Wisconsin-based mortgage lender Waterstone Mortgage Corp. promoted Rico Garcia to vice president of enterprise risk from director of quality control, portfolio risk management and vendor management.
In his new role, Garcia will supervise the quality control, title services, portfolio risk management and compliance teams at the company. In addition, he will work with other teams to lead cross training and improve communication with both internal and external customers.
“Among other things, Rico’s dedication, expertise, and enthusiasm for new challenges have earned him this promotion,” said Stephanie Ziebell, senior vice president of general counsel at Waterstone Mortgage, in a prepared statement. “Rico is a collaborative team player, he is widely respected, and he has proven successful at developing meaningful relationships – both internally and with external partners.”
Garcia’s professional career spans more than two decades in the mortgage lending industry, with more than five years at Waterstone Mortgage. He joined the company as the quality control manager in July 2017. Prior to this, he worked in various roles, including loan originator, processor and underwriter. He was the manager of quality control at Opus Capital Markets Consultants, LLC and managing director at Armitage Research LLC.
“One of my favorite aspects of this position is having the ability to learn new facets of our industry while working toward a common goal with my team members and colleagues,” Garcia said in the statement.
In November last year, Waterstone Mortgage appointed Chik Quintans its new director of digital marketing and in June, it named Paul Garrigues as its new chief financial officer.
Waterstone Mortgage focuses on purchase loans, and currently lends in 48 states. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of WaterStone Bank SSB, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Waterstone Financial, Inc.
