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Date Published: October 2026 In mortgage lending, top producers are often the first people considered when leadership opportunities open up. They know how to generate business, build relationships, manage referral partners, and close loans. They’ve proven they can succeed in a competitive industry, often under challenging market conditions. But does
Date Published: January 2026 As senior leaders plan for the year ahead, many are focused on growth targets, operational efficiency, and competitive advantage. Yet one of the most critical drivers of long-term performance often gets less attention: workplace culture. In particular, the lingering “like-it-or-leave” mindset—where employees are expected to adapt
Mary Jo is a seasoned Talent Acquisition leader with deep roots in the Mortgage Banking industry. With a career spanning more than two decades in Human Resources, Onboarding and Recruiting, she beings a rare combination of industry insight, strategic advisory and relationship driven recruiting to MSA.
After beginning her career in HR management, Mary Jo took time off to raise her growing family before returning to the workforce with IMB Axia Home Loans as a Brand Ambassador and later as Onboarding Project Coordinator. After three years with Axia, she was recruited to Zenith Home Loans as Talent and Onboarding Coordinator, where she spearheaded growth by recruiting Best in Class Production and Operations leaders, while also being very involved in the onboarding process.
Outside of recruiting, Mary Jo has been a Group Fitness instructor in her home state of North Carolina, where she is active in Community Service through volunteer work with a local Hospice program. She and her family, including 6 children and 3 beloved dogs, reside in the Greensboro / Winston-Salem area. She holds a Master’s Degree in Human Resources from Southern New Hampshire University and a Bachelors Degree from the University of North Carolina, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude with University Honors.
Mary Jo joined MSA in 2026 as a Senior Recruiter, where she will represent MSA’s client base in growth and recruiting across the country.
Tami has over 25 years of experience recruiting Executives within the Financial Services industry. After joining a generalist staffing agency post college, she was named “Rookie of The Year” her first year and subsequently formed a Mortgage Banking specialty recruiting division.
She was later approached by a client, the EVP of a national mortgage company, to join together in forming an Executive Search firm specializing in mortgage banking based recruiting and Mergers & Acquisitions within the Financial Services industry. AS SVP, she was responsible for approximately 70% of the company’s revenue in her 9 years with the company.
Tami subsequently formed MSA (Mortgage Search & Acquisition / MSA Recruiting) in the early 2000’s, a retained Executive Search firm specializing solely within the national Financial Services industry. Many clients have used MSA exclusively for expanding footprints or upgrading / adding to their executive team. Tami has extensive experience in recruiting Best in Class professionals within every area of mortgage banking, including Sales, Legal, Technology, Operations, Capital Markets, Finance, HR and more.
Tami attended Indiana State University and is based out of the Dallas, Texas area.
Bretta joined MSA in 2017 after 25 years in the mortgage business, where she worked in wholesale, correspondent, and retail.
During her final 8 years in the business, she was Regional Manager responsible for 12 states with PHH Mortgage where many of her responsibilities were focused on recruiting and building strong teams. That experience has translated well to being an executive recruiter for MSA.
Prior to being promoted to Regional Manager at PHH Mortgage, Bretta was in the President’s Club for 4 years for sales production; she was the Midwest MVP 2 years for contribution in leadership and production; she was on the steering committee that worked with senior management for the betterment of the sales force; she was on the Power Pack Committee to develop and review training and marketing materials and she was a 3-time national speaker at national meetings. She served on the Regional Manager Steering Committee while in a management position.
Her previous mortgage experience was with North American Mortgage Company where she was Business Development Officer and Countrywide where she was Manager of National Accounts, Wholesale Account Manager, and Builder Services, Representative.
Mary joined MSA in 2014, after 10 years of Executive Sales experience. From 2006 to 2014, Mary led Sales for Sage Technologies, promoting promotional products for the Midwest region. In addition to sales, Mary was responsible for set design, marketing strategy, and staging for industry showcases in major metropolitan markets throughout the United States.
Mary was nationally recognized for superior production every year at Sage, increasing annual sales by a minimum of 20% each year since 2006. In 2013, she was chosen by the CEO to lead public speaking for major Marketing events with over 200 attendees.
Prior to joining Sage, Mary was in the high-end Retail industry in Dallas, promoting designer jewelry for Neiman Marcus, where she was a candidate for the Neiman Marcus Executive Recruitment Program.
Mary earned a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Dallas and heads the Denver office for MSA, where she will be focused on identifying production opportunities and leadership candidates for MSA’s client base.
Kerry has been a Human Resource Professional for over 20 years. She began her HR career as a Recruiter before moving into Employee Relations and back again to her love of Recruiting.
After working for two of the largest temporary staffing agencies in the country, Kerry took on an HR Generalist role with an auto finance collections call center where she developed and implemented Recruiting and HR policies and procedures. Her mortgage career began with PHH (Cendant) Mortgage as a Recruiter. She worked closely with the Executive leadership team to develop recruiting strategies and ensure hiring goals for the national sales force were met. Kerry soon took on additional HR responsibilities when she was promoted to HR Manager and later Director of HR where she was responsible for policy for PHH’s National Real Estate Field Sales Team, the Jacksonville origination and processing operations offices, and 7 subsidiary companies comprising approximately 2000 employees.
Kerry left PHH when her husband accepted a position in Vienna, Austria. They sold their house and said goodbye to friends and loved ones and spent 3 amazing years in Europe. During that time, Kerry was able to spend some time as a virtual recruiter for a mortgage company in Washington.
Upon returning to the US, Kerry continued her recruiting career with Xelerate, LLC as a Senior Talent Acquisition Partner where she partnered with and recruited for clients in a variety of industries including accounting and IT, but focused predominantly on sales positions throughout the country.
Kerry joined MSA in 2018 to return to her passion for recruiting within the mortgage industry. She heads up the Denver, Colorado office of MSA and provides valuable insight and strategic recruiting skills for MSA’s client base.
