Leadership Team
Stewart Hunter, Founding Partner and CVO (Core Values Officer)
Founding Partner and CVO of Benchmark Mortgage, Mr. Hunter plays a vital role in managing one of America’s fastest growing mortgage banking corporations with nearly 200 branch offices throughout the U.S. Experienced in strategic planning, business and product development as well as marketing execution, Mr. Hunter is the visionary leading the charge in Benchmark’s rapid expansion. Passionate about developing branch partnership; His energy, enthusiasm and natural leadership abilities coupled with his fundamental role in the implementation of the Benchmark Culture based on a staunch commitment to core values and personal/professional development have propelled Benchmark to the receipt of national awards and prominence.
KEY AREAS OF EXPERTISE
- Vision & Leadership Business Development & Strategic Alliances
- Strategic Planning Marketing Execution
- Team Building & Training Operational & Managerial Controls
- Culture / Core Values Creative Media
Bryan Harlan, Founding Partner and CEO
Bryan holds an MBA from Dallas Baptist University and an undergraduate degree in Finance and Accounting from Texas Christian University. As the Broker of record for Benchmark, Bryan also holds the prestigious Certified Mortgage Consultant (CMC) designation as awarded by the NANB. This designation has only been awarded to some 400 mortgage professionals in the U.S. based on experience, education, and industry leadership.
Mr. Harlan’s mortgage origination experience is extensive. Prior to forming Benchmark, he owned and operated a Branch for The Mortgage Factory in Frisco, Texas. He managed 10 Mortgage Consultants and opened satellite branches in Baton Rouge and Shreveport, LA. In the two previous years before his ownership of this branch, he was Production Manager for 1-800 Home Loan where he managed 45 Loan Officers and increased average monthly revenue from $115,110 to $350,250 and average monthly units from 41 to 142. In his initial year of loan origination in the mid-90’s, Bryan originated 122 loans in 12 months at Landmark Mortgage and achieved honors as “rookie of the Year” made the President’s Club, and earned the “#1 In Growth Award.” His skill sets and detail orientation serve all of Benchmark’s employees and valued Branch Managers well.
Jim McMahan, Executive Vice President and National Sales Trainer
Jim has been a Mortgage Consultant in the Dallas area for over 20 years. During this time, his personal fundings have surpassed the $1.5 billion dollar mark. Jim is recognized not only as one of the top producing originators in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex, but also one of the top producers in the entire United States. Since 1992, Jim has averaged over $50 million dollars in personal fundings per year, and an average of over $75 million the past five years.
Jim serves as a National Sales Trainer for Benchmark Mortgage. “I am excited about the culture, entrepreneurship and helping Benchmark become the premier branching company in the mortgage industry”, Jim McMahan said. Jim is also a highly respected industry speaker and the Founder of Certified Scripts for Success, a program which helps loan officers both to understand the “why” behind the market and gain a thorough understanding of what to say in the most critical selling situations. In both of these roles, Jim’s focus is on helping originators across the country gain knowledge of concepts such as fiscal literacy and the fundamentals of economics behind interest rate markets.
Harold Rasmussen, Chief Financial Officer
Harold, a CPA with a BS in Finance from Indiana University, is our Chief Financial Officer. His 36 years of extensive financial experience, both domestic and international, ably equip him to oversee our Accounting, AR / AP, Branch Management, Payroll, Commission, and Treasury functions. Harold is experienced in taking companies public as well as managing rapidly growing companies and divisions. He is proficient in planning, organizing, management and implementation. He carries a strong sense of urgency.
In his career span, Harold has been VP Finance and Treasurer of IMSA, Inc., a Director of Web Connex, Inc., Chief Financial Officer of Fidelity Funding Group, Senior Consultant with Hogan Systems on a Mexican Bank project, Vice President and Treasurer of Fidelity Trust Company (a subsidiary of Fidelity Investments), and the Controller of the retail activities for Irving Trust when they launched their mortgage division in 1985. This division had annual originations of $500 million to $1 Billion. Harold also served as Vice President and Controller of Retail Banking for the Bank of New York which had $15 Billion in assets. He has implemented mortgage accounting systems, established foreign exchange trading departments, and managed operations and accounting departments in subsidiaries in Miami, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Harold’s depth of experience provides a solid financial foundation for Benchmark. Harold is also on the Board of Directors of the Achievement Center of Texas which is non profit organization providing day care services and education for severely challenged individuals in the Dallas area.
Steve Remington, Executive Vice President
Steve brings ten years of mortgage lending experience in the following functional departments. Production, Operations Management, Underwriting, Processing, Quality Control, Compliance, Secondary Marketing, Closing/Funding and Post-Closing. He has a depth of experience in developing and implementing a full menu of loan programs including Subprime, Alt-A, Conforming, Jumbo, Government and Home Equity Loans.
His managerial focus at Benchmark will be to oversee our mortgage banking operations, add highly competitive new products to our portfolio and with internal staff members as well as our Branch Manager Partners in Benchmark’s procedures and loan programs.
Jim Poulin, Vice President of Lending
im has 17 years of mortgage risk evaluation and operations management experience. His areas of concentration have been productivity enhancement, credit risk evaluation, managing regional operations and team leadership with collaboration.
Most recently (7 yrs) Jim Poulin held the leadership roles at Countrywide Financial. As their Regional Vice President of Prime lending Operations, he managed a large staff of underwriters and production support staff. He was also Vice President of Countrywide’s Structured Loan Desk responsible for reviewing investor loan sale kick backs and internal corporate audits.
Jim has the experience, the knowledge and the ability to help all of us grow in the mortgage industry. We feel fortunate that he has taken the steps to join our organization! His statement below says why we are so pleased to welcome him on board with us and look forward to a long tenure!
“I choose Benchmark to call home for its solid reputation, existing platform, core values and tremendous opportunity to help the team move to the next level of excellence.” Jim Poulin.
Kelly Casey, Director of New Branches
Kelly has been an employee of Benchmark Mortgage for 6+ years. She began as the top Loan Officer of a Dallas based Branch for before becoming a Branch Manager of her own successful office. It is because of her success as a Benchmark Loan Officer and Branch Manager that she has been given the role of “Director of New Branches”. Her position at Benchmark is to ensure that any new Branch coming on board aligns with the Core Values that Benchmark holds so dear, by focusing on the applicant’s character in addition to their qualifications.
