CU Insight

Jeri Yoshida
Strategic Vantage Marketing & Public Relations
(310) 396-8813
JeriYoshida@StrategicVantage.com
 
Warren Lutz
Strategic Vantage Marketing & Public Relations
(925) 270-3941
WarrenLutz@StrategicVantage.com

Former executives from Bank of America, Fannie Mae, Fidelity and Intuit hired to further improve the company’s client experience and scale

Los Angeles, CA — June 26, 2012 — Equator, the national leader in default servicing technology, has hired five industry experienced senior leaders to its team. The new hires are:

• Russell Walker, vice president of information security and compliance
• John Ardy, vice president of technology
• Jeff Huffman, director of technology
• Stephen Kirkham, director of IT development
• Lance Hamilton, relationship manager

Each new leader has the demonstrated skills and experience to further enhance Equator’s position as an industry leader in default servicing technology. The new team will focus on bolstering capacity and helping clients meet the demands of the market.
 
As vice president of information security and compliance, Russell Walker will be responsible for setting policies and protecting data stored on the Equator system. An experienced information security professional, Walker recently served as senior director of information security and compliance for FSRDG, where he managed information security, risk management and compliance programs for entertainment, financial services and healthcare clients. His previous roles include vice president of enterprise security, compliance and risk management for both Starbucks Coffee Company and Warner Bros. Entertainment.
 
As leaders in technology, John Ardy and Jeff Huffman will be responsible for streamlining and improving Equator’s client experience process during the software development lifecycle.  A 20-year financial services industry veteran, Ardy last served as chief delivery officer at Fidelity National Commerce Velocity, a provider of default management, origination and secondary marketing software. His other roles include managing director and COO of application technology for Countrywide Financial Corporation and COO, North America for Firstsource Solutions, a business process outsourcing company. Huffman, who has 15 years of project management experience with Fortune 500 companies, last served as vice president – portfolio/program management for Bank of America, where he created teams to manage REO, short sale and deed-in-lieu technology projects.
 
As director of IT development, Stephen Kirkham will be responsible for for the design, delivery and management of Equator solutions. Kirkham has an extensive background in software design and development, consulting and enterprise architecture. Most recently he served as engineering manager for Disney Interactive Media Group, where he oversaw Disney’s online portals, family properties and multiplayer games. His other roles include director of architecture and engineering for Intuit Financial Services and manager of service oriented architecture and web services program for Sun Micro Systems.
 
As relationship manager, Lance Hamilton will be responsible for identifying the needs and requirements of Equator clients and working with internal staff on the development of custom solutions. An experienced consultant with extensive short sale, REO and home retention experience, Hamilton last served as a senior project manager for Fannie Mae, where he integrated the GSE’s Servicing Management Default Underwriter system with many of the largest U.S. banks. Prior to Fannie Mae, Hamilton was an assistant vice president with Bank of America, where he worked with Equator’s original short sale platform.
 
“The current housing market is creating opportunities to further streamline and automate a servicing process that’s become increasingly more complex over the past several years,” said Chris Saitta, CEO of Equator. “The investments we are making in experienced leadership will further empower us to anticipate the needs of our clients with intelligent products and services.”
 
“All of our new team members were selected for their vast talent and capabilities to support our goal of staying on the leading edge and enabling our clients’ success,” said John Vella, COO of Equator. “We look forward to their contributions in helping us better serve the marketplace.”

About Equator
Founded in 2003, Equator is the leading provider of default software solutions for lenders, servicers, real estate agents and other mortgage and real estate industry professionals. The company’s infrastructure software as a service (iSaaS) solutions include EQ Workstation, EQ Marketplace, EQ Midsource®  and EQ Portals, which can be used a la carte or as an end-to-end solution. The company’s REO, short sale and loss mitigation modules have processed more than $150 billion in transactions. Four of the top five financial institutions currently use Equator’s platform. Equator is headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in Seattle, Dallas, and Irvine, California. For more information, please visit Equator.com.