Shawn Malhotra is Chief Technology Officer of Rocket. He has held this position since May 2024. In this role, Shawn oversees the development and implementation of technology across the entire Rocket Companies’ ecosystem.
Shawn is especially focused on increasing the rate of innovation and execution in the organization along with amplifying Rocket’s AI initiatives – driving the company toward its goal of AI-fueled homeownership. In addition, he has oversight of the company’s data science, product engineering, technology operations and information security.
Prior to joining Rocket Companies, Shawn worked at Thomson Reuters Corporation, serving as Head of Engineering from September 2020 to May 2024, Chief Technology Officer of the Corporate Technology business unit from August 2018 to September 2020 and Vice President of the Toronto Technology Centre from February 2017 to August 2018. Previously, Shawn served as the Site Director, Software Engineering for Intel Corporation from August 2013 to February 2017. Prior to Intel, Shawn served as Manager of Software Engineering at Altera Corporation from 2005 to 2013. He began his career in technology at Qualcomm Incorporated as a software engineer in 2000.
Shawn earned a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo, and a Master of Engineering degree from the University of Toronto. He is credited with five issued U.S. patents and two published papers.
Shant Banosian, the #1 Loan Officer in the U.S. for nine consecutive years, is first and foremost a devoted husband and father of three. Family is the foundation of everything he does, and that same commitment carries into his work with clients, agents, and teams. Over the past 20 years, Shant has helped thousands of buyers achieve homeownership, funding more than $10 billion in loans and earning a 95% referral-driven retention rate built on trust and results.
In 2025, Shant was named President of Rate Mortgage, where his focus is empowering loan officers to grow scalable, successful businesses while maintaining balance and impact. He remains fully engaged in production with Team Banosian, continuing to deliver world-class speed, certainty, and execution for agents and homebuyers nationwide.
For more than 30 years, Dustin Gray has built and led technology-driven businesses across real estate and mortgage, working at the intersection of product, operations, and growth. He’s had the opportunity to start companies, lead business units, and scale platforms in both early- and later-stage environments.
Today, as Founder & CEO of Homeowner.AI, Dustin is focused on modernizing how businesses engage across the homeowner lifecycle. The industries that serve homeowners operate in silos, limiting long-term engagement and value creation. OneHomeowner is an AI-powered platform that unifies property data and ongoing engagement into one system, enabling partners across real estate, lending, insurance, and home services to move beyond transactions and build lasting relationships.
Dustin is passionate about applying technology thoughtfully to one of the world’s largest and most important asset classes: the home.
Melissa Langdale is the Founder and CEO of Praxis Lending Solutions, an executive consultancy helping mortgage lenders modernize workflows, redesign operating models, and reduce their cost to originate. A recognized leader in housing innovation, Melissa has served as President & COO of The Mortgage Collaborative and led sales and operations for fintechs and community banks alike. She is the host of Future Proof, a bi-weekly webcast and podcast on mortgage innovation, and a national speaker on AI and transformation. Melissa lives in Austin, TX, with her husband and twin boys.
Along with her signature passion for people, Sue Woodard brings over thirty-five years of financial services and fintech experience to her roles as an independent consultant, Strategic Advisor with both STRATMOR Group and Housing Wire, and industry “Evangelist At Large!”
Sue started her career at the ground level in banking, became a top producing loan originator, then leveraged her knowledge to become a highly acclaimed industry speaker, subject matter expert and fintech executive.
Jeff Kvalevog brings nearly 25 years of experience and knowledge of the mortgage industry to his position as Chief Strategy Officer at New American Funding.
In this role, Jeff leads multiple departments including Product Management, Engineering, Enterprise Portfolio Strategy, Strategic Partnerships and Customer Success.
Beyond this, Jeff evaluates and establishes strategic opportunities that provide additional revenue and relationships for the company, including partnership agreements, potential expansion into new business channels, and much more. Additionally, he focuses on building on New American Funding’s reputation in the mortgage industry and enabling increased opportunities for the company.
Throughout his career, Jeff has been a driver of process innovation with a solutions-focused mindset, specializing in digital transformation and digital product experience. His passion for leadership and helping develop his team members is enhanced by his background in sales, operations, underwriting, and digital product development.
