In this episode of Lykken on Lending, I sit down with Jerry Rader of Alcova Mortgage to explore the deeper side of recruiting—where culture, calling, and character matter more than compensation. Jerry shares how his faith, leadership journey, and long-game approach to relationships have shaped a recruitment philosophy that prioritizes alignment over urgency. From identifying your company’s true culture to helping candidates uncover their “why,” this conversation is packed with timeless insights for building teams that last. If you care about sustainable growth and meaningful connections, this episode is for you.
[David] Listeners, as I’ve been focusing a lot on technology and then also I’m focusing on those that are leading successful teams or out recruiting successful teams and drawing them into a company and that’s our current guest right now that we have, you’re gonna be listening to. His name is Jerry Rader. He is someone I’m just getting to know. He works at Alcova Mortgage, one of my clients. I have so much respect for Alcova in so many levels, and I enjoy these guys. So Jerry, welcome to the podcast.
[Jerry] Thank you David.
[David] It’s a real honor to have you here, especially as I get to know you, we find out we have so much in common and you’re recording. We’re recording this from your lake house. This is the day after Memorial Day is when we’re recording it. So you’re sitting there in a relaxed place.
[Jerry] Yeah. I’m staring out at the water. So what a great place to record from.
[David] What a blessing. I enjoy. I grew up in a lake and I love a lake property, I had a house on a lake here in Texas, but really what I’m really interested in to know you a little bit and have you talk about it, one of the things that you impressed me about your bio was that, you talked about your beautiful wife, Michelle, of 35 years and how you raised five kids and then also you have a real strong faith. And I always liked that. We share that in common. I put that out there right away. But tell us a little bit about your journey into the mortgage industry. What landed you here, and a little bit about yourself, so our audience feels like they got to know you.
[Jerry] Sure. Like everybody else know, I didn’t go to school for mortgages. Somebody told me I’d be a great loan officer. I had no idea what that meant, David. I went and wrangled an interview with a small broker shop and wow. Got hired in 94. In 2000, my wife and I opened our own shop with eight employees over the next 18 plus years. We grew it to 170 or so people and I’ve been blessed in many ways. Mostly though just surrounding myself with people smarter than me. I went out and hired people who were, who knew more than I did and just learned a lot from them.
[David] So that’s outstanding. So Jerry, let’s talk a little bit more about that mortgage company. You built a company and it grew to 175 employees in 26 states. Did you sell the company or what happened there?
[Jerry] Yeah we ended up a friend of mine outta New York connected us with somebody who was looking in our space and I wasn’t interested but I agreed to give him one hour of time and so we sat down out in San Antonio, Texas. Actually, we were on vacation, my wife and I and after a 10 month conversation and journey we put a deal together.
[David] Wow. Congratulations. It’s fun to have it. But you didn’t retire. You ended up going in to work with Alcova. Tell us about that story. How did you guys connect with, I refer to as the boys, but they be Bobby, Rob and Billy.
[Jerry] Yeah. So I had known them almost the entire time I owned Corridor and we were friendly competitors. We met in a hunting blind of all places.
[David] That’s not price known them. They are truly outdoors, but and they’ve got some lake houses and so between hunting and some other things that we just shared. We got to know each other and we became industry friends and it was one of those relationships where we agreed not to poach from each other, but we were friendly competitors, is what we called it and there were three or four companies like that in the Mid-Atlantic, and we all just as owners, shared ideas and shared perspective and, you’re right. I did retire. I decided I’d had enough of the mortgage business and Bobby, about two months after I posted that on LinkedIn, I get a phone call and Bobby’s Hey come work with us.
[David] You get to go a lot of hunting and you can spend time with the lake. That’s what a deal, when you went from retirement to Bobby, calling you to what you’re doing now, what is it that you’re doing now for Alcova?
