Adopt The Brand Day is Day 1 of the New England Mortgage Bankers Conference.
Your Day 1 registration includes the full conference — three days in Newport, RI. One ticket covers Day 1 and Day 2.
Day 1 — New England Mortgage Bankers Conference
September 16, 2026
Newport Marriott · Newport, RI
Reserve Your Seat
The official Boston volunteer for Anthropic
This is the session the mortgage industry has been waiting for. Not another high-level AI keynote — a working breakfast where the frameworks and the examples are built around the workflows, challenges, and opportunities that actually live inside mortgage and real estate. Grab a bagel and a coffee; this may be the most valuable hour of your conference.
The morning is led by Pricilla Ricapa, the Claude Community Ambassador for Boston and the official Boston volunteer for Anthropic, whose background is in financial services. She builds AI agents for a living — and she'll build one live, in front of the room.
Together we'll explore not just how AI can automate individual tasks, but how AI agents could eventually coordinate a far more fragmented ecosystem — across the consumer, real estate professionals, lenders, underwriting, title, insurance, appraisal, and closing. It's the broader perspective this audience rarely gets to talk through, with practical ideas you can take straight back to your business.
You'll leave knowing how to do two things: build your own AI agent in Claude from scratch, and build an agent infrastructure — a team of agents that report to each other — using the session's live example as your blueprint. Every leader, from a branch manager to the CEO of a top-100 lender, needs a chief of staff; come watch one get built.
Joining Pricilla are Brad Blumberg and Michael Kelleher. Brad co-founded Smarter Agent, the mobile real estate platform used by thousands of brokerages before its acquisition by Keller Williams, and now leads AsterKey. Michael pioneered mortgage mobile technology adopted by 200 lenders and 72,000 loan officers, helping mobilize $50 billion in lending. Together they keep the room moving, the examples practical, and the energy high.
Bring your laptop. Bring one workflow you want to fix. Come hungry — and leave with a chief of staff that works while you do.
Claude Community Ambassador for Boston · Official Boston Volunteer for Anthropic
Founder, AsterKey · Co-Founder, Smarter Agent
CEO, Adopt the Brand Media
Massachusetts just rewrote the rules on accessory dwelling units — and almost no loan officer is paying attention. Michael Kelleher opens the day with how he used Claude Code to build an ADU platform from scratch, turning a piece of legislation nobody's watching into a pipeline of purchase loans, new referral partners, and revenue most of the market will miss. A working look at what one operator can build right now, and how to put it to work in your own backyard.
CEO, Adopt the Brand Media
In lending, staying top of mind with current clients and future borrowers is how you win the business when they're finally ready to move. Drew Gillett breaks down the marketing disciplines that actually drive traction and ROI — stronger visual content, automated and personalized borrower communications, email that gets opened, and social that keeps growing — while automating the manual busywork so your team spends its time nurturing relationships and closing loans.
CEO, Lendware
VP Marketing, Guild Mortgage
Chief Marketing Strategist, Caelum Advisers
A new kind of leader is emerging in the mortgage industry: more visible, more accessible, and more willing to operate in the open than any generation before them. Dylan Latour shows how these executives are using content to build trust with loan officers at scale, replacing cold outreach with inbound interest and private pitches with public proof. You'll leave with the exact content playbook top CEOs are using to recruit, including the three topics that matter most and why this approach compounds for years after you start.
Founder, Inkpress Digital
Chief Marketing & Customer Officer
As lending strategies evolve, understanding where the nation's largest banks are placing their bets has never been more important. Eric Lapin of FICO leads a discussion between Jeremy Williams (Truist) and Nate Longfellow (TD) — an inside look at the products, technologies, and growth initiatives gaining momentum, what's being left behind, and how regional institutions and credit unions can position themselves to compete and win.
FICO Credit Markets, Risk Analytics Executive
Head of Real Estate Lending Fulfillment, Truist
Head of Digital Mortgage, TD
SVP, Director of Capital Markets, Citizens Bank
David Alonzo and Nate Longfellow pull back the curtain on real workflow implementations that are shaving days — not hours — off cycle times. No theoretical frameworks. Just the tech stacks, integrations, and process changes that are actually working at scale.
Head of Decision, Sapiens
CTO, Union Home Mortgage
Head of Digital Mortgage, TD
Grab a plate and settle in. Two back-to-back keynotes from industry leaders who have something worth saying while you eat.
