When the subprime market collapsed a decade ago there were some people who overcame the challenges and were led by a guiding principal of “failure is NOT an option.”
In our Hot Topic segment today we’re excited to have Pete Gabrione, COO of Midwest Equity Mortgage / Celebrity Home Loans on the program to share his insights being on both sides of a merger and acquisition!
Want to know more about Pete Gabrione?
Pete Gabrione brings 16 years of mortgage experience to his role as the Chief Operating Officer.
Pete got his start in the mortgage industry in San Diego, CA in 2003. He recognized quickly how subprime lending wasn’t sustainable and anyone who wanted a future in this industry must figure out a better way. This led him to co-found Midwest Equity Mortgage, LLC.
Midwest Equity Mortgage opened their doors in January 2007, right as the mortgage world began to collapse. Using a guiding principal of “failure is NOT an option”, Pete and his partner were able to navigate the troubled times of 2007-2009. The company then went through a tremendous growth phase from 2010 until 2017, opening in several markets and growing loan volume to over $1.5b in 2016 & 2017.
In the summer of 2018, Pete and his partner sold their interest in Midwest Equity and became minority share holders in Celebrity Financial, Inc.
Pete graduated from the University of Illinois in Champaign/Urbana with a bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology. While attending Illinois, he played football. His playing time came on Special Teams where he was awarded three varsity letters and named a Co-Captain his Senior Year.
Pete and his wife, Jana, live in Naperville, IL with their four children.
Excerpts from this Episode:
Listen: Insights into the merger and acquisition to David Robnet and the vision for the company…
Listen: Long term employees become like family… the importance of looking after your employees…
Listen: Adopting a new business model that puts employees into the ownership position… decentralized structure to running a mortgage company…
Listen: Any company that wants to stay around for the long haul better know how your sausage is being made… quality control is essential… you need to know every detail that goes into your production…
Listen: Developing the consistency and standards for the process… being open to digging into the process…
Listen: Culture is extremely important to me and it always has been…
Listen: Looking for incremental increases in efficiency using technology in the mortgage industry…
Listen: There are many great mortgage technologies, but where the rubber meets the road is, when you turn it on, do your people love it and can they easily adapt to it?
Listen: If technology isn’t easy to adopt then we just lose motivation for it…
Listen: If you’re not rubbing you’re not racing… challenging each other to get better … iron sharpens iron…
Listen: In our profit and lose model, let us help you find every little differentiator to help you make a better business…