EPM Welcomes Back Mortgage Industry Veteran David Abrahamson as Chief Risk Officer

Former EPM executive returns to strengthen risk oversight, regulatory alignment, investor confidence, and sustainable growth

ATLANTA, July 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- EPM today announced the appointment of David Abrahamson as Chief Risk Officer, marking the return of a longtime mortgage executive who previously spent a decade helping guide the company through a significant period of growth and transformation.

Abrahamson originally joined EPM in 2010, when the company was still in the early stages of its development. During his first tenure, which continued through 2020, EPM evolved from a primarily retail, refinance focused organization into a more diversified mortgage company with an expanding branch model and a growing wholesale presence.

Today, EPM operates exclusively as a wholesale lender. While the company's business model has evolved, it continues to maintain the relationships, values, and entrepreneurial foundation that shaped its early growth.

Abrahamson returns to EPM with approximately 40 years of mortgage industry experience across risk, operations, credit, and sales.

"EPM has always felt like my home base," Abrahamson said. "I have remained connected with Eddy and Phil over the years, and when the opportunity came to return, it felt like the right move at the right time. The company has changed dramatically, but the relationships, the vision, and the opportunity to make a meaningful impact are still here."

As Chief Risk Officer, Abrahamson will help strengthen EPM's broader risk management framework, bringing additional executive oversight and experience to the company's credit, underwriting, regulatory, and investor related functions.

His initial priorities include conducting a comprehensive assessment of EPM's current risk environment, strengthening communication and accountability across departments, enhancing internal controls, and ensuring the company's policies and procedures remain closely aligned with agency, investor, state, and federal requirements.

"Effective risk management starts with meeting the expectations of every regulator and investor we work with, whether that is HUD, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the CFPB, state regulators, or our capital markets partners," Abrahamson said. "My responsibility is to understand exactly where we are today, identify where changes are needed, and help build the processes and accountability required to create long term success."

For EPM Founder and CEO Eddy G. Perez Jr., Abrahamson's return represents more than the addition of an experienced executive. It is an investment in the company's foundation and its ability to move forward with greater discipline, clarity, and confidence.

"David understands EPM because he helped build EPM," Perez said. "He knows our history, he knows our people, and he knows what strong risk management looks like inside this organization. Bringing him back is not about looking backward. It is about applying decades of experience to where we are going next."

Perez added that the appointment reflects EPM's commitment to continually strengthening its leadership structure and investing in the expertise required to support the company's future.

"Leadership requires you to be honest about where you are, decisive about where you want to go, and relentless about taking action," Perez said. "We are focused on getting better in every area that matters. David brings the experience, credibility, and institutional knowledge to help us strengthen our credit culture, protect our partners, and build the kind of sustainable growth EPM expects from itself."

Abrahamson said the company has already taken meaningful steps to strengthen its overall risk profile and establish clearer guidance around its lending practices. His role will build upon that progress by providing additional structure, oversight, and coordination across underwriting standards, credit policy, internal controls, and quality management.

Rather than changing the company's fundamental approach to responsible lending, Abrahamson's work will focus on ensuring that EPM's risk framework continues to evolve alongside the size, complexity, and demands of its wholesale platform.

"The first step is understanding where we are right now," Abrahamson said. "From there, we can identify weaknesses, make the necessary corrections, and improve the quality of our underwriting. The goal is quality in and quality out. We want to make good loans, serve our partners well, and deliver production that earns trust."

That emphasis on quality extends to every group EPM serves.

For borrowers, Abrahamson said responsible risk management means creating lending practices that support successful and sustainable homeownership.

"The worst thing we can do for a borrower is put them into a loan they do not qualify for or cannot successfully manage," Abrahamson said. "Our job is not to create financial distress. Our job is to help create successful homeownership outcomes."

For EPM's broker partners, Abrahamson said strong risk management should support good business, consistent communication, reliable execution, and a competitive product offering.

"We are open for business, and we want to do good business," Abrahamson said. "We want to provide strong customer service, competitive products, efficient underwriting, and pricing that helps our brokers serve their borrowers."

For investors and capital markets partners, Abrahamson's focus will be on reinforcing the consistency, transparency, and quality that create long term confidence in EPM's production.

Phil Mancuso, EPM President and Partner, who also leads the company's capital markets strategy, said Abrahamson's appointment will help connect the company's risk framework with its broader business and investor objectives.

"Strong capital markets relationships are built on consistency, transparency, and trust," Mancuso said. "David understands that the quality of the loan begins long before it reaches an investor. Bringing David back home was a clear decision because we have already seen the results of his leadership firsthand. We do not have to speculate about the impact he can make, his past performance gives us confidence in what we can count on moving forward. His ability to connect underwriting discipline, regulatory expectations, borrower outcomes, and investor confidence makes him the right leader for this role and an important addition to EPM's executive team."

Abrahamson will work from EPM's Atlanta headquarters, allowing him to collaborate closely with the company's executive, credit, operations, compliance, and underwriting teams.

While much of the mortgage industry has adopted remote working models, Abrahamson said he values being physically present with the team and believes face to face interaction supports stronger communication and decision making.

"I love being in an office," Abrahamson said. "There is tremendous value in having face to face conversations with the people you work with. It helps me understand what is happening, communicate expectations more clearly, and work through challenges with the team in real time."

His return also reunites him with several of the leaders he worked alongside during his original tenure at EPM. Abrahamson said the executive team is aligned around strengthening the company's foundation, reinforcing confidence among its partners, and positioning EPM for its next chapter of growth.

When asked why risk has remained the central focus of his career, Abrahamson offered a simple answer.

"My true love is risk," he said. "It is where I have spent most of my career, and it is where I believe I can make the greatest impact.

Media Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Equity Prime Mortgage