In a mortgage market defined by headwinds and hesitation, Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group is defying the odds—posting a staggering 364% increase in net earnings year over year. In this special LinkedIn Live episode of Lykken on Lending, I sit down with Emily Gardner, Chief Lending Officer and a dynamic force behind the company’s transformation. We go inside the C-suite to explore the power of coaching-driven leadership, EOS alignment, culture-building, and in-the-moment communication that actually moves the needle. If you’re leading a team, navigating uncertainty, or looking to grow with purpose—this conversation is packed with insights you can use immediately. Don’t miss it.
[David] Listeners, as you know, I have the privilege of coaching some really lead top leading executives, and we’re gonna invite one of them to come onto the podcast today. We’re gonna talk a little bit, we’re gonna give you some insights of what we talk about in coaching, some of the things we deal with because I think it’s important, like what goes on when you have a coach, what’s it like? And so joining me on the microphone is someone I’ve head on here as a guest before Emily Gardner of Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group. So good to have you.
[Emily] I’m glad to be here, David. Thanks for having me on.
[David] You are the Chief Lending Officer for some people who have different titles. Basically that is what again.
[Emily] I am in charge of all things sales at Atlantic Bay, so I get the pleasure of working with our regional managers and all our sales leadership, our recruiting arm, our business development arm, and our marketing arm of sales.
[David] I mean, you and you started out in production and then you’ve ascended to this. You were one of the top producers there. Give us a little, I share this because those that are trying to come up in the industry, like, how do I get a job like this? how can I get there? So how did you get to where you’re at?
[Emily] Yeah, it’s actually funny when I got hired into the industry, I actually started in processing and was in the operations side.
[David] You know, fact, you used to process for one of my good friends, Toby Harris.
[Emily] Yes. I worked for him. He hired me into the mortgage business and gave me a chance, which was awesome. And so, yeah. And then, you know, my desire was always to be an originating and, I had a leadership background before the mortgage industry. So after, you know, originating and working, As a loan officer, I had the opportunity to get into leadership and it just kind of progressed over the years. You know, I was producing sales manager for a long time and, came to Atlantic Bay and had the opportunity to be a, a regional manager and stop producing. And again, it just lots of different things evolve and I think a lot of times you have to build that up yourself. People look at it as a ladder, you’ve gotta climb and I kind of look at it differently. You’ve gotta really build that underneath you, and if you continue to build underneath you. Then you elevate up. And you can continue to, to grow in the positions that you desire. And a lot of things that we talked to you about and we’ll probably talk about today and with the strengths that you bring to, to the role.
[David] Well, I think Zig Ziglar said it so well. It says how to get what you want. Get what you want by helping others achieve what they want. And I think that’s so powerful. And I have the privilege now in my, in my retirement years, this I’m doing, this is my retirement project. I get to coach, find people, and I get so much joy. We’re gonna talk about the importance of finding your place and getting joy. We’re gonna tease out a teaser because we’re gonna get to that towards the end, but give us an update of how things are going there at Atlantic Bay.
[Emily] Yeah, we’re going pretty well. Uh, you know, it’s one of those years that I think you look at and can say, wow, this is challenging. But you know, we are up year over year in volume, which was awesome and continue to have months that exceed last year, which is great. But one of the things that I look at, of course, it’s near and dear to me that I think is really impressive, and I’m so proud of our team, is that we’re up 364% in net earnings year over year which…
[David] That, that’s the real number.
[Emily] It’s huge. Yes. For all those leadership folks out there, I know that you’re looking at that too. And I mean, and I think all of us.
[David] I think a lot of them are gonna look at that. Almost a disbelief. Repeat that number one more time.
[Emily] Yeah. 364% up in net earnings over last year. You know, it’s really just because of a lot of hard work that has happened across sales, across operations, across corporate, you know, of trying to get as efficient as possible. And I think we all came off the COVID years and had gotten to a place that maybe we weren’t as efficient as we could with our business. You know, we’ve all had to adopt technology and different advancements. But the team has done a really great job in the last year, and when I started kind of looking at mid-year numbers and reviewing this and seeing how far we’ve come. It was just really, really exciting and we’re still a ways to go and I think every single day we continue to look at that and it’s something that is part of our goals and our, our rocks each quarter to see how can we continue to do that because we need to do that to make sure that we’re serving our team and that we can continue to be, you know, a driving force in this industry. So it’s an ongoing thing, so for sure. And so, I mean, and other than that, you know, I think recruiting obviously, for everyone has taken on a new challenge this year. And we’ve really focused a lot on making sure that we’re innovative in the way that we go out there and attract folks to the company, but also with our current folks, how can we continue to level them up in their business and make sure that driving so I driving their success. And I think a lot of that too has been a big focus on social and digital marketing, which I think is something that is crucial in business right now and will continue to be.
