MBA NewsLink Q&A with Selene Holdings’ John Vella
As Chief Revenue Officer for Selene Holdings and its subsidiaries, John Vella is responsible for driving revenue generation through ongoing leadership of Sales, Marketing, Client Management and Product Innovation. Vella has more than 20 years of experience leading organizations and delivering exceptional results across multiple industries.
Prior to joining Selene, Vella served as Chief Revenue Officer of Altisource. Before that, he served as Chief Operating Officer of Equator, LLC. Vella began his financial services career with the FDIC and Freddie Mac and later served as Chief Sales Officer for H & R Block’s mortgage company, Chief Executive Officer of Household International’s Automotive Business, President and Chief Executive Officer of Bear Stearns EMC Mortgage Company and as Executive Vice President for special servicing of GMAC/RESCAP.
MBA NewsLink: In what ways have you seen client expectations changing over the past two years?
John Vella: Client expectations are always evolving. Over the past couple of years, the expectation of providing more data and customized reporting based on client need is paramount. This leads to a proactive discovery of issues that can be addressed in a timely manner.
More and more clients are also requesting a single point of contact to manage their portfolio. They feel more confident being able to work with one individual who demonstrates knowledge of their business, portfolio performance and who can escalate important servicing issues. This more tailored approach helps to meet needs across the entire portfolio. Finally, access to systems has become increasingly important. Clients should be able to access certain information at their fingertips allowing for full transparency on their portfolio activity.
MBA NewsLink: How should a subservicer be prepared to meet evolving client expectations?
John Vella: Subservicers should provide an experienced portfolio management team based on a client satisfaction culture. Creating internal infrastructures such as a client portal to proprietary systems, tailored reporting and a no pooling approach allow client needs to be met. In addition, ensuring each member of a portfolio management team has an in-depth understanding of industry and economic trends as well as the authority in which to manage and react to all client inquiries.
MBA NewsLink: Why is the client experience critical to a successful client/subservicer relationship?
John Vella: Client satisfaction should be the number one priority for any subservicer. A positive experience is crucial to retaining clients and growing a client base. There are various ways a subservicer can work to achieve a positive client relationship starting with reaction times to request, escalation resolution and providing the right data and deliverables. Ensuring not only that these processes being executed by the portfolio management team, but also striving to measure impact and satisfaction through frequent net promoter score surveys, so the voice of the client can be heard.
MBA NewsLink: Talk about Selene’s internal client management culture.
John Vella: Executive sponsorship is key in creating a robust internal client management culture. Rigorous internal reporting and senior management involvement regarding client satisfaction and issues are an integral part of our subservicing process. In addition, Selene has a sharing of best practices and consistent alignment with operations to ensure turnaround times and client needs regarding loan level issues. These steps, layered with an overall structured cadence with clients to discuss areas of improvements, ensures communication channels are open and issues are resolved timely.
(Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect policies of the Mortgage Bankers Association, nor do they connote an MBA endorsement of a specific company, product or service. MBA NewsLink welcomes your submissions. Inquiries can be sent to Editor Michael Tucker or Editorial Manager Anneliese Mahoney.)
