People in the News, Jan. 7, 2026
(Chris Marshall, courtesy of Sagent)
Sagent Taps Chris Marshall for CEO Role
Sagent, Coppell, Texas, has appointed Chris Marshall as CEO.
Marshall will also retain his role as Sagent board chairman; outgoing CEO Geno Paluso will become Sagent vice chairman and serve as a senior adviser during the leadership transition.
Marshall will be responsible for implementing Sagent’s end-to-end Dara platform at scale.
He previously served as vice chairman and president of Mr. Cooper, and in executive roles at Ally Bank, Fifth Third Bank and Bank of America.
Gershman Mortgage Announces Promotions
Gershman Mortgage, Chesterfield, Mo., announced the promotion of four employees to officer roles.
Ben Helmerich and Amber Moser have been named vice presidents. Courtney Jett and Matt Ortinau have been promoted to assistant vice president roles.
Helmerich is a residential loan officer and has been with the firm since 2021. Moser joined in 2022 and also serves as a residential loan officer.
Jett has been at Gershman since 2017 and is in the compliance department. Ortinau joined in 2015 and works in disclosures.
The Mortgage Collaborative Makes Personnel Updates
The Mortgage Collaborative, San Diego, announced the appointment of Rich Swerbinsky as strategic advisor to the CEO and president. Heidi Belnay will serve as senior adviser for business development.
Swerbinsky is former president of TMC. He will now work closely with CEO and President Jodi Hall to drive strategic initiatives.
Belnay brings extensive industry experience.
Both will focus on three key growth areas: expanding TMC’s membership base, increasing individual subscriber acquisition and growing benchmark subscription services through 2026.
Planet Home Lending Adds Brandon Bean as SVP
Planet Home Lending, Meriden, Conn., announced that Brandon Bean has joined as SVP of national fulfillment.
Bean has more than two decades of experience in building retail operations.
He most recently served as SVP of branch operations at Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. Previously he was in a position managing underwriting teams and was responsible for training loan officers, processors and underwriters.