[David] And that’s one of the things I kind of wanna get into because you do that exceptionally well. A lot of people who see your videos out there are going, dang, she’s so good. She’s so articulate. But it took a little bit for you to get into it, and I know you’ve been working on this. I coach you on some of the communication styles and some of that. But you know, this is one of the things that seems to be working for you. That’s my perspective. That’s what I’m hearing from others. Do you feel that it’s working for you?
[Emily] I do. And it’s something that, I kinda started during COVID because I couldn’t go out there and be in front of everybody like I wanted to be. And I’m just a big believer. I know a lot of people are nervous about video and scared, but I’m a big believer in the way that you can connect with folks through video. And I have a personality that I feel like I want to share. And it doesn’t necessarily all come across in text, you know, but I think if it’s through video, you can be empathetic and that can come across. You can get excited, you can show that passion. And I really wanna just stay visually in front of our team internally, and then externally really just kind of be able to share more about who I am. You know, try and put some thought leadership out there for others, and hopefully they can learn from, my mistakes and the things that I’m constantly working on with you and coaching, and being able to share that. To me it’s even gotten easier than writing, you can just really quickly just get a video out and, uh, get a point across that people can hopefully understand.
[David] Well, I think, I mean, one of the recent videos you sent me just was like, it was just, just today or, yeah, like yesterday. It was, I mean, and it’s in, it called in the moment videos and I’ve been encouraging you to do those. And so when you communicate with me on the in the moment or you communicate with your people in the moment, there’s something that comes through with that. And I think it’s so important. It’s the authenticity, the transparency that a lot of people are afraid to do. They think it has to be perfect and it doesn’t. I mean, that’s the most important part of this thing, I think. I think the less perfect it is almost I mean, it’s gotta be contextually solid and all the things that’s got, there’s some things, there’s do’s and don’ts obviously that we talk about. But it’s more important that you get a message across authentically, even if it’s not as well worded as you think you would like it to be, and I know you do you process, you could tell you’re processing as you’re recording, and I think that’s one of the things you do extremely well.
[Emily] Thank you, I mean, that is one of the pieces of advice that I would give to people. Don’t get too hung up on that. I mean, some days. You know, I even will start and be like, whoa, my hair looks a mess today. But we’re dealing with this, you know, I mean, and, and I think those kind of make you real and when you do that, it doesn’t have to be, you know, you’ve got makeup on and everything’s great and you’ve got a cute outfit on. I mean, it’s not like that. But back to the end of the moment, and I think, you know, sometimes, you know, I’m sure other leaders out there do it, and I’m going through the numbers every day. I’m looking at the pipeline and you know, if you see things, instead of even just shooting somebody an email or a text, you know, I just take my phone out. Hit a video text to him to say, Hey, I was just going through my numbers this morning and I saw that your lock pipeline, was at $10 million. Like, whoa, you know, that’s amazing. Or somebody that’s maybe struggling and saying, Hey look, I saw you took three applications last week. You know, great job.
keep going. We’re there, for you. So them just kind of hearing that we’re, you know, maybe a text is great, but just seeing that video and having that connection is I think way more powerful. And to me, again, it’s quicker. So you’re just, you know, trying to type something.
[David] And you don’t get caught up in that, some of the unintended long duration conversations because you get the message across. And several people have told me about videos, they save them because they, when they’re, when they get, we don’t get enough kudos and out boys at girls kind of comments that come across to us and they mean something. And you’d be surprised to the number of people that listeners, that will save your video just because they wanna go back and play it again. And I encourage that. So formal library and I have a whole drawer full of those. Trophy letters as well as videos that have come my way like that. So listeners, as you’re looking at this, realize that additional benefits of this, let’s talk about some of the coaching. One of the things you are doing a really good job doing with your people and the reason you’re having the profits up as you have, as well as year over year increase in production, which a lot of people are struggling with. You do this through a coaching style, let’s talk about what you are learning about the importance of coaching and how you’re raising up people to the point you actually have several people now that can, you, that you see could ascend into your position at some point.
