NewsLink Q&A: FICS’ Shalecia Callaway, Aaron Lynch on their New Roles as FICS Co-Presidents

FICS® (Financial Industry Computer Systems, Inc.), a provider of mortgage loan origination, residential servicing and commercial servicing software, rang in 2026 with a new leadership chapter. Longtime president Susan Graham transitioned to a new role as Senior Vice President of Employee Education and Shalecia Callaway and Aaron Lynch stepped into the company’s top roles as Co-Presidents.

Callaway, who brings almost 24 years of FICS experience to her position as Co-President and COO, and Lynch, a FICS veteran with more than 20 years’ experience serving as Co-President and CTO, represent a leadership model built on complementary strengths and deep institutional knowledge.

MBA NewsLink sat down with both executives to discuss the co-presidency structure, the challenges facing today’s mortgage technology customers and where FICS is headed next.

MBA NewsLink: FICS recently transitioned to a co-presidency model, with you two leading the company together. How does that structure work in practice, and are there advantages of having leaders with a background in System Support and IT/Software Development jointly at the helm?

Shalecia Callaway: We each have our respective responsibilities and primary areas of oversight, but there is no hard line in the sand dividing what belongs to me and what belongs to Aaron. We make a point to involve each other in any matter where additional perspective and consideration are needed, and we keep one another in the loop on company happenings and decisions as they unfold. That kind of collaborative decision-making is one of this model’s genuine strengths.

Aaron Lynch: What makes it work is that we bring complementary strengths to the table. Between operations, customer support, technology, and innovation, the sum really is greater than its parts. We share a vision for where FICS is headed even as we approach it from different areas of experience, and that combination keeps us well-rounded as a leadership team. This is still new for us, and we know we’ll learn things along the way. But we have worked closely together for years, leading up to this leadership change, and throughout that time, we have always stayed focused on our most important priority: our customers.

MBA NewsLink: You both have over two decades of experience at FICS. How does that institutional knowledge shape your vision for where the company goes from here?

Callaway: Between the two of us, we bring over 40 years of FICS experience to these roles, which, if you ask us, is simply remarkable. We know our software, our employees, our customers, and what this company stands for. We grew up inside FICS and thoroughly understand the values that have been embedded here over more than four decades.

Lynch: That foundation gives us something invaluable: we know our customers and understand the challenges they face, and we also know our team and feel genuinely connected to the culture and family that makes FICS what it is. Our overall goal is to empower our customers to be competitive in the industry by disentangling the mortgage process for them. We will leverage our combined experience and expertise, along with the knowledge gained through multiple industry cycles, and pair that historical acumen with technological advancements that provide greater automation and innovation. This will give our customers the tools they need to succeed without putting themselves or their borrowers at risk.

MBA NewsLink: Mortgage servicers and lenders are navigating a challenging environment: elevated rates, tighter margins, and ongoing regulatory complexity. What do you see as the most pressing technology and operational challenges your customers are facing right now, and how is FICS responding?

Callaway: One of the most significant operational challenges we are seeing is a knowledge gap. There has been a real exodus of experienced industry leaders, and many of the people entering the mortgage space today don’t yet have a deep grounding in the logic, calculations, and regulatory framework that underpin the work. We want to help fill that gap. Beyond training our customers on how our systems work, we see an opportunity to provide broader mortgage industry education that helps their teams build more durable competency.

Lynch: On the technology side, the priorities are flexibility, affordability, and support. Our customers need deployment options that fit their specific environments and provide strong data security. They need solutions that are economical, particularly in a margin-compressed market. And they need to know that when they reach out, they will receive a prompt, knowledgeable response.

That last point is something FICS has always taken seriously. Our longstanding commitment is to provide reliable, efficient, economical, and accurate mortgage software, and to ensure our customers receive the finest service, training, and support offered by any software organization. That commitment has not changed under our leadership, and it will not.

MBA NewsLink: What are you prioritizing?

Lynch: Our innovation priorities are centered on a few core themes. The first is scalability and optimization. We want our solutions to serve customers across the full spectrum, from smaller community lenders to large-scale operations, and to perform well at every point on that range. The second is our ability to respond rapidly and accurately to regulatory changes. The mortgage industry does not stand still from a compliance standpoint, and our customers need a technology partner that keeps pace without disruption.

Callaway: The third priority is elevating the support experience itself. We are focused on developing prompt, automated, and well-informed support options that meet customers where they are by reducing friction and providing answers faster. Taken together, these priorities reflect what has always distinguished FICS: a commitment to being a true partner to our customers, not just a software vendor. As co-presidents, that is the standard we intend to keep.

(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 submissions from member firms. Inquiries can be sent to Editor Michael Tucker or Editorial Manager Anneliese Mahoney.)