance Oversight, Servicer Response Team, and the Mortgage Default Counsel relationship and oversight team. Prior to joining Fannie Mae, she worked at Homecomings Financial and GMAC Mortgage. Richey has a Bachelor of Science in Family and Consumer Sciences and Fashion Merchandising from Abilene Christian University.

Chris Sabbe

Vice President, Sub Servicing Product Executive, PHH Mortgage

Chris Sabbe joined PHH in 2017 and manages growth for PHH’s Residential, Commercial, and Reverse Subservicing units. He has helped PHH grow its servicing book to more than 1.4 million loans ($300 billion UPB), driving PHH to become the most highly decorated servicer in the U.S. over the past 3 years through the Fannie Mae STAR and Freddie Mac SHARP programs for servicing excellence. As a subservicing executive for the past 20 years, Sabbe has closed more than $150 billion+ in subservicing, co-issue, and recapture transactions. He has also built two subservicers from the ground up, managed projects in 8 different countries and held leadership positions at CoreLogic, LenderLive, Walter Investment, and Arthur Andersen.