September 2007 - Interest Notes

In this issue:

Dispelling the Mortgage Meltdown Myth By Stacey Harding, CML Chairman of the Board

Future Mortgage Leaders of Colorado Program holds first class

The Value of the CML Designation

Mtg. Ins. Agency(Advertisement)

Future Mortgage Leaders of Colorado holds first class

The first Future Mortgage Leaders of Colorado program class day was held September 11 at Koelbel Library in Greenwood Village, CO. The class focused on a History of Mortgage Banking and the CMLA. Morning sessions featured Jay Wilson, CML, Former Chairman of the CMLA and State Manager for National City Mortgage Corporation and Terry Jones, also a Former Chairman of the CMLA and Vice President, Cherry Creek Mortgage Company. Jay opened the morning by sharing the vision of the Future Leaders program and how his experience with going through MBA’s Future Leaders program nine years ago started him thinking about bringing this program to CMLA about three years ago. Jay encouraged class members to invest in the opportunity, to learn from others, and to be open to new ideas and to sharing those ideas. “My personal experience is that you get back tenfold. Be active, challenge yourselves to do more than you think you can.”

Next, Terry Jones shared information about the history of mortgage banking. To Terry, with everything happening in the market today, “It’s almost like we’re going ‘back to the future’ as some of the trends we saw happening in the late 1960’s may be coming back,” he noted. One thing that has always impressed Terry about this industry is the entrepreneurial spirit that has always flourished. “Most of those companies that were around 40 years ago are not around today, but new ones have taken their place. People dedicated to the business of mortgage lending always find a way.”

In the afternoon, Stacey Harding, Chairman, CMLA and Chris Holbert, President, CMLA shared information about leadership and about the structure of the CMLA staff and Board. Chris noted that often leadership is about trying new ideas and taking risk. “Several times in my career at CMLA I have had a new idea that might have seemed to some to be a bit unrealistic, but with the support of the Board, we tried them, and they have worked. You have to have the guts to just DO IT. If you don’t ever try, you’ll never know one way or the other. And great success can come from those new ideas.” Stacey shared that he has convened a strategic planning group to map out the next three years for the CMLA. He noted the importance of getting to reach out to various business communities. “We need to reach out more deeply to consumers and let more people know about what CMLA has to offer,” Stacey shared. “I have all the confidence in the world that CMLA will succeed because of professional people involved in our association and their heartfelt passion for the business and for CMLA.” Upcoming class days will focus on development of two nonprofit projects, an in-depth look at civics and legislative issues, compliance, and mortgage company analysis.

The Future Mortgage Leaders of Colorado program was initiated by Julie Piepho, CMB, CML. Tim Harder, Mountain Pacific Mortgage, and Paulette Wisch, Universal Lending Corporation, are program co-chairs. Other committee members include Wayne Bland, Rocky Mountain Bank & Trust, Colorado Springs; Kathy Stein, Cherry Creek Mortgage Company; Joe Salmons, Lenders First Choice. Lynn Bishop, CMLA, is Project Manager and Charlotte O’Donnell, CMLA, is the education domain liaison.

*Please note classes are only open to Future Leaders class members, presenters, Future Leaders committee members, and CMLA Executive Committee.