Tim Von Kaenel is Chief Strategy Officer at CI&T, a global technology transformation firm for large enterprises and fast growth clients, where he specializes in building, integrating and reengineering tech stacks for banks, mortgage lenders, and fintech companies. Tim’s deep roots in mortgage lending include chief product officer roles at tech-forward mortgage bank LoanDepot, mortgage servicing software leader Sagent, and mortgage point of sale software pioneer CloudVirga.
As the President of PLACE, Inc., Chris Stuart, in collaboration with co-founders Ben Kinney and Chris Suarez, is responsible for driving the organization’s cross-functional growth objectives by scaling the company’s technology and consulting platform to include a diverse offering of consumer services.
Prior to his role with PLACE, Stuart served as the President & CEO of the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices global franchise network representing more than 50,000 agents across 11 countries in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. During his time with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, the network expanded from 32,000 agents to more than 50,000 agents including all of the network’s global expansion beyond the U.S.
Prior to his role with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, Stuart served as Managing Director & EVP of Intero Real Estate Services until it’s successful acquisition by Berkshire Hathaway’s HomeServices of America. In that role Stuart had primary responsibilities for the firm’s franchise business unit, client services, marketing, and technology, as well as the Leadership development and training program.
A graduate of Texas A&M, Stuart started his career in the enterprise technology and systems integration space first with a boutique firm in New York City and then with Oracle Corporation as a global account executive. Stuart’s experiences in both the technology and real estate industries serve to galvanize his pursuit of scale and diversification within PLACE’s business operations.
Bailey Reutzel is Senior Director, Strategy and Content, Live Media, for National Mortgage News. She is also a long-time finance and tech journalist with a focus on cryptocurrency and AI. Her work has appeared in CNBC, The Atlantic, The Economist, CoinDesk, Decrypt, and many more. She has worked with some of the biggest tech companies on content strategy and creation. Today, she works as an event programmer building out stories for the stage. In her free time, she hops around hobbies – a new one every month.
Phil Crescenzo Jr. is a mortgage industry leader and Division Manager at Nation One Mortgage, with a focus on FHA and VA approvals, specializing in builders denied files and backlog management.
Known for turning complex loan challenges into approvals, he has built a reputation for helping homebuyers secure financing where others couldn’t.
With a proven track record of guiding clients, builders, and real estate partners through the most demanding market conditions, Phil focuses on systems, strategy, and team growth to deliver consistent results.
Based in Charleston, SC, he leads one of the region’s top-performing mortgage branches while mentoring the next generation of originators.
Mike Goodwin is the Credit GTM Lead at Plaid, where he drives go-to-market strategy for the company’s credit and lending solutions. With deep experience at the intersection of financial technology, partnerships, and product strategy, including prior leadership roles at Credit Karma and SquareTrade, Mike plays a key role in Plaid’s mission to make financial services more inclusive. At Plaid, he is currently focused on enabling the next generation of underwriting, helping lenders adopt cash flow data to better assess creditworthiness. Michael holds an MBA from The Wharton School and a BA from Johns Hopkins University, and brings a thoughtful, data-informed perspective on how technology is reshaping mortgage lending.
Carissa is a dynamic sales leader with deep expertise in SaaS and mortgage technology. Currently Head of Sales at Cloudvirga, she drives revenue and market expansion through innovative strategy, team leadership, and cross-functional collaboration in the digital mortgage space.
With over a decade of experience, Carissa has held high-impact roles across organizations like Stavvy, ReverseVision, and UNMB Home Loans. Her strengths span partner strategy, enterprise sales, reverse mortgage consulting, and building scalable sales processes from the ground up.
Carissa brings a proven track record of transforming sales teams, exceeding growth targets, and aligning go-to-market efforts across product, marketing, and customer success. She’s known for turning strategy into execution — and results.
Having graduated from WVU in 2004 with a Bachelors in Finance, Christopher started his career during one of the most unprecedented highs in the real estate industry. He navigated the raging rapids of the lending market and gained invaluable experience in identifying strategic areas of potential growth. Then during the subsequent recession, he studied government reformations to understand how to pilot the new topography mapped out by the CFPB and to also find new areas of profitable expansion within the fintech industry.
In 2015, Christopher’s background and expertise caught the attention of an executive team of a company later to become Cloudvirga. Over his tenure at Cloudvirga, Christopher has used both his professional successes and failures to drive key areas of product improvement and development. His personal mantra has always been at the core of this strategic approach: ‘find the best and make it better.’
Dawar Alimi is the CEO and Founder of Lender Price, a leading provider of digital lending and capital market technologies. With over 25 years of experience in the mortgage industry, Dawar is highly regarded for his expertise in financial technology. He has received numerous accolades for his innovative contributions to mortgage tech. Before Lender Price, Dawar founded multiple companies and held executive roles at Fortune 100 companies. Dawar brings a wealth of experience to his roles and holds an MS in CS with a focus on BI/AI from Boston University, leveraging his expertise to develop cutting-edge solutions.
Ryan Ma is a Solutions Engineer dedicated to the UiPath Banking, Insurance, and Financial Services vertical. As a solutions engineer, Ryan works with enterprise customers to educate and drive adoption of robotic and agentic technologies within core business operations. Prior to UiPath, Ryan spent five years working in process management, process improvement and process mining.
With over 20 years of proven success in mortgage operations, loan fulfillment, and operational strategy, Rola excels at transforming end-to-end lending operations, driving digital innovation, and leveraging AI, automation, and data analytics to deliver measurable improvements in efficiency, compliance, and profitability.
As Chief Fulfillment Officer at Rate, Rola leads enterprise-wide initiatives that modernize loan manufacturing, streamline underwriting workflows, and strengthen credit policy and collateral risk management. She spearheaded the launch of Same Day Mortgage, a disruptive fulfillment model that delivers approvals within hours—cutting cycle times, elevating borrower satisfaction, and significantly reducing operational costs. Additionally, Rola co-led the development of Gateless Smart Underwrite, an AI-powered platform that automates document analysis, condition clearing, and underwriting decisions to improve speed, accuracy, and scalability.
Rola has deep expertise in credit policy governance, collateral evaluation, and investor guideline alignment—ensuring regulatory compliance while mitigating risk and maintaining high loan quality standards. Her track record includes successfully scaling mortgage operations, building high-performance teams, and implementing process optimization strategies that enhance operational excellence and support sustainable growth.
A strategic and people-focused leader, Rola emphasizes collaboration, continuous employee development, and a data-driven mindset that aligns operational execution with long-term business objectives. She is passionate about leveraging technology and process innovation to create agile, future-ready mortgage operations that drive competitive advantage.