Cenlar Promotes Six to New Roles

Mortgage loan subservicer Cenlar FSB ^[1] has announced the promotion of six within the company, including Rene Gonzales to Chief Technology Officer; William Benefield to Director, Contact Center; Heather Barber to Audit Director; Michael Mancino to Director of Quality Assurance; Nikesha McDaniel to Director of Compliance; and Lauren Tabas to Business Control Director.

“Cenlar is proud to promote these leaders across the organization who are all experts in their respective fields and deliver the very best service to our clients and their homeowners as well as lead and mentor our employees each and every day,” said Cenlar Chief Talent Officer Glen Vilim. “On behalf of the entire Cenlar team, I would like to congratulate all of these exceptional leaders on their promotions and look forward to their continued success and contributions to the company.”

Gonzales is a seasoned IT leader with significant experience in large mortgage servicing operations who joined Cenlar in 2018. In his role as Chief Technology Officer, he will be responsible for providing strategic new technology leadership to Cenlar’s business units. Additionally, Rene also leads solution architecture and innovation initiatives, partners with leaders to leverage technology to generate value and help achieve Cenlar’s business objectives and strategy.

“I have worked closely with Rene on a variety of projects, and I have grown to respect his dedication, commitment to excellence, and his ability to quickly adapt to fast technological change,” said Cenlar CIO Steven Taylor. “I also respect his strong sense of value and his people-centered leadership style. I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate Rene on his work that proved his abilities. His demonstrated skills are what earned him the CTO role.”

Prior to joining Cenlar, Gonzales held IT leadership positions at PHH Mortgage, Altisource, Ocwen Financial Corporation, Ally Financial, GMAC and JPMorgan. Rene also served honorably in the United States Army and the Army Reserves for 28 years, including mobilization tours supporting Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation Noble Eagle, retiring at the rank of Major.

In his new role as Director of the Contact Center, Benefield will assist with the oversight of the default contact center and its employees in the in the company’s O’Fallon, Missouri location. Before being promoted to Director of the Contact Center, Bill was a Manager of the Default Contact Center for three years. Prior to Cenlar, Bill held various leadership roles at Citibank for more than 17 years, most recently, serving as VP of the Default Contact Center at Citibank.

In her new role as Audit Director, Barber will be responsible for the advancement of the company’s Assurance and Validation program, enhancement and support of business operations, development and support of auditors, and work with senior level management, as well as the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).

Mancino, as Director of Quality Assurance, will be responsible for leveraging the review of borrower contacts for quality metrics to further the company’s collective efforts to increase overall efficiency. Before being promoted to Director of Quality Assurance, Mancino was a Quality Assurance Manager, overseeing Voice Quality Monitoring and related ancillary functions. He began his career at Cenlar 15 years ago in the Treasury Department where he managed Cenlar’s portfolio of non-agency mortgage backed securities.

McDaniel, Cenlar’s new Director of Compliance, will manage Compliance Testing and Monitoring and the Oversight of Key Risk Indicators (KRIs) across Cenlar. McDaniel will lead initiatives that target regulatory compliance and enhance risk mitigation, while delivering and executing on Cenlar’s business plan objectives. Nikesha joined Cenlar 25 years ago as a Collections Clerk, and later moved to Portfolio Transfers, where she spent 13 years gaining skills that would expand into Default Project Management and now Compliance Risk.

Tabas, Cenlar’s new Business Control Director, will lead a team of 10 Business Control Managers and Analysts across Borrower and Core Operations, and will oversee the Risk and Control Self-assessments for Cenlar, evaluating the effectiveness of controls as compared to business rules and regulatory requirements, managing ongoing control testing, and working with both Issues Management and Operational Change Management. She also will work with the Loss Mitigation and Default Accounting teams on various initiatives. She has more than 15 years of experience in the mortgage banking industry. Prior to her promotion, Lauren served as Business Control Manager.