GENERAL SESSION: Riding the Tides: Retaining Customers and Protecting Margins

Chief Growth Officer, TrustEngine

Dave Savage is a leading voice on modern mortgage leadership and selling in the age of the AI-powered consumer. As founder of Mortgage Coach and Chief Growth Officer of TrustEngine, he helps lenders and loan officers win by pairing human advice with data, technology, and borrower intelligence. Dave has conducted over 1,000 interviews with top producers and industry leaders and hosts one of the most influential weekly YouTube channels in the mortgage industry. He is Chairman of the Board for FirstHome IQ and author of the forthcoming book Savage Code.

CEO, Longbridge Financial

Dr. Christopher Mayer has led Longbridge’s growth from a startup company in 2013 to the third largest securitizer of newly issued HECM reverse mortgages. He has guided the construction and funding of new proprietary reverse mortgage products. From 2018-2021, Mayer helped manage an 8x increase in the volume of funded loans, propelling the company to become the industry’s fastest-growing major reverse mortgage lender. Previously, he served as Senior Vice Dean and Director of the Milstein Center for Real Estate at Columbia Business School, where he continues to teach today. Dr. Mayer received his PhD in Economics from MIT and has held positions at the University of Pennsylvania and the Federal Reserve. Mayer has spent his career writing on housing and mortgages, publishing in top academic journals, and receiving funding from the National Science Foundation. During the Financial Crisis, he often engaged with policymakers, testifying six times before Senate and House Committees, and writing for the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. He is often quoted in the press, including The New York Times, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, and new media such as Vice Media and Yahoo Finance. A true innovator and “Industry Changemaker,” Dr. Mayer is committed to bringing the value of reverse mortgages to today’s older Americans, with a responsible approach that helps ensure a more secure retirement.

Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Freedom Mortgage Corporation

Mike Patterson serves as senior executive vice president and chief operating officer of Freedom Mortgage, one of the largest and fastest-growing independent mortgage companies in the country. He is responsible for many functional and operational areas, including capital markets, finance, investor relations, and mortgage operations, as well as the strategic growth of the company. Mr. Patterson began his career in the mortgage industry in 2000 at Irwin Mortgage Corporation, based in Fishers, Indiana. In 2006, Mr. Patterson joined Freedom Mortgage through the company’s acquisition of Irwin Mortgage. Mr. Patterson quickly flourished at Freedom Mortgage and was promoted to vice president of finance in 2008. He was promoted again to senior vice president in 2013. In 2014, Mr. Patterson was named executive vice president and, later in that same year, chief of staff. In 2019, Mr. Patterson was promoted to chief operating officer of Freedom Mortgage. Over the course of Mr. Patterson’s career within the mortgage and finance industries, he has established himself as a top-level executive. He takes pride in his ability to bridge the gap between upper and middle management through his extensive industry knowledge. His acute understanding of market trends has been instrumental in the company’s ability to strategically plan for financial agility.