SigniaDocs Hires Chief Strategy Officer

""SigniaDocs"":http://www.SigniaDocs.com, a Houston-based provider of eMortgage services, has named Harry Gardner to the post of chief strategy officer. Gardner is the former VP of industry technology at the ""Mortgage Bankers Association"":http://www.mortgagebankers.org (MBA) and former president of ""MISMO"":http://www.mismo.org (Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization). MISMO is the industry group that created the electronic mortgage standard practices and documents known as SMART Docs, a technology innovation that SigniaDocs says makes eMortgages possible and practical.
SigniaDocs explained that Gardner was hired to assist in the company’s effort to replace expensive, inefficient, and error-ridden paper mortgages with high-speed, cost-effective electronic mortgages, saving lenders and consumers millions of dollars in the process. He is charged with keeping the company at the forefront of supporting MISMO standards and implementing a strategic roadmap to bring lenders and their customers from a paper environment, to the streamlined eMortgage origination experience.
Having Gardner join the team was a completely logical choice for SigniaDocs, according to president Tim Anderson, who has spent a decade serving on the various MBA and MISMO technology boards and committees that have been instrumental in helping materialize eMortgages. ""I have known Harry Gardner for most of those years, and he is a leader in this exciting field that can bring new vigor and health to the mortgage industry,"" Anderson said. ""Harry was an essential part of creating the practical eMortgage, and he shares the vision we have for the future of this important technology innovation.""
As Anderson explains, the days of lenders using aggressive pricing and unique products to compete for business are over. Today, he says, lenders have to offer superior service with better, more efficient processes and improved customer experiences.
Gardner spent eight years at the MBA, managing the efforts MISMO and especially the eMortgage Workgroup as it developed a broad set of specifications, guidelines, and white papers for the mortgage industry. Promoted to VP of industry technology in 2007, he also served as the president of MISMO, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of MBA. Gardner also managed the efforts of MBA’s various technology committees and task forces and oversaw technology content for MBA conferences and educational classes.
He was recently named one of Mortgage Banking magazine’s eMortgage All-Stars for his work at MBA, MISMO, and a dozen other industry technology groups involving appraisal, title, escrow, and other essential functions. Previously, he held key management roles with several technology firms in the greater Washington, D.C. area, and began his career as a design engineer upon earning his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at the University of Virginia.
Paul Anselmo, SigniaDocs’ chairman, commented, ""Harry has a wealth of technology experience, from electronics to local area networks to databases, software design and Internet systems. And for eight years he has worked hard to make eMortgages simple and efficient.""
According to Anselmo, without Gardner's efforts and the hard work of many other dedicated professionals, the lending industry would still have no alternative to the ""profit-robbing inefficiency of the paper-based mortgage.""
For Gardner, the decision to join SigniaDocs was simple. ""I came to SigniaDocs because it offers companies a great alternative to the paper-based processes of yesterday,"" Gardner said. ""The company provides a total eMortgage solution, was among the first to convert from static documents to SMART Docs for the entire closing package, not just the eNote, to support a complete, paperless eClosing process. eMortgages are transforming the industry, and I’m delighted to be a part of it.""