Broker Action Coalition forms board of directors, specialized leadership councils

The Broker Action Coalition (BAC) — a grassroots network operated by the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts (AIME) that initiates communications between mortgage brokers and their legislators — formed its first board of directors and leadership council as it kickstarts its work as an independent nonprofit organization.

The newly formed board has 10 voting member seats consisting of four lenders, four brokers, BAC chief advocacy officer and co-founder Brendan McKay, and CEO and co-founder Katie Sweeney. 

The industry side of the board includes Eddy Perez, CEO of Equity Prime Mortgage (EPM); Phil Shoemaker, CEO of The Loan Store; Chris Vinson, CEO of Windsor Mortgage; and Kevin Peranio, chief lending officer of Paramount Residential Mortgage Group (PRMG). 

Representing the broker side are Elena Boland of Wholesale Mortgage Services, Joseph Dionne of appli Home Loans, Major Singleton of Edge Home Finance and Daniel Iskander of West Capital Lending. 

BAC also created seven nonvoting roles that include vendor advisory roles and a leadership council.

The three vendor advisers are Brian Vieaux, president and COO of FinLocker; Sam Parker, owner of My Credit Guy; and Sofia Rossato, president and general manager of Floify. 

The leadership councils will focus on specific consumer groups to advocate for diverse causes across a wide range of initiatives, BAC said.

Gay Veale, a mortgage originator at Epoch Lending, will chair the Veteran Homeownership Leadership Council. 

Mortgage broker Whitley Cooper from Advocate Home Loans will lead the Black Homeownership Leadership Council, while Amorette Hernandez from CMS Mortgage Solutions will be chair of the Hispanic Homeownership Leadership Council. 

Additionally, mortgage broker Jerry Robinson from 1st Choice Mortgage Co. will chair the Government Affairs Leadership Council that focuses on federal legislation. 

BAC plans to announce state legislative leadership in the coming weeks. 

BAC was formed by AIME CEO Katie Sweeney in 2022 to gauge the industry’s appetite for advocacy and reform. There was no separate leadership group within BAC. Sweeney and McKay, former AIME president of advocacy, have been overseeing the work.

Since its establishment two years ago, Sweeney found immense work to be done on industry accountability and product reform, which led her to take on a full-time role at BAC.

Jonathon Haddad, president of Next Door Lending, will replace Sweeney as the chairman and CEO of AIME starting April 1.

The BAC will continue its efforts on passing the disabled veteran tax exemption bill, as well as efforts around trigger lead reform this year, Sweeney said in a previous interview with HousingWire. 

Other regulatory issues that the coalition wants to tackle include the third-party originated (TPO) surcharge imposed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Among the 65,000 members of AIME, BAC was able to engage more than 50,000, according to Sweeney.

In the third quarter of 2023, the broker-driven wholesale channel accounted for slightly more than 16% market share, with retail at 55% and correspondent at 29%, according to an Inside Mortgage Finance (IMF) analysis of first-lien mortgage originations.  

Brokers originated $62 billion in Q3 2023, down from $67 billion in Q2 2023 and $81 billion in Q3 2022.