[Jerry] I focus on helping the company look for ways to grow generally with larger groups of production. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have plenty of conversations with one or two LOs but really, just trying to find ways for us to grow what we call sustainably and strategically. And so that’s…
[David] Give us some insights. What do you mean by sustainably and strategically? Is it geographic? Is it, explain both please.
[Jerry] In a word. We really believe and the guys, we really believe that relationships undergird everything and so that’s the key to sustainability. I won’t say it’s easy, but there are a lot of places that add headcount. But when you look at a lot of people’s history, you’ll be, they were here for a year. They were there for a year and a half. They were, it’s unusual to find organizations where people are there 8, 10, 15 years. If you look at Alcova. We are, dare I say, littered with people who’ve been here for 10, 12, 15 years.
[David] Yeah, somebody, staff has been there for the whole history for 20 plus years. It’s just…
[Jerry] Yeah, you couldn’t pry people out of here, with a crowbar. So I look for opportunities where we feel like people are looking for that type of opportunity.
[David] Yeah. That’s so good.
[Jerry] And so that’s the sustainable and strategic because it’s not just adding some headcount to branches, but it’s about finding people that really resonate with the Alcova story and the way we like to grow.
[David] I can’t remember. I’m thinking of the guy that said I should think of it real quickly he says, culture eats strategy for lunch is I think what Peter said. Peter Drucker again, I just remember it was the guy, I think he said something to that effect. I’m interested in talk about the culture first. I have another question, follow up question to that.
[Jerry] Yeah. Yeah. So the culture here, really we are looking for people who want to make a difference, but also have that entrepreneurial spirit. They want to be in business for themselves, but not by themselves. That’s our catchphrase and finding people that are like, man I really wanna have a seat at the table. But I don’t want to have the whole table. I don’t want to have to deal with all the different things that now come with operating a successful mortgage operation. Alcova finds that we try and marry up the relational aspect of that and then the entrepreneurial aspect of that, and that we are a culture of people who embrace that, but then also share a desire often through faith, but through many other ways of making a difference and leaving a legacy in the world and the communities that we serve. And that is something that we really, we don’t just give lip service to it. There are a lot of companies that talk about that, but from the three owners on down, that is really a passion of ours to like, how do we connect and how do we recognize people and how do we build our communities one transaction, one relationship at a time.
[David] And a lot of people talk about that, but it’s oftentimes difficult to get that formula to gather and it really starts by identifying the culture. Now you had the advantage, you’ve known these guys for many years, but you also owned your own company, knew the headaches that go with all that, the successes and joys and all that. But there comes with a lot of stress with that. Now you’re in a situation where you’re in an enviable place where you get to have all the fun bringing the teams together and making it happen. And I think that’s it. But I think a lot of people are listening this and what I want listeners to, as you listen to this, it’s not about the Alcova culture. What they did, it’s, they identified their culture. They found someone in Jerry who believed in their culture and they draw that, those that desire that culture. So I would ask you listener, do you know your culture and do you understand what your culture is? Hey, can you articulate it well? Because that’s what Jerry is doing for them. You may have a different culture than what Alcova does. So I wonder if you wanna stress that point. Now we’re gonna be talking about the Alcova culture because we have Jerry on here. We and they’re good. But I really wanna stress this. How would you advise someone, Jerry? Who is struggling to understand their culture and when you’re competing with other companies out there to recruit someone to join the Alcova culture, this company, what are you hearing about as far as different cultures out there that I’m not, we all know the toxic ones. I’m not talking about the talking, but the ones that are good, there’s a good culture, but it’s not the Alcova culture. And you actually will, I understand correctly, you will actually encourage them to go to this other culture.
[Jerry] People who are, haven’t really thought about their culture, or maybe it’s just been an accident, David taking time to really unpack that and first of all. As the leader of the organization, look at your personal why and figure out, so what drives me? What makes me get up in the morning?
[David] Yeah, that’s a really good point. Yeah.
