Peter Norden has been CEO of Homebridge Financial Services, Inc. since early 2012. He has decades of experience in the residential mortgage lending industry and has held executive leadership positions at several organizations.
During his tenure at Homebridge, Mr. Norden has overseen the continued growth of the organization’s national loan origination and servicing operations.
Peter Norden’s Vision for Homebridge
Mr. Norden’s long-term vision for Homebridge involves a measured mix of organic growth and strategic acquisition. In early 2017, Mr. Norden presided over Homebridge’s largest acquisition to date, adding more than 100 branches to Homebridge’s operational footprint. It also grew the company’s origination workforce by around 500, swelling Homebridge’s ranks to over 2,500 associates. This contributed to a doubling of the company’s workforce and a near-tripling of its branch count since 2014. Peter Norden described the transaction as a necessary step to secure Homebridge’s long-term future in an ever-evolving residential mortgage lending market.
“In today’s mortgage market, size, capital, liquidity and product diversity are critically important to long-term growth and success,” he said via HousingWire. “Specifically, our access to capital will improve, impacting our funding capabilities and our ability to increase our presence in existing and new markets.”
In the same release, Mr. Norden recognized the importance of remaining faithful to Homebridge’s founding principles: “We will remain an entrepreneurial, flexible and nimble mortgage banker by effectively balancing profitability and volume while continuing our commitment to operating in compliance with the current mortgage lending regulatory landscape.”
Prior Executive Leadership Experience
Before joining Homebridge, Mr. Norden held other leadership positions in the residential mortgage lending industry, most recently as CEO and President of Opteum Financial Services, Inc. (OFS), which he founded in 1999. His prior experience in the residential lending sector served him well at OFS: By 2005, when Mr. Norden sold the company to Bimini Capital Management, Inc. (formerly Opteum, Inc.), the company was operating in 47 states with a loan origination capacity in excess of $8 billion per year. Mr. Norden was responsible for three main business units: real estate mortgage investment conduits (REMICs), retail mortgage loan origination, and wholesale mortgage loan origination.
Peter Norden in the Community
As a seasoned residential mortgage lending executive, Peter Norden has contributed to and been interviewed for several industry publications, including National Mortgage Professional Magazine and Mortgage Professional America. He is committed to building the industry’s bench for the coming decades, devoting time to mentorship and professional development work with rising professionals in the field. He has served on boards for the Mortgage Bankers Association, Fannie Mae Customer Advisory Board, Freddie Mac Advisory Board and more. Mr. Norden is also a past president of the Mortgage Bankers Association of New Jersey and remains an active member.