[Emily] Yeah, I mean, I have always been a big fan of coaching and we’ve coached together for a number of years now, and it’s really valuable and I encourage even our team to coach with folks and our organization has a lot of that philosophy around it. You know, our owner is coached most of our executives are, and again, again, all of my sales senior leadership. But it’s my why. It’s my passion to lift people up, you know, to make sure that they have a career path. And again, my goal is to push them to do things that they didn’t even think that they could do. And that’s something that you and I work on. And to make sure that if I’m keep leveling up. Then that, you know, makes me help them level up and it, and it pushes to new levels. So I think it’s great. It’s something I find passionate. We’ve talked a lot about recently, about finding your joy and finding your strengths, and that’s a huge part of it, and not being threatened by that. And then seeing what lessons you can learn, from each other and, you know, compliment each other. You know, my strengths may be very different than some of my other leadership team’s strengths, and we have to make sure that, we’re leveraging those and that we’re working together on them. And then even our leadership team is working together. And that’s something that I’ve been really passionate about this year is making sure that everyone is coming together and recognizing that.
[David] One of the things you and I talk about that, I talk about, anyone who’s heard me talk, I talk about the six working geniuses. I’m a raving fan about that. I think it’s such a game changer for everyone, and I think that which gives you joy, you are gonna do better and you’re gonna do more effectively and have the greatest impact in your team. And there’s things that all of us don’t enjoy. You and I both share that, getting into the numbers and the details, kind of just as not our thing. We’re wanting to have more of an impact, but they say, well, aren’t you the head of production? or don’t you run a business, Dave? and don’t you need to know your numbers? Absolutely. But how you get to those numbers, and recently we were talking, which is one of those transparent moments where you have a regional manager who is really good and loves getting the numbers and we’re saying, I suggested about, let’s let him get in the numbers and then you get the results. You get the outtake of the numbers. You don’t have to dive in and become an expert on, but you need the numbers. So talk a little bit about how you’re doing that, and then the other individual who’s really good at sales and how you’re starting to play to each of the, the people in your team’s strengths to give you freedom to do the things that you love to do.
[Emiliy] Yeah, no, and I think that’s so important, and I, that took me a while, and that’s something in coaching that you’ve taught me a lot about is that you don’t have to know everything and you don’t have to be good at everything. And I think a lot of leaders have that insecurity that I can’t coach and develop people if I don’t understand every aspect of the business. If I’ve not, you know, excelled in every part of the business and how am I going to be able to lead and coach them? And you know, that’s something that, you have to get past. And that’s something that I’m working with my leadership team on. But as you look at that, and again, you can say, okay. This leader is so good. Like you said, it’s strategy at digging into the numbers about getting results and doing that with metrics that makes sense. And everyone can get behind, how do I take that and make sure that they’re not doing that just for their region, but are bringing that up to a company level. They’re actually supporting other regions with that so that together everyone gets stronger. And then back to you were saying, you know, if you’ve got somebody else, it’s really great at communication that’s really great at breaking down information and making sure that everyone understands that about what’s going on in the market and how you’re communicating things internally and how you’re coaching and develop people. How can that person, and that sales leader really reach other areas, and be able to leverage that? And that’s what I think is really exciting and being able to recognize that in folks. And then hopefully, the goal is through coaching, my coaching and development that I can coach them to see that at each other and leverage that. And that’s been a really big focus for me this year. And it’s cool because you know, we set something in place with our sales senior leadership and some shared goals, some shared rocks and projects this year that they kind of take on together. And that’s neat to see because I feel like in COVID everyone got kind of siloed. You know, and they’re, everyone’s doing their thing. They’re trying to survive. And we’ve come back and we’re in this whole new wave of survival. But if you step back and you look at it as a company, and most regions, I don’t know, I feel like, you know, can operate independently, they’re just concerned about their growth, their profits, and what’s happening, you know, in their ecosystem of larger culture. And I’m trying to break that down with our team and say, no, no, no, that doesn’t help us. You know, the rising tide lifts all boats. Let’s come together. We have a shared goal, uh, you know, that is across all areas and really looking to leverage those strengths that everyone has. We’ve got another regional manager that’s really great at technology and the loan process and understands areas of improvement. So how can these people all work together and then, draw from our marketing, draw from our business development draw for my recruiting team. Together, achieve that goal. And it’s neat to see. It’s neat to see it working. It’s neat to see them sharing resources, sharing ideas and collaboration and you know, and knowing that they don’t have to do it all on their own. So it’s pretty cool to see.