Jeff believes in New American Funding’s mission to become an invaluable partner to homebuyers on their mortgage journey, by delivering world-class technology, products, and services.
A 2024 and 2025 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗪𝗶𝗿𝗲 Vanguard winner, Greg Sher has called IMB leaders to be more vocal in rallying the industry around its many headwinds. He created the hashtag #𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗼𝗳𝘂𝘀 in early 2024, in an effort to extinguish negative discourse created by the “𝘽𝙍𝙊𝙆𝙀𝙍𝙎 𝘼𝙍𝙀 𝘽𝙀𝙏𝙏𝙀𝙍” slogan, which he publicly urged AIME to retire on the HousingWire stage on April 23, 2024. 153 days later, AIME’s Chairman/CEO went on Sher’s podcast “One on One” and shared that the “Brokers are Better” slogan could be put to bed. He hosts a live podcast on LinkedIN every Monday at 1PM EST featuring industry newsmakers. He is among the most followed mortgage executives on the LinkedIN platform with over 40,000 followers – his content eclipses 5M impressions annually. Additionally, Sher is Managing Director at NFM Lending, a Top 15 retail-only IMB based in Baltimore. His main responsibilities there are centered around growth, business development, branding and marketing.
Athan Zhang is the CEO and Founder of Copperlane, where he leads product and engineering at the intersection of artificial intelligence and financial services. He focuses on building systems that apply advances in AI to complex, real-world workflows, with particular emphasis on AI safety, performance, and thoughtful integration into existing operational environments.
Prior to Copperlane, he was a quantitative developer at Five Rings, a proprietary trading firm, where he worked on high-performance systems in fast-moving financial markets. He was also an early founding engineer at two startups, including one that was acquired and another that raised millions in venture funding. Athan studied computer science at Princeton.
With family roots in the mortgage industry, he developed an early appreciation for the challenges and complexity of the loan process. Athan is also a licensed mortgage loan officer. His work at Copperlane focuses on applying modern AI techniques to legacy financial systems, with the goal of improving efficiency while maintaining the rigor required in highly regulated environments.
Brianna Lin is the COO and Founder of Copperlane, where she leads operations, go-to-market strategy, and partnerships at the intersection of AI and financial services. She focuses on bringing new technologies into complex, highly regulated environments, working closely with customers to translate technical capabilities into practical workflows.
Prior to this, Brianna was a trader and developer on the equities floor at Jefferies, one of the largest investment banks. There, she gained experience in fast-moving markets, risk management, and client-facing problem-solving. She studied in the Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology at the University of Pennsylvania, pursuing a dual degree in Real Estate from the Wharton School and Computer Science from Penn Engineering.
Brianna comes from a family deeply involved in the mortgage industry, which has shaped her understanding of how operational complexity and borrower experience intersect across the loan process. She is also a licensed mortgage loan officer. Today, her work at Copperlane centers on applying cutting-edge AI technology to real-world systems in mortgage lending.
Jamie Cavanaugh is the CEO of reAlpha Mortgage, where she leads a team focused on reshaping the mortgage experience through thoughtful tech, strong operational systems, and a culture that puts people first. With more than 25 years in the industry from originations and operations to executive leadership, Jamie brings a practical, well-rounded view to solving the challenges lenders face today.
Before stepping into the CEO role, she served as Chief Integration and Growth Officer at reAlpha, helping to build scalable systems and guide strategic growth. Previously, as President and Partner of Amerifund Home Loans, she led the company through significant national growth, building the operational foundation and leadership infrastructure to support expansion across multiple markets.
Jamie’s approach blends operational clarity, marketing that connects, and tech that actually works. She’s passionate about leadership development, sustainable growth, and simplifying the path to homeownership: especially for those historically underserved.
She is a licensed mortgage originator, executive coach, inaugural Hall of AIME inductee, two-time Women With Vision Award winner, former Chair of the Women’s Mortgage Network, and a 2023 MPA Mortgage Global 100 honoree. Whether advising new leaders, building infrastructure, or exploring new ways to scale with integrity, Jamie is committed to doing work that matters and helping others do the same.