[Jerry] And what is my why? And if you really, and a lot of people, they don’t realize, they haven’t really thought about that. Your why isn’t I wanna make more money or I want to build a big organization or Your why is like what inspires me and companies who really have a healthy, thriving culture, their leader slash leaders have really wrestled with that why question. And it’s not a 30 minute exercise, it’s an exercise and you revisit it often and as an organization, Alcova, we do that. We get in a room, we call it red teaming. And we’ll challenge it and we’re like, Hey, does that really line up? Or do we need to adjust a little bit and tweak,
[David] Because that’s really good.
[Jerry] Culture is something that grows and it shifts.
[David] Yeah. It’s a lot. I think that’s such a good point that brings out a lot of companies will morph from what was a culture into another culture and they’ll, but if they don’t be intentional about it. I think that what gets concerning me is I look at companies that go, what culture do we wanna publish? what do we what is our culture? we wanna publish this culture because we want to hire these kind of people. That’s a wrong question. So what is our culture? What are we, and I love the guys, The 3AM is referred to them. The three owners of Alcova Mortgage actually referred to it, but they’d spend a lot of time intentionally examining it and then they go find people like you who can champion that, align with it, and champion it, and then say, only bring us those type of people.
[Jerry] And that David, that’s the sustainability part of what was on. That’s really good. Yes, because, it’s easy for me to be passionate about this because I believe in it. It was how I lived my life. It was how I tried to run my company. And so it was definitely, as I talked with Bobby and the guys and we talked about what would working together look like? It really was not about the dollars and cents at all for me. It was like, can I get excited about this and can I be passionate about it? because people see through [that. That rings either true or hollow for people when you’re talking to them
[David] And it comes out so quickly. Our limbrick brain, which is that brain that doesn’t have language, which is your gut. You just have this gut sense that someone is being sincere or they’re selling and, you could be sincerely selling, but if you’re not sincerely placing from selling from a place of authenticity transparency and genuineness. You’re gonna really have a hard time doing that. That’s really interesting and when you talk about this, you’re talking about, I remember in your notes that we were talking about, you said you magnify what’s already exists in the company and I wanna underscore that.
[Jerry] From that standpoint, you can’t export what you don’t already have. and it’s definitely, I love that. It’s definitely something that you have to genuinely have and you have to genuinely believe in it and it’s not enough to join organization and somebody else have it. You’ve gotta, you’ve gotta have it internally as well.
[David] I think when people leave an organization, that’s the biggest opportunity to find out. We say we’re this, did you not experience that here? What could we have done better? And I think that’s, that self an examination that needs to be an ongoing process that I we both know that the three owners of Alcova are constantly doing. Let’s talk about this. What are the principles that work for you, Jerry, when it comes to recruiting? We’ve already got some insights, now we understand the company. You get alignment when it comes to connecting with someone. How do you do that?
[Jerry] First of all, I really focus on trying to be more interested in their story and hearing their story than sharing our story or my story. There are opportunities for that along the way, but people, people are drawn to you when you have genuine interest in who they are and what makes them tick. And so I love, I talk to our branch partners a lot about this and they’re like I made so many calls and I haven’t hired anybody yet. I’m like how many relationships and friendships have you built? and sometimes I get back what do you mean? And I’m like, for me, every day is an opportunity for me to learn an interesting story about someone and to grow my sphere of influence. And so going back to that, I said that at the very beginning, the whole relational side. I’m just curious about people, there are so many interesting people with so many interesting stories, and if you give people an opportunity to talk about themselves and share their story and tell you what makes them tick, whether it’s faith or family or activities or personal or professional achievements, it’s gonna tell you a lot about who they are and about what and if there’s a next conversation with them.
[David] They’re discerning it, you’re discerning that thing. If there’s that next conversation and if you get excited when you find that someone is listening to you, you are interested in the conversation, but you’re not sure they are, what are some of the things that you do to to start creating the stickiness or draw them, continue to draw them into the conversation?