[David] Yeah, I think the mistake. Every junior new manager makes is they have to feel, they have to be all things to all people. And when we overcome that and we start playing to each other’s strengths and we look to people, others, I think then it brings a collaboration and a sense of teamwork. And obviously it’s working to have your earnings up that much and be at and having grown your production. Things are really working. But also your company is big on the EOS system, and I wanna talk a little bit about that because I think what Stan and Brian, the founders of the company have done, you’re really building on their success and you talk about that you have a great deal of respect for them, and yet you are also finding your way in how to run the organization, the way you, the way you are wired. And I would love to talk about EOS, how that all works together and kudos to Brian and Stan recognizing your gifts abilities and raising you up to the role you have. It’s obviously paying off for them.
[Emily] Well, thank you. I’ve been very blessed. I mean, they’re amazing leaders. They’ve given me a ton of opportunity to grow, to learn, you know, through their mentorship and the abilities of what we can do. You have some good points there. I think one of the things that we took a big focus on this year is really 10 xing our business. And a lot of you may have read the book, you know, 10x is better than two x and it kind of comes from that. And that’s a tough shift because you, we were a company that was trying to cater to everybody and be everything to everyone, and you just can’t do that. And you certainly can’t do it in this market and the way things are. So we had to take a step back and say, okay, what do we do? That’s the needle movers that’s got the return that we want on our investments in these different areas and how do we still support our team and grow, but be more efficient on that? And that’s what all of our leadership is kind of coming to do together. And that leads to the EOS process. Like we adopted that in 2018 and it’s been amazing for us. And back to that collaboration part of it, we meet as an executive team every Wednesday for an hour and a half. It’s our two owners, It’s the five executives that represent me from sales and then our ops and corporate leaders. And we are not siloed because we come together in that meeting every week. We look at our goals for the year, we look at our goals for the quarter. Everyone has to report on how those are going. We bring issues to the table to discuss and so everyone is on the same page because even prior to that, we were all going direction, different directions. I’m running sales, our head of ops is over here. We weren’t coming together and really making sure that that strength of our leadership is there. And then in addition, you, every quarter we meet offsite, we plan out our quarterly goals to make sure again, that they align with our one year picture and our three year picture that we are working toward. And then we do a couple of offsite retreats every year to again, continue our relationship. But those, you know, we don’t compromise on those, you know, we stick to it. We have a plan of how we attack and then whatever happens there is then cascaded down through the organization. And that’s a big part of what I feel like my responsibility is, is we create as an executive team that overarching vision, that plan, and then it’s my job to make sure that I’m communicating that to sales. And then our regionals, have their way of then taking that down to their region and then their branches. But it all leads back up to that overarching vision and goal that we set together, and everyone, you know, aligns around and it’s been really great for us to, to have the EOS process at our company.
[David] Jack Nunnery who used to run Texas Capital Bank is a really good friend, and he and I, I consulted to the bank for a period of time, and he gave me a phrase that I chuckled at. He says, Lykken, if we ain’t rubbing, we ain’t racing. And what he’s talking about in nascar, they’re bumping into each other. They’re, I mean, there’s friction at times and things like that. So you talk about coming together as your group, and I don’t wanna paint this picture that it’s all Pollyannish. Everyone holds hands and sings kumbaya. You each have conflicting interests at times. You have the compliance, you have the financials on all that. And that’s the thing that I really wanna applaud your team, I hope the ELT will listen to this as your executive team, as well as, Brian and Stan because what you guys have built and how the culture that they’ve created to allow for the rubbing and the sparks and the friction and how you all work through it. So let’s talk a little bit about that. How do you guys come together? Because any organization, anyone, anyone who’s in a C-suite listening to this and going like, come on. You guys, have you got your challenges, the NCE as well? Oh yeah. So give some insights of what’s what, how you’ve applied your approach to some of that rubbing and while you’re racing.
