Guild Mortgage – Depth and Breadth of Skills,
Experience Define the Management Team
Leadership Team Backgrounder
Guild Mortgage’s leadership team sets the tone for an organization that embraces the latest in technology and innovation that is characteristic of a large, nationally known company, while striving to provide the personalized customer service of a small business. Guild’s executives have extensive experience in the mortgage industry, along with expertise in finance, accounting, information technology, entrepreneurship and quality assurance. Together, they share a vision for growing the company while maintaining its core strengths and values.
As a result, Guild has grown from a single office in San Diego in 1960 to become one of the top independent mortgage banking companies in the western United States with more than 75 offices in 16 states. Guild’s growth strategy is focused on hiring and retaining the best talent. Leading the way is a senior management team with tenures at Guild averaging more than 20 years. They are:
Mary Ann McGarry, President and Chief Executive Officer
Mary Ann McGarry has been a member of Guild’s Board of Directors since 1988. She was named president in 2005 and CEO in 2007. Mary Ann leads the development and execution of the company’s strategic plans and objectives, and has been one of the driving forces in formulating and executing Guild’s financial, operational and technology strategies. Her experience within Guild is broad and deep and includes serving as senior vice president of loan administration and information technology, chief financial officer, chief production operations officer, and chief operating officer.
She began her career with Guild in 1984 as a supervisor in Internal Audit and within three years, she was promoted to senior vice president of loan administration and information technology. She reorganized the Loan Administration Division and led the development and creation of proprietary servicing software. She continued developing software applications to increase operational and financial efficiencies as she held a number of other executive positions throughout the years.
Prior to joining Guild, Mary Ann worked for the public accounting firm Peat, Marwick, Mitchell. She is a Certified Public Accountant and serves on the Investment Committee and the Servicing Committee of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), the Residential Board of Governors for the MBA and on the FNMA Advisory Council. Mary Ann received a B.B.A. degree in Accounting with a minor in Computer Science in 1980 from the University of San Diego.
Terry Schmidt, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Terry joined the company in 1985 and was named to the board of directors in 2006. She is responsible for the financial and investor reporting, budgeting, cash management, warehouse lending and human resource functions. She also plays a fundamental role in developing the company’s business strategy. She has developed sophisticated reporting systems for measuring branch performance as part of Guild’s entrepreneurial approach to profit-sharing at the branch level. Her range of versatility extends from the financial aspects of the business to product development, advertising, and systems design.
Terry is a graduate of the University of San Diego in 1984 with a B.B.A. in Accounting and has earned the following professional certifications: Certified Public Accountant candidate (CPA, 1989); Certified Financial Professional (CFP, 1992); and Certified Mortgage Banker (CMB, 2005). Terry is a member of the Mortgage Bankers Association Financial Management Committee and a member of the Board of Governors for the California Mortgage Bankers Association (2011).
Catherine Blocker, Production Operations Senior Vice President
Catherine joined Guild in 1998 with a background rooted in both wholesale and retail sales and operations at Weyerhaeuser Mortgage Company. Within two years, she was promoted to vice president with
responsibility for production training. In 2001, she was promoted to head production operations and assumed the leadership of underwriting and the branch operations service center. She was instrumental in reshaping the corporate culture with a goal of balancing prudent underwriting with effective customer service. She graduated from San Diego State University in 1980 with a B.A. in English.
Steve Hops, Production Senior Vice President
After 18 years of experience in mortgage banking at other firms, Steve came to Guild in 1994. He is responsible for the wholesale, correspondent, builder and direct lending divisions of the company. He began with Guild as regional manager responsible for production, quality, and profitability of 12
branches. In 1996, he assumed responsibility for all retail and wholesale production, and led the recruiting efforts for the company.
He is in contact with all levels of production management with regard to expanding builder business at the company. Steve attended San Diego State University. He is broker of record with the Department of Real Estate for Guild in California, the Primary Lending Officer in Utah, and served for nine years on the Board for the California Mortgage Bankers Association (CMBA).
Mike Rish, Secondary Marketing Senior Vice President
Mike joined the company in 1986. He started his mortgage training in Internal Audit, performing branch and investor compliance audits and was soon promoted to a position in Secondary Marketing. Mike has managed all aspects of the secondary marketing function to include branch and investor commitments, pipeline and inventory hedging and agency securitizations.
