Execs take on expanded roles
Optimal Blue has announced the promotion of two key industry experts to executive roles as the company aims to enhance partnerships in its capital markets platform.
Erin Wester (pictured left) has been named chief product officer, taking charge of product strategy across the platform, while Mike Vough (pictured right) has stepped into the role of head of corporate strategy, focusing on business development, partnerships, and acquisitions.
Optimal Blue CEO Joe Tyrrell emphasized the impact of these appointments on the company’s growth strategy.
“By aligning all product strategy under a mortgage technology expert like Erin, we will accelerate the delivery of value and innovation to our clients,” Tyrrell said in a media release. “We’re not just building new client value; we are also actively acquiring and partnering. Mike’s background in all aspects of capital markets, business enablement and growth strategy will enable us to move quicker here as well.”
Wester, previously leading product and pricing solutions for Optimal Blue, will now manage a broad portfolio that includes hedging and trading, investor services, compliance solutions, user experience, and integration teams. Her focus is on driving profitability for clients, with a strong emphasis on affordability.
“I have never been more excited about our future at Optimal Blue,” said Wester. “We have a new UI, a full GenAI suite with our new AI assistants, we have prioritized originators in our automation roadmap. We are completely opening up our configuration capabilities to our clients, and also engaging in custom solutions. But what is most exciting is that everything we are doing is being driven by our mission to improve our clients’ profitability on every loan, which means a lot of what we are delivering will be at no incremental cost to our clients.”
Meanwhile, Vough will build on his experience leading Optimal Blue’s hedging and trading solutions to drive the company’s corporate strategy. His focus includes expanding Optimal Blue’s data business and strengthening its integration partner network.
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“While other companies are losing executives and struggling to support customers, we are growing and expanding,” Vough said. “As Erin and our amazing product teams are quickly driving innovation, we will complement their efforts by providing our partners with incredible support and tools to enable them to deliver more value faster to our clients, while also evaluating potential acquisitions that can assist us in expanding our offerings to help our lenders and investors capitalize on more opportunities.”
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