[Jerry] Once we figured out that, hey, this person. They really are interested in what the values of Alcova are, and we have, some shared language. I think without sharing.
[David] a shared language is a really good one to establish. And that comes from that discovery process you talked about?
[Jerry] Yeah, it really does because you can find yourself, I can, I’ll get off a call sometimes and be like, man, we just talked past each other. There, there was no connection. There was no connection, no stickiness. Once we figure out that there’s common ground, that there’s stickiness, most people want to just go on and on. They’re like, oh, if I’m having success I just wanna keep talking. And I rarely let my first couple of calls go more than 20 or 25 minutes. I want to build a desire for that person to have the next conversation with me.
[David] Yeah. If they get it all out in one conversation, it’s not Yeah.
[Jerry] They’re not gonna retain it. It’s kinda like a drink from the end of the fire hose, and if they’re lucky, they might swallow 10, 15% of the water. But it also creates a regular rhythm. I’ll always, when I’m wrapping up, I’ll be like. Hey, let’s talk about a next, a next step. Let’s set the expectation for a next step. And if I’ve only taken, 15 or 20 or so minutes of their time, then it’s they’re like, oh yeah, I’d like to do, I’d like to, I’d like to learn more and it’s not gonna take me an hour and a half of my calendar time because I also have to recognize that, Hey, your time’s valuable and you’re not making any money today talking to me. So I be…
[David] Although people really do it. How do you identify when someone has a why? I oftentimes ask people, what is your why? and they here in Texas we have it. They said, look like a c and a new pen. They kinda look up at you like with then twist their head like, what are you talking about? What do you mean? What is my why? Do you find people generally have a why as to why they’re doing it? and by the way, listeners making money is not a why. That’s a result of doing something anyway, Jerry,
[Jerry] That’s a means. Yeah. So most people don’t, they do. But let’s put it this way, they haven’t uncovered it. They haven’t taken time to study it and so one of the things that people get interested in chatting with me about is I’ll just walk ’em through a couple of exercises of, I hear what you’re saying, but usually it’s like when, like you said, people, they’ll start to throw us out stuff like I wanna lead a team, or I wanna, and so peeling back the layers and helping them uncover their why, if they’re fascinated by that and they’re like, you know what? I never really thought about that. I’d like to think about that. That tells me, are you naturally curious or is this just a transaction? And if this is just a transaction, then you know, God bless you. There’s happy to be friends. But really, Alcova is built around trying to find people who want to go deeper, whether they want to go deeper, both in the business as well as personally, and helping people grow at multiple places in their life is a huge part of the value that we offer.
[David] I think that is such an important value for those that are really serious professionals. That’s the one you most people should wanna hire, is the ones that are just not in it for the short term money. We saw a whole lot of that when the boom hit and it was going strong and everyone was getting into it for the money wrong reason. But when you have that, but how many people do you think today are more interested in? what is it that you can do to mentor me? develop me than the money? Is it money or mentoring that is more important to the people you’re talking to?
[Jerry] I think when you really drive it down to it, there are there are three reasons why most people not all but most there’ve been a number of studies on this, but 70 plus percent of the people join an organization or leave an organization for three reasons. Number one, can I trust the leader? can I trust the leadership?
[David] Are they quit bosses as they.
[Jerry] are they trustworthy people? Number two, can I make a difference here? I think, there are a certain number of people that are like, yeah, I’m all in it for the money. Once you make a certain amount of money, it’s okay, now what? and then num and then number three. Is my voice heard or do I have a seat at the table? Those are the three reasons why people either join an organization or leave an organization. Money is usually number four on the list for most people. Not all but most people. And so those are the three areas that we really try and so I think that people, yes, I think people are interested in there why they just haven’t identified it yet. Yeah, they just, they don’t know.