Mike is an integral part of product development and has designed various tools to facilitate the loan origination process, such as the company’s electronic loan finder and web-based loan lock systems. He is a graduate of the University of San Diego in 1984 with a B.B.A. in Accounting with an emphasis in Computer Science.
Theresa Cherry, Retail Production Senior Vice President
Theresa began her career with Guild in 1989 in loan servicing and has held diverse management positions with the company. Together with Barry Horn, Theresa is responsible for all retail production. Theresa is recognized as a leading presence at Guild, versatile and dynamic, with well-rounded industry knowledge, including inside and outside sales.
She was elevated to vice president in 1997 while serving as default manager in the Company’s
Foreclosure department. She later returned to production management responsibilities in Direct Lending, then in Guild’s Branch Operations Service Center, and, beginning in 2001, in Corporate Loan Production where she assumed responsibilities in managing and recruiting branches.
Theresa is a key member of the Guild production management team and product development committee. She has helped guide the design of web-accessible systems based on her extensive experience working with branch managers and as a loan officer direct to consumer. Theresa received a B.B.A. degree in 1987 from the University of San Diego.
Barry Horn, Retail Production Senior Vice President
Barry joined Guild in 2008, when the company acquired Liberty Financial Group, a full-service mortgage banking company based in Bellevue, Washington, and founded by Barry in 2001. His leadership skills kept his team strong before, during and after the transition to Guild. With Theresa Cherry, Barry is responsible for all retail production.
Including his service as Chairman and CEO of Liberty Financial Group, Barry brought to Guild more than 30 years of experience in executive management and entrepreneurial business operations. His executive management includes service as assistant to IBM’s Chairman of the Board, as executive vice president of worldwide sales of Attachmate Corporation, a $400 million software company, and as CEO of Saltmine LLC, an E-business web development and consulting company. His entrepreneurial experience includes forming New Link Corporation, a security software company, which he later sold to a
public company in Great Britain. Barry received a B.A. degree in Economics and Finance from Taylor University.
Linda Scott, Technology and Software Development Senior Vice President
Guild is one of the few regional mortgage banking firms to develop a custom-built information
technology system as part of its dedication to provide high levels of customer service, manage risk and maximize operational efficiency.
Linda oversees the company’s core business systems, infrastructure and services. She led the evolution of Guild’s information technology systems through key growth stages and provides leadership and project management in support of all Guild systems.
Starting in software development in 1985 as a programmer-analyst, Linda worked on a wide range of critical enterprise applications. She led the efforts on EDI (Electronic Data Interchange), the Year 2000 Project, web development, and many hardware and software upgrades.
Currently, Linda plays a central role in driving the strategy relative to product and services technology, architecture and infrastructure with a focus on improving organizational efficiency and effectiveness. Linda is a graduate of Coleman College with honors in software development.
Rhona Kaninau, Loan Administration Senior Vice President
Rhona joined the company in 1985 and is responsible for the overall operations of loan administration, managing bulk acquisition and sale of servicing as well as portfolio retention strategies. Rhona was the project coordinator in the design and implementation of an interactive voice response system and
streamlined refinance program to increase portfolio retention levels. Prior to coming to Guild, she worked for Bank of America in retail branch operations for 12 years. She is able to adjust to the needs of an ever-changing portfolio and maintain high service levels and low costs per loan. Her ability to organize, problem-solve, and effectively execute company objectives are vital to Guild. She is a member of the Mortgage Bankers Association Loan Administration Committee and the Diversity Task Force.
Lisa Klika, Compliance and Quality Assurance Vice President
Lisa is responsible for Guild’s risk management, compliance, quality assurance, and legal matters. Lisa manages state and federal regulatory agency filings, licensing, inquiries and audits, and analyzes regulatory changes and areas of risk to assess impact to the company.
She began with Guild in 2003 as a compliance analyst and held several positions including quality assurance analyst and quality assurance manager, before being promoted to vice president in 2007. Lisa graduated from Oregon State University, Corvallis, with a B.S. in Health and Human Performance. ###
For additional information, see www.guildmortgage.com Media Contacts: Gable PR – 619-284-1714 Tom Gable tom@gablepr.com Cell: 619-251-3881 Emily Forgeron Emily@gablepr.com Cell: 858-692-0505
