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Top-five reverse mortgage industry lender Finance of America (FOA) announced on Wednesday that it has promoted Jonathan Scarpati to the role of chief production officer. Scarpati previously served as the company’s senior vice president of wholesale lending.
Scarpati has served at FOA since 2010 in various roles, and he is the first occupant of this new C-suite executive position. The role is designed to “strengthen FOA’s leadership in an area that is essential to the company’s long-term growth plans and further its efforts to make home equity for retirement a mainstream solution,” the company said.
Scarpati will now oversee both wholesale and retail production at FOA, in an effort to “optimize internal structures and accelerate performance gains” for its multichannel operations. FOA lauded his time as senior vice president of wholesale and the performance gains the division achieved under his leadership.
“Jonathan has been at the core of driving reverse mortgage adoption and awareness in the industry for over 20 years, and we’re excited to extend his leadership abilities to accelerate performance as we modernize our brand and expand our reach,” FOA President Kristen Sieffert said.
“This promotion is a direct reflection of his dedication, expertise, and passion, all of which have been instrumental in our growth and industry leadership as one of the top originating wholesale platforms for more than a decade,” she added.
In a statement provided to HousingWire’s Reverse Mortgage Daily (RMD), Scarpati said he is excited to take on the new challenges and opportunities granted by the position.
“I’m extremely honored to take on this new role as chief production officer. I believe there is so much opportunity for us on both the retail and wholesale side as we continue to innovate and enable homeowners to better utilize their home equity,” he said.
“Driving greater coordination behind the two channels at Finance of America will be instrumental in our next phase of growth, and the relationship with our wholesale partners runs deep.”
He added that supporting the company’s partners to potentially serve as stronger reverse mortgage advocates “will continue to be a key focus for me,” he added.
In addition to his new role at FOA, Scarpati last year was appointed to serve on the board of directors for the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA). He replaced former FOA representative Scott Norman, who departed last year for the Texas Mortgage Bankers Association.
The addition of Scarpati follows other recent moves by FOA to bolster its leadership ranks. Last month, the company hired two new executive leaders to modernize the company’s digital and customer experience strategies. It named Brian Conneen as chief information officer Brian Conneen and Karime Benaissa as chief customer officer.
Later in March, FOA added marketing expert Andrew Essex and former U.S. Senator Cory Gardner to its board of directors. The company said it seeks to leverage their unique expertise — marketing and public policy — in pursuit of its business objectives.
In its most recent earnings call, FOA described how it recorded a loss between the third and fourth quarters of 2024, but it still notched a full-year profit.