[David] And if you can help them do that’s a huge win for you. Because they go I really enjoyed that conversation. I’m not sure I’m gonna go to work for Alcova. I’m not sure the alignment there, but man, that was good and they’ll be, it forms that relationship and as they develop and mature, who knows, they may be coming around. Boy, listeners, listen to this, some of the principles we’re talking about here. And first of all, do you know what your culture is? If those of you that are recruiting or trying to bring in and every, this is everyone should be a recruiter in their company. If you just sweep the floors, I can tell you stories about guys that are, I’ve met that are janitors at companies like UWM, who actually were effective recruiters. I can tell you that story. I’ve shared it on this before, but it’s really getting into it. So recruiting is a marathon though. You said that in your notes, in our conversation and I think it’s not a, in fact I almost get more concerned about someone who just, not to say it’s a bad thing, but someone just signs up on the first conversation. Yeah, this sounds really good. It, it takes. I should ask this as a question. I’m going to make a statement, see if you agree that. Recruiting should be a marathon to have the most meaningful, lasting, sticky relationships that stick around. Isn’t it important that it takes some time?
[Jerry] I think so. Occasionally you’ll run into somebody who I. Has the shares, the values, and something happened outside of their control and, they’re the stars. The stars in the moon align, and you’re like, wow that just, that came together. But for every one of those that I’ve experienced, there’s a hundred that don’t go that way and they shouldn’t go that way. Personally, I find that a red flag. If I have one call with somebody and they’re like, where do I sign up? I’m like, whoa. What do you even know what you’re signing up for? It’s kinda like getting married on the first date and it’s ah, not sure. I think I like you, but I wanna explore this a little further and date a while before we go jumping in bed. That’s right. No, I would totally agree with you, David. In a marathon my wife runs half marathons and 10 milers and so it takes a couple of things. Number one, it takes training, it takes discipline and the day of the marathon is actually the result of all the groundwork that went into it and recruiting is the same way, right? Recruiting takes discipline. It takes showing up every single day. It takes going, all right, if you were to look at, if I were sitting at home and spun the camera around, you would see this massive whiteboard that, I’ve got like people’s names and when I talked to them last, and they, my kids make fun of me, they’re like, dad, you’re so old school. And I’m like, but what it is, if you look at it, David it’s a series of stories. And every time I talk to somebody, I update that story and I’m like, I want to, I want to know. They’re like, what’s happening in your world this week? And and like right now I’ve got half a dozen stories. we’re getting really, we’re getting really close.
[David] Yeah. You don’t have to use any names, but give us some examples, some things that stories that have really moved you.
[Jerry] Wow. Like I have a guy who I’m talking to right now, and we have known each other for, oh man, he worked for me at one point and then he left and he and I are just the best of friends and we go have, I go, I try and go have lunch with him at least once a quarter and we’ll sit in downtown at the downtown area mall where he works and literally if there’s not 10 people that walk up to him while we’re having lunch and just want to connect with him and say hi, and I tell him, I’m like, you, dude. You are the unofficial mayor of your town. And that’s so true and he and I.
[David] That’s a really big statement.
[Jerry] Yeah. We talk about, tractors and what tractor he’s buying and we share life. About two of our children were adopted and he and his wife are considering adopting their children. We talk about everything, and it’s been years since he worked for me, but I know in my heart that someday we’re gonna work together again. Not, because every time we get together, I’m putting the full court press. In fact, most times when we get together, we don’t even talk about.
[David] Just developing the relationship is,
[Jerry] Yeah. And so I, go, what better way to enjoy my life than to get to mix? My genuine curiosity and desire for friendships with people like that into, oh, and you know what, if you ever think you’re gonna do something to move.
[David] I’d love to have you back here.You enjoy. But yeah.
[Jerry] Yeah. So that’s one of a whole bunch of stories where, you know, I just, I know people’s kids. I know what they, I have another guy. I have another guy that, that we both served on, on trustee boards in our churches. And so sometimes we’ll just, we’ll call up and swap notes on what our churches are doing and the challenges that we’re having in leadership and stuff like that and so more of our conversations are about our families and our leadership roles in our churches than they are about working together. But man, one day we’re gonna work together. I just, I know it my bones because we just, we share too much in common and I share what my ownership here at Alcova Shares. And so because of that, it’s just gonna be a natural fit when it happens.
