Vericrest Appoints New Advisory Board

DALLAS, Sept. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Vericrest Financial, Inc., a premier financial services company specializing in the servicing of residential mortgage loans, today announced that it has formed a new Advisory Board made up of distinguished veterans of the financial services community.

Vericrest has named four individuals to its Advisory Board: Donald J. Bisenius, John P. McMurray, Stephen J. Rotella and Robert H. Warrington.  All four members of the Advisory Board have extensive senior-executive-level experience in the mortgage banking industry and bring a wealth of expertise to Vericrest.

"We are extremely delighted to welcome these individuals to Vericrest's Advisory Board, as each of them is a respected leader with an abundance of expertise and experience," said David Schneider, Chief Executive Officer of Vericrest.  "The collective insight of our new Advisory Board will be invaluable as we expand our business while continuing to meet the needs of our customers.  Vericrest is focused on developing and executing our strategy to grow our servicing capacity, and the ability to tap into the collective experience of this Advisory Board will be important to our success."

Going forward, the Advisory Board will provide insight and recommendations to Vericrest relating to its strategy, new business initiatives and industry trends.  As a company that provides a wide range of innovative loan resolutions and services to homeowners, Vericrest will draw from its new Advisory Board's knowledge as it develops and executes a growth strategy intended to increase its servicing capacity.

Vericrest, which currently employs over 600 professionals in its Centers of Excellence in Oklahoma, Texas and California, also plans to substantially increase the number of financial services professionals it employs as it expands its market share in the coming years.  Vericrest expects the expansion to create potentially hundreds of new jobs across the Company's footprint.  Vericrest plans to relocate its Texas workforce to a larger facility in Irving, Texas in mid-September 2012. 

About the Advisory Board members:

Donald J. Bisenius

Mr. Bisenius joined the Vericrest Advisory Board following a distinguished 19-year career at Freddie Mac, where he served as the Executive Vice President of the firm's $1.8 trillion Single Family Credit Guarantee Business from 2008 to 2011 and held various other leadership positions, including Director of Portfolio Quality, Vice President of Mortgage Credit Policy, and Senior Vice President for Credit Policy and Portfolio Management.  Prior to joining Freddie Mac, Mr. Bisenius worked for the Federal Housing Finance Board and the Federal Home Loan Bank Board.

Mr. Bisenius holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Iowa State University and was a Dissertation Fellow at the Brookings Institution.  He also holds a B.A. in Economics and Business Communications from Creighton University, from which he graduated Summa Cum Laude.

John P. McMurray

Mr. McMurray brings more than 25 years of mortgage industry experience to Vericrest.  He currently serves as the Chief Risk Officer at Russell Investments, a position he has held since 2010.  Prior to joining Russell Investments, he served as the Chief Risk Officer at Federal Home Loan Bank and Bank of America.  He also spent more than 20 years of his career at Freddie Mac.

Mr. McMurray is a Certified Public Accountant.  He earned an M.S. from M.I.T., an M.B.A. from the University of Texas at San Antonio and an undergraduate degree from Trinity University, San Antonio.

Stephen J. Rotella

Mr. Rotella has over 30 years of strategic and operational leaderships experience in the banking and financial services industries.  He currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of StoneCastle Cash Management, where he is responsible for all aspects of the company's cash management products and services.  Prior to joining StoneCastle, Mr. Rotella served as the Chief Operating Officer at Washington Mutual, overseeing 2,200 retail branches, small business banking and all operating units of the bank.  He also spent 18 years at J.P. Morgan Chase, where he served as Chief Executive Officer of Chase Home Finance, the fourth-largest home lender in the country, managed Community Development, and was a member of the Executive Committee.

Mr. Rotella holds both an undergraduate degree and an M.B.A. from the State University of New York.

Robert H. Warrington

Mr. Warrington is a regional banking executive and banking industry consultant with over 30 years of experience in management and leadership positions.  He was the President and Chief Executive Officer of First Indiana Corporation from 2004 to 2007, where he led and recruited executives charged with resolving existing credit issues, rewriting credit policies, restructuring the branch network and increasing the operating leverage of the firm, resulting in a 104% increase in First Indiana's share price during his tenure.  After serving in the United States Air Force, Mr. Warrington started his career at Summit Bank as a manager of Mortgage Banking before transitioning to the role of Vice Chairman at Old Kent Financial Corporation.

Mr. Warrington holds a B.S. degree in Business Administration and an M.S.B.A. from Indiana University.

About Vericrest

Vericrest Financial, Inc., headquartered in Dallas, Texas, is a premier financial services company specializing in the servicing of residential mortgages in the United States.  Through three Centers of Excellence in Texas, Oklahoma and California, Vericrest provides superior service and innovative solutions to meet the needs of our customers and investors while maintaining the highest levels of integrity and compliance.  To learn more about Vericrest, visit www.vericrestfinancial.com or call 1-800-401-6587. 

SOURCE Vericrest Financial, Inc.