Letter from AIME Leadership 5-1-23

Hello Broker Community,

In keeping with our theme of storytelling, I’d like to share with you a little bit about my journey in the mortgage industry.

I started in 1996, assisting a top-producing loan officer at a small local brokerage here in my hometown. Over the course of the decade that followed, I committed to learning every job involved in the loan process, from processing all the way through post-closing and secondary marketing.

From 1999 through 2008, I had the incredible opportunity to be a part of building a company that became a nationwide wholesale and retail lender doing huge volume numbers and selling loans directly to Wall Street investors working with the industry giants like Lehman Brothers, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and many more.

Back then, there were no training manuals for what we were doing. There was no community to lean on for support. Everything that we accomplished was based on the things we learned by diving in and teaching ourselves what worked (and what didn’t). I can’t count the number of roadblocks we found our way through “the hard way.” I will always remember the days when things were challenging, and we felt isolated and alone in our struggle.

I share this with you because my story isn’t unique. Through conversations with hundreds of AIME members across the nation over these past few years, it became clear that I was one of many mortgage professionals out there on my own without a sense of community and without any real support.

The reason I am so passionate about what we’re doing here at AIME is because we’ve changed that narrative. AIME has created a community and an infrastructure that provides collaboration, support, education, and impact to each other. In our leadership meetings, one thing is clear: We are always looking for ways to increase our connections to our members and make an even greater impact on our community together. Katie Sweeney, in particular, had an idea for a program that was focused on creating local advocates in every state to support the needs of the Broker community nearly two years ago.

In February, the State Captain program was born.

The State Captain program is a network of regional and state leaders from the AIME community who represent the needs of the Broker channel at the local level. This program focuses on the strength of AIME’s community – a community that is thousands of independent mortgage professionals strong – by organizing our efforts to effect change in every state and Puerto Rico. Advocates within this program are trained local AIME members with a singular goal: to amplify our voice and rally for brokers and consumers at the state and local levels across the country.

Within this program, we created two different State Captain roles:

• Our Advocacy Captains are active in their local communities and will be a driving force for state-level legislative efforts. They are engaged with their local industry trade groups, fielding legislative questions, and listening to new ideas from AIME members in their areas.
• Our Community Captains help to amplify AIME’s initiatives through social media and engagement with other members at the local level. They work closely with AIME members in their areas to field day-to-day questions and come up with new ideas.

With the help of our State Captains, we are also identifying other opportunities for members to get involved in our advocacy and outreach efforts. We will soon have State Capital Delegates in larger states along with state-specific committees to identify areas where AIME can support legislative efforts to better our industry.

So far, the State Captain program has been wildly successful. Katie, myself, and the AIME team have worked tirelessly to achieve the initial goals that were set for this program. Detailed below are our goals and current wins:

• The AIME Leadership team set a goal to have at least 100 applications to select a State Captain in at least 25 states in our first round.
• Hundreds of AIME members applied! The overwhelming response by our members is an affirmation that our Advocacy and Outreach efforts are resonating. The Broker community has become a united voice for change in our industry, and we’re just getting started.
• At launch, we had close to 100 State Captains confirmed with coverage in 44 states and Puerto Rico! We blew past our initial goals and attribute that to the commitment and passion that YOU – our members – have for this community.

We are excited to have all of the State Captains come together on Capitol Hill in July for National Mortgage Brokers Day, which for the first time ever, includes a dedicated day of advocacy training with lobbyists and communications experts and a gathering of brokers on the Hill for legislative meetings with policymakers.

For more information on AIME’s Advocacy efforts and to join our Broker Action Coalition (BAC) visit the following link: https://aimegroup.quorum.us/

To find the State Captains in your area, visit: https://aimegroup.com/state-captains/

Stay tuned for updates from the State Captains here: https://aimegroup.com/state-captain-updates/?

If you are interested in being a part of our State Captain program (including a state delegate) and have not already done so, please apply here: https://aimegroup.typeform.com/to/b237dsDq?typeform-source=view.ceros.com

Jamie Cavanaugh

Vice President of Outreach