[David] Yes, it’s a recruiting can be and if I think it should be viewed as a long game, it’s not a short game. It’s wonderful to have those short term wins where you want, when you find it, everyone gets it. Like you said, the sun and moon stars, everything aligns and it just happens. Those are wonderful, but I think it should be viewed more as the long game, but it not a lot of people don’t have a big enough pipeline, Jerry. That when they’re, when they have a whole lot of longer, because there’s huge gaps between getting things done. What is in your mind a successful cadence you should be recruiting and bringing so many on per month or per quarter. What’s your view on that? Some, there’s sometimes, there’s so many, so much pressure on recruiters. You gotta, what have you done for me today? What have you done this week? Do you have anyone coming on? I know they think Bobby, Bill and Rob think in the long term. That’s 3AM, this guy listeners, that’s who owns the Alcova mortgage. They think long game and I know they, they subscribe to that. But what is a cadence that you kinda hold yourself to Jerry saying, this is my goal. I try to recruit and bring this, and how many need to be in the pipeline for that to happen?
[Jerry] Yeah. So I really focus what I call at the top of the funnel and because I think what happens is you put, when you focus on the bottom of the funnel where okay I haven’t had a hire this month, man, the pressure’s on, I gotta, then you start your vision gets outta whack and I grew up on a farm. I was a farm boy from Ohio. And so I my uncle when I was young taught me how to plow a field. And he would always tell me, you need to be looking way down the field. You need to be looking, pick out a tree way in the distance and that’s what you need to focus on and if you do that, you’ll have consistent results as you’re plowing the field. And recruiting for me is the same thing. If I get too focused on, did I land somebody in the last two weeks or land somebody in the last, three weeks that. Then I feel like I lose my focus of the horizon, and now suddenly I’m down here and yeah, I really. I don’t, honestly, that’s probably not the answer that a good recruiting firm who’s dialing for dollars.
[David] Those, I’m not sure that those, I mean that dialing for dollars thing, there’s a place for that. And I understand they’re the top of the funnel. You’ve gotta draw them in. So it’s very interesting to see how that all plays out, Jerry. It’s just, it’s a long game. It’s one that’s all about relationships. You’ve really hit on some really important keys, is getting to listen to the person you’re talking to. How many people do not feel heard today? It’s, what are you doing? Can you go, I’d love to talk to you about this. I’ve got an open position. We wanna come into your market. Just bang. They’re just it’s development. And that’s why, when Bobby told me about you, he said, man, Jerry’s our, he’s our long game. I know they have they have Barbie there that does a real good job out there.
[Jerry] Yes, she does. Yeah.
[David] She’s just a pit bull and goes out and goes for it. But they said Jerry builds us, brings us teams, and more times than not, brings you teams and I think that’s just such an exciting testimony of what you’ve done there.
[Jerry] Yeah. And I would say for me, when I’m talking to somebody I, I want it to be a win-win. I want them to win as much as we do when, if we bring this group in, or if we have the opportunity to bring a branch on or a whole group of production I’m relentless about digging through. I don’t want any surprises when people show up on day one or day 30. I don’t want anybody going, you didn’t tell me this, or, I didn’t know about that. I am brutally honest with people. Upfront and be like, Hey, here’s all the great things about Alcova and here’s the areas we’re still growing in. We’ve, we’ve got some areas where we’re getting better in and we want you to invite you into that journey.
[David] Yeah. That’s a, that’s genuineness, that’s all. Transparency and genuineness actually wins people over because tell me one company that’s got it all together from top stem to serum, there’s some that look like they do, but when you get inside, like you say, it’s not always the case.