[Emily] I think it’s a great analogy, my husband’s a big NASCAR fan, so I understand that I’m just learning this sport and I do think there’s a lot of good analogies that, especially, with teamwork and everything that happens. Yes, it is not all rainbows and puppy dogs, and especially as somebody that leads sales, and I am, it’s a lot of personality. I’m very aggressive and obviously, you know, salespeople don’t like taking no for an answer. I’m usually the one that’s probably causing some of that rubbing. And, that’s okay. And I think what we do and what we’ve done, I think it’s, it’s healthy. A couple of things to it. Is we’ve really gotten to know each other well and we respect each other. And I think part of that EOS process with us coming together each quarter with us doing these offsites and with our offsites, we are usually in a house together, so you’re spending a lot of close time, and we have four of our five of our executives are women. So there’s four of us women too, which you know, can also have its challenges. We’ve really gotten to know each other personally, professionally, we share a lot with each other, and we’ve really worked hard on communicating. And when you have those days that, someone is upsetting you or you’re not communicating well, stopping and calling that out. And I would say sometimes, you know, as we go through the quarter, emotions get high and things are not working well. And then when we come together in those offsites and we’re in person together, and we can talk through some of those things. There’s laughter, there’s tears, there’s anger, you know, as we do. But we all respect each other and do it in a way that we come out usually feeling better on the other side. And one of the things you’ve worked with me on in coaching that has been difficult for me, but I’m really trying to impart on my team now, is looking at the other perspective. And I think I had some issues last year. Well, you know, again, compliance and legal and sales don’t always mix.
[David] And so that is a Well and water always, always.
[Emily] Exactly. So I was having some challenges with our head of compliance and legal and, you know, I just really felt that she was trying to preclude us from doing business. I mean, like you’re just putting roadblocks up every step of the way for us to be able to do what we need to do. We were just not getting along. And on the other side, I was completely frustrating her in many ways and we ended up having a conversation and me looking at it from her perspective was really eye-opening to say, look, you know, she felt that I didn’t respect her opinions because I was trying to constantly overturn them. And I also didn’t understand of how me and the rest of our leadership team was causing her team so much work, so much extra time that they were, you know, nights and weekends with us continuing to shift or change direction or want to push for something that you know is not going to be easy. And I didn’t see it, you know, I didn’t see it. Oh my gosh, I can see why you’re frustrated because we’re sending you one direction, then we’re sending you another and you’re doing all this work and then we’re going this way. And you know that’s a tough conversation. But we were able to get on the side of it. And now I can step back and even with our leadership team and say, well, how do you think they’re feeling in this situation? Let’s look at that other perspective. And that’s made us stronger.
[David] It’s the power of asking questions too, rather than coming back, it’s not always the easiest thing because we’re having an emotional reaction, but oftentimes if I’m finding, if I’m triggered in a conversation with someone, if I could just calm myself down to ask a question rather than just retorting back that wrong emoted kind of response. I think that’s one of the things is the power of asking the right question. And then the other thing is the power of storytelling. I think this is something that you’re really developing a skill and as I work with you on the coaching side, I think there’s nothing more powerful than when you’re relating a point you’re trying to make. If you can mix in a story or at least make it like a case study. Say, let me share with you kind of what’s going on from our perspective out here. And you relate it, you package it in a, you draw people into it and all of a sudden they started going like, oh, when I hear about it like that.
[Emily] So those are two difficult things for me. And it’s something like you said that we are working on in my coaching and that I’m every day trying to be conscious of is one the questions. I do get triggered and I get emotional, and then I go into that fight mode. So I am trying to stay calm, stay rational. But to your point, questions are great, but and I think I’ve gotten better at questions, but I need to still get better because there’s two things in questions that, you know, I’m not doing well is one, asking the open ended questions versus a closed ended question, and really trying to step back and say, okay, as I’m going into this situation. How do I rephrase this as an open-ended question? Not a closed with a yes or no answer, and that can be difficult. And then two, how do I not have leading questions? And that’s probably the one I’m most guilty about. And I think a lot of probably leaders are, and this is something you and I talk about in coaching, is I may know the answer or I may know the direction that I want them to go, but can I help get there with questions and help them get there versus me just basically telling them, but trying to phrase it as a question, which doesn’t get you anywhere.
