Industry powerhouse Stephen Thomas is spearheading a new minority-owned national correspondent lender, FutureWave Finance.
FuturWave partners with investors to offer lenders a future-focused product suite aimed at expanding homeownership across the U.S.
It offers government, conventional, and low-balance loans, plus jumbo, non-QM residential, and non-QM business purpose loans.
Its industry partners include Ginnie Mae, Freddie Mac, Optimal Blue, ICE Mortgage Technology, The Fay Group, Loan Central, and SitusAMC.
“I’ve known Steve Thomas a long time and if anyone can deliver the leadership and drive to change the mortgage industry and provide homeownership opportunities, it’s Steve. He knows this business inside and out and is deeply involved in the housing industry,” Julie Joseforsky, President of Financial Services at Fay Financial, said.
Thomas, a seasoned leader with decades of home lending experience under his belt, is driving the company as president and CEO. He spent the last nine years as Senior Managing Director of Mortgage Capital Markets at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago (FHLBC), providing liquidity for residential mortgage products across hundreds of small banks and credit unions.
While at FHLBC, he also served as Chair of the MPF Capital Markets Committee, Co-Director of the FHLBC Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Co-founder of the FHLB Capital Markets Supplier Diversity Committee, and member of the FHLB Housing Finance Reform Task Force.
Prior to that, he founded the Mortgage Finance Group at CastleOak Securities, which became a top minority-owned investment banking firm.
His other experience includes various senior-level positions at Fannie Mae, Countrywide Home Loans, AMCG LLC, and Aegis Mortgage.
“Lenders need a product-focused approach to grow their residential mortgage business as we are undergoing a secular shift from the rate-driven refinance market that dominated the industry for most of our careers,” Thomas said.
“We are using our vast resources, infrastructure, technical knowledge, and numerous industry relationships to partner and deliver a wide variety of mortgage loan products – with expert pricing – to service that need.”
Thomas also serves on the boards of various charitable and advisory organizations, including Mercy Housing-Lakefront, the National Housing Conference’s National Advisory Council, Quontic Bank’s Black and Hispanic Community Development Advisory Board, and Quontic’s Community Development Financial Institution Advisory Board.
FutureWave partners with lenders and other organizations to develop mortgage loan products that have the potential to grow homeownership opportunities for all Americans.