Keynote — Title TBD
Keynote — Title TBD
The wholesale channel is more competitive than ever. Brett Arsta, Robert Pieklo, and Chris Vinson — three leaders who are actually winning — share what's working in their shops right now. From pricing strategy to broker relationships to tech adoption, this panel covers the moves that separate the leaders from the pack.
CEO, Adopt the Brand Media
Executive Managing Director / Co-Founder, PwrTPO
CEO, eLEND
CEO, Windsor Mortgage & CEO of Mortgage Division, Plains Commerce Bank
The best vendor relationships aren't transactional — they're strategic. Marc Trachtenberg, Jeremy Williams, and Mike Malloy have built partnerships that actually move the needle. Hear how they choose partners, structure relationships, and hold each other accountable for results.
President, MISMO
CEO, Silk Title
Head of Real Estate Lending Fulfillment, Truist
CEO, Sage Home Loans
Refi booms come and go. Jim Clapp and Jon Prussel have built origination operations that thrive on purchase volume regardless of what rates are doing. They'll share their playbooks for generating consistent purchase pipelines without relying on rate-driven demand.
Founder, Foyer
Head of Lending, Assurance Financial
President, City First Mortgage Services, LLC
CEO, Pivot Financial
President & CFO, Willow Bend Mortgage Company
How Great Leaders Build Their Greatest Competitive Advantage
AI investment is soaring, but it can't replace what drives stellar performance: how connected your people feel to you, the mission, and to each other. Jeremy Ray Davis breaks down how community, connection, and culture build the kind of trust that turns teams into movements, customers into advocates, and reduces turnover while driving real growth to the bottom line.
President of Mortgage, Southern Bank Corp
Technology may be sexy, but it represents less than 4% of the cost of a loan. The bigger challenge is removing manual cost without removing the people and culture that drive growth.
This C-suite panel tackles the strategic decisions technology cannot make: Should lenders prioritize closed-end seconds or expand their DSCR offerings? Retain servicing to build long-term value—or sell it and reinvest the capital in local loan officers and market share? How do leaders balance Wall Street's appetite with what Main Street borrowers are actually demanding?
Add RESPA's expanding gray areas and the widening divide between risk-tolerant and risk-averse competitors, and every growth decision becomes more complicated.
This isn't a discussion about the next tool. It's about capital, culture, risk and where mortgage leaders should place their next bet.
CEO, Pivot Financial
CEO, Absolute Home Mortgage Corp
Chief Revenue Officer, MegaStar Financial Corp
President, NEO Home Loans
Every lender is investing in technology. Far fewer are clear about the business model that technology is supposed to enable.
This panel explores how mortgage executives can use technology they understand and trust to place a deliberate bet on the kind of company productive loan officers will want to join. It also examines why LOs frequently compare compensation, rates and tools—but struggle to ask the deeper questions that reveal a lender's future vision, operating model, product strategy and commitment to growth.
Is AI distracting leaders and recruits from the fundamentals that make a mortgage company unique? Or has AI become the defining question because it will reshape every one of them?
A candid conversation about separating vision from buzzwords—and asking the questions that reveal which companies truly have a plan.
CRO, Secure Insight
CEO, Princeton Mortgage
President, First Alliance
Residential & Consumer Lending, Bank of Canton
Brandon Durham, Roy George, and Dr. Rick Roque have each cracked the code on recruiting loan officers in different ways. This panel gets into the specifics — what channels work, what comp structures attract the right people, and how to build a recruiting engine that doesn't depend on poaching from competitors.
Director of Training and Business Technology
President, MOR Lending
SVP, Retail Growth & M&A, NFM Lending
Two CEOs. Two different companies. One question: what technology is actually making a difference in your business right now? Greg Schwartz and Justin Messer cut through the noise and talk about the tech bets they've made — what's paid off, what hasn't, and what they're investing in next.
CRO, Newzip
CEO & Co-Founder, Tomo
CEO, Prosperity Home Mortgage
When the market gets tough, culture is what keeps your best people from leaving. Chrissy Zotzmann Brown, Rob Jewett, and Eric Roman have each built cultures that attract talent and survive downturns. They'll share what they've learned about values, accountability, and building teams that actually want to come to work.
CEO, Friday Harbor
Chief Operations Officer, Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group
COO, NewFed Mortgage
Chief Operating Officer & EVP, Nations Lending
Featuring the Claude Community Ambassador of Boston Sponsored by Lendware Sponsored by FICO Sponsored by Sapiens Decision Sponsored by Silverwork Solutions Sponsored by Foyer Sponsored by Pivot Financial Sponsored by Secure Insight Sponsored by Newzip Sponsored by Friday Harbor
This isn't a conference where you sit in a ballroom for two days listening to panels that could have been emails. This is one day, packed with sessions from actual practitioners — people who run teams, own P&Ls, and build technology for mortgage companies. Not vendors pitching products. Not consultants recycling frameworks.