[Jerry] Yeah. Yeah. So that I think also lends the credibility because getting them to come over on day one is only the start of the journey. Then you’ve gotta, then you’ve got to That’s what I was going to, yeah. Then you’ve gotta continually reinforce that, Hey, you know what? You come in here was a great decision. Day one, day 30, month three.
[David] What is your formula for success on that? What do you find? The amount of continued follow up after you’ve landed them, they’ve actually started, they’re now a Alcova employees. What is the process or the length of time that you continue to stay in touch with them.
[Jerry] Forever.
[David] That’s good
[Jerry] There because they’re Okay. So we were fortunate to bring a branch partner, or a team, or a group. My opportunity for growth in this company is not just in going out and building new relationships, but it’s helping the existing ones that are here grow. And if we get the right people, if we get the right people on the bus and the good to great analogy. And then we figure out where they sit and now, so I try and touch base at a minimum every other week with people inside the organization. Because it’s amazing how many times I can come alongside them and help them with their next win. Help give them opportunity to grow their skillset. So, part of what I do here is not just outward focus, but it is definitely inward focus because it wouldn’t be, it wouldn’t be true to who I am and who I try to be to the people. I’m not trying to get you here and then okay, good luck. I’m off to the next one. And it’s amazing. Probably half of my effectiveness in recruiting is from continuing to plug in and stay connected with the people we brought into an organization, not look for solely new talent.
[David] So interesting that you started your relationship with Bobby and was it a duck blind or a deer blind?
[Jerry] Yeah, it was a duck blind Arkansas.
[David] Yeah, duck blind. Arkansas does not surprise me because he is a man’s man. He’s out there and he loves the outdoors of honey. It’s not surprising that you guys have developed the relationship. He did because of where it started. And a lot of this is hunting. And so hunting and how do you land and you get up early, it’s not convenient, it’s cold. You get out in that duck plane. I’ve done that so many times up in Minnesota my growing up and you just have to be consistent and show up. And then there are those times where the ducks just come on in and they, the birds come ins. So exciting. Jerry, what a joy to meet you.
[Jerry] Hey David. I so appreciated the conversation.
[David] I enjoyed it immensely. I can see why there’s, why 3AM is so jazzed about having you on the team. So glad to have met you and spend this time. Listeners, I hope you found this interesting and there’s some principles in here and again, the most important thing I’m gonna start with is do you know your culture listeners? do you really, do you, does your company articulate their cultures? Are you doing a good job of doing that? Are you asking and engaging the people you’re talking to and discovering what their why is by taking the time to listen? and that’s sometime they can ramble on, but it doesn’t have to go on for hours and hours. Jerry just pointed out you could do it in a shorter period of time, set time limits, but have multiple calls. Jerry, you just laid out so much good stuff in this interview today. Thank you so much.
[Jerry] Appreciate it David.
[David] I appreciate you. Have a great rest of your week, Fred. Enjoy your lake. Do it up. I would be working up there full time, dude, if I was living it. Have a good one.
[Jerry] You too.
Important links:
About the guest:
I am someone who has been greatly blessed by God, and feel his guidance in every season of my life, both in the mountain top experiences and the valleys between them.
I have been married to my beautiful wife Michelle for 35 years, and we’ve raised our five children in Mt. Airy Maryland.
Hobbies include boating, hiking in the mountains, reading, and spending time with family at our lakehouse.
Professional Story:
I entered the mortgage industry in 1994 as a loan originator for a small broker in Maryland
We opened our own company in 2000 (Corridor Mortgage Group) and grew to 175 employees licensed in 26 states, originating, closing and servicing with all three Agency Approvals (FNMA, FHLMC and GNMA)
We received an offer from SWBC and sold the company in late 2018 to SWBC Mortgage. I led our team through that transition and spent 3 more years at SWBC as a Divisional SVP.
Spent just under a year at Academy Mortgage co-leading national production.
Currently serve as the SVP of Strategic Growth and Development at ALCOVA Mortgage.