[David] It’s, it’s the motive behind the question and the way we frame it, right? Yeah. But this is where I think this is where the EOS is so powerful because when you guys are all unified around a purpose and a plan. It’s kind of like, and if the question comes back and you go keep going back to when something’s really gotten really cloudy and there’s a lot of motion mixed into that, it can cloud the room up. And, and I think where we get clarity is when we go back to what the value of EOS is like, let’s go back to what we’re trying to really solve here. What are we really trying to solve here? And then you, you start back there and you work back into the place where you’re at and oftentimes clarity can come up. What’s so fun about you Emily and I shared this publicly, is that you’re so hungry to learn, there’s few people I get a privilege of working for that are as open and honest about where they’re at and how hungry are they are. And I want all the listeners that are listening to this as take away from this interview a say, can I be more open? Can I be more hungry to learn? And that has been Emily’s success, and it’s translating into over 300% increase in earnings and, growth year over year, it’s working. Does that mean everything’s perfect? No. Oh, we’re in the mortgage business. Yeah, it’s, we’re in the mortgage business, but the reality things are going really well for you, and I’m proud of you and I’m just such an honor. It’s such an honor to be with you and be in relationship with you as a, your coach and you’re doing an outstanding job and it’s kudos to Atlantic Bay. One of the things, when I go to these conferences, I go, I’m a member of both TMC and as well as Lenders One. And your gals, when they, they all show up and they show up at these, what’s so impressive about your team when they show up? Emily, and I’ve told you this, I’ve texted you, I take pictures, we take group pictures, I guess. Yeah. They, they let me in on their, their inner circle. So I get to be a part of these pictures and, but they show up at these conferences taking notes, like very few. A lot of people, like we were in Cancun with the Lenders One conference, I mean, both everyone’s out at the beach or at the pool. Your group was in the room taking notes. Everyone that was attendance was taking notes and I had several people say, who is Atlantic Bay Group? They’re like, taking this so serious, and it’s because you come, you play hard, you work hard. But kudos to that team for how they show up at these conferences. It’s it. We have an awesome, Stan and Brian, you have something to be very, very proud of and what they have in you all.
[Emily] Thank you. We do have an awesome team and they’re always trying to get better and learn too. And I mean, I love learning, which is crazy because I did not love school, but I love learning and I feel that every day I wanna be better than I was yesterday. And I have to elevate myself to elevate my team, and to do that I’ve gotta constantly be trying to, read, listen to podcasts. Do whatever I can have coaching, have peer conversations all of those things that you can do to level up. And I just wanna be that information sponge and then be able to go out and to give that back and communicate that. And that’s, that’s a big part of it, you know, and I listen to, you know, your podcast, which is amazing, and, you know, I listen to Housing Wire Daily. We have a great podcast at Atlantic Bay with Lending Forward. Read Chrisman every day and reads National Mortgage News, you know, mortgage news daily, tons of stuff in the MBA that comes out and all of those things in the industry, you know, are there to help us. But then there’s so much that you can get from coaching and development too, and all of that, you know, leads usto trying to be better. And, you know, and I appreciate the support you give me. I am still trying to get better at my stories, and you get better. You get better. That’s a big part too, of kind of not telling people, but coaching people is, you know, is making sure that you can share stories about experiences or share stories about others and hopefully just give them some insights without having to just say, well, you should go, you should go do that, even if they come and ask you. So it’s pretty cool. Yeah.
[David] Well it’s been a joy to have you back on the podcast again. We gotta do this more often, but I wanted to give our listeners a little insights to a company that’s doing extraordinarily well and he is very challenging. I just hung up the phone with my good friend Brian Hale, and he goes, I’ve never seen a market in all my years of been down. I’ve been at 51 years of the mortgage. I’ve never seen a market that’s difficult and challenging this and you look at the growth that’s happening at Atlantic Bay and you told me about this today or yesterday you told me about someone who heard about the culture and they called Brian or Stan and said, I wanna join a company like yours. And when you do things with a purpose, doesn’t mean everything’s always perfect, but when you do it with a purpose and you have an EOS as a guiding light, and you hire people like Emily around you, that’d be around you, you can accomplish things and it’s drawing people in. People say, how do we be successful at recruiting? Create a culture where other people want to come and they’ll be there.
[Emily] It’s important here. Culture is the most important thing to us. And that’s one of the things that Brian said to me and as I we started growing the company, you know, together 17 years ago, is we could never compromise the culture. And that is something that we live by every single day. We could go, that’s a whole another podcast. It’s, we may just bookmark that one. And that’s our next podcast we do together. Thanks so much for being here. I appreciate you being here this day and I’m excited for our listeners to, uh, get some insights as to what’s working at our really, really successful company.
[Emily] Thanks, David.
Important Links
She has over 20 years of experience in financial services and the mortgage industry. She is the Chief Lending Officer of Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group where she’s focused on guiding the enterprise sales growth of the organization.
As an advocate for healthy work-life balance, Emily believes we are our best when we have a balance in our lives–we work to live, not live to work. And at the end of the day, family is first. That’s why she strives to support each Atlantic Bay team member in finding their own balance.
Through this driving focus on helping their employees live their best lives, Atlantic Bay was recently ranked as the #1 Best Large Company to Work For by National Mortgage News.