The topics cover what actually matters: recruiting loan officers when there aren't enough to go around, technology that cuts days off your cycle time, leadership that keeps your best people from leaving, culture that survives down markets, and P&L management for the world we're actually operating in — not the one we wish we were in.
Every speaker on this stage runs a team, owns a number, or builds the tools we all depend on. They were invited because they have something worth sharing, and they said yes because they want to be in the room with people like you.
I built this agenda because these are the conversations I want to be in. I think you will too.
Dylan LatourMeghan HandyJeremy WilliamsNate LongfellowDavid AlonzoRon KlabundeMike EisingBrett ArstaRobert PiekloChris VinsonMarc TrachtenbergMike MalloyJim ClappMickey Schilling, CMBJeremy Ray DavisRich WeidelBrandon DurhamRoy GeorgeGreg SchwartzJustin MesserChrissy Zotzmann BrownRob JewettEric RomanMichael KelleherDrew GillettJosh GlantzAmanda PaddEric LapinMatthew VanFossenBrock CassidyBrad BlumbergDeb JonesJon PrusselRyan GrantMatthew PattersonScott GannonDr. Rick RoqueJennifer McGuinness-LubbertLandy LiuTheo EllisRafael GoldbergPricilla RicapaBrian VieauxJames DuncanNatalie AlexanderThe full 2025 Day 1 program on tape. Ten sessions — tech stacks, growth, customer satisfaction, brand, personal branding, and servicing. Watch what you missed, or forward to whoever needs to be in the room this year.
Set up in the exhibit hall during breakfast, breaks, and lunch. Get in front of every attendee in a high-traffic area with your branded booth, materials, and team.
Reserve a BoothA speaking slot on one of our panels. Share your perspective alongside industry leaders on a topic that matters to your audience. Includes exhibit hall booth.
Reserve a Panel Seat
25 America's Cup Avenue, Newport, RI 02840
Right on the waterfront in downtown Newport. Walking distance to Thames Street, Bowen's Wharf, and the harbor. The hotel sits on the water with views of Narragansett Bay — the kind of venue that makes you want to stick around after the last session ends.
Room block details and group rates will be announced soon.
View on Google MapsNewport books up fast for conference week. Here's where to stay — from the host hotel to the best-value option with a conference trolley.
The host hotel and conference venue, right on the waterfront at 25 America's Cup Avenue in Newport, RI — steps from every session.
View on MapA conference room block is available here. Inquire on their site for details and the block rate.
Wayfinder & room block →The best-value option — and the conference will offer a trolley to and from this hotel.
Wyndham Newport →Come early. The night before Day 1, we kick things off with a real tournament — not a casual toss in the grass. A professional cornhole company runs the whole night: live bracket play, a host on the mic calling every match, and a giant big screen so it feels like you're watching it on ESPN.
It's the best kind of networking — a drink in your hand, dinner on the table, and a little friendly competition with the people you came to Newport to meet. And every dollar goes to a cause that matters.
Tuesday Night Dinner · Sept 15
Tell us you're in and we'll send the details. Bring a partner, or we'll match you up.
Registration opens soon. Join the waitlist and we'll notify you the moment tickets go live.
Founded in 2011, the MBA Opens Doors Foundation is the mortgage industry's own charitable foundation, with one focused mission: help families with a critically ill or injured child stay in their home while that child is in treatment. When a child is hospitalized, a parent often has to stop working to be at the bedside — but the mortgage or the rent doesn't stop. Opens Doors steps in with grants of up to $2,000 a month so a family doesn't lose their home during the hardest moment of their lives.
The impact is real: more than 20,000 families helped, over $31 million in housing assistance distributed, across 14 children's hospital partners in nine states and Washington, D.C. Roughly 60% of the families helped have a child under the age of five, and most earn less than $60,000 a year.
That's why we toss. Every $20 and every dollar raised at Cornhole for a Cause goes straight to Opens Doors — keeping a family in their home while they focus on what matters most.
Learn more at mbaopensdoors.org →Part of Adopt the Brand Media
Adopt The Brand Day is powered by the team behind the MikedUp Show — the longest-running podcast in mortgage — plus our weekly newsletter and article network. Every speaker becomes content that keeps working long after the room clears.
Register free; we will send details and, where it applies, your discounted rate. Pick the path that fits you.