The Massachusetts Mortgage Bankers Association is launching a search for a new leader. Current Executive Director Kevin Cuff will be stepping down at the end of the year, after guiding the organization through the financial downturn for the past few years and aborted efforts at broadening the group’s regional influence.
Cuff has been in the position for nine years, the last several on a series of one-year contracts. After first broaching the possibility of his departure in November last year, Cuff informed the board last week that he would not be renewing his contract at the end of 2010.
Mortgage banking industry observers and Cuff’s peers said they were shocked at the news of his pending departure.
“I was surprised,” said Christopher Dannen, president of the Connecticut Mortgage Bankers Association, an organization that both worked closely with Cuff and found itself at odds with him in recent years. “It has been a tough couple of years. It’s not an easy role, and I’m sure he’s had his hands full. I wish him the best.”
“I’ve had a lot of meetings with Kevin and the MMBA this year, and did not have an inkling he was leaning in this direction,” said Thomas Fleming, president of the Rhode Island Mortgage Bankers Association. “I have nothing but the highest praise for the job that Kevin’s done at the MMBA.”
Denise Leonard, director of the Massachusetts Mortgage Association, said the group was saddened to learn of Cuff’s departure.
“We understand that with all the changes that have occurred in the banking industry over the last few years, the trickle down effect reaches as far as your local trade association,” she said in a statement.
Trying Times
The past several years under Cuff’s leadership have been challenging for MMBA. With the overall mortgage industry in turmoil, Membership declined approximately 10 percent, a loss of about 45 corporate members from a high of 425.
“Where we have seen some fallout is attendance at events and our industry convention,” Cuff told Banker & Tradesman. “The quality of our membership has stayed fairly strong.”
The organization has also taken hits to its balance sheets. In 2008, the most recent year for which public data was available, the MMBA lost nearly $80,000, leaving it with total assets of $625,806, a more than 22 percent drop from total assets of $808,217 in 2006. In the same year, Cuff took a 10 percent cut in total compensation, according to public records.
Cuff said the association’s asset value has been restored to approximately $750,000 today, in part through the transfer of funds from the MMBA’s associated charitable foundation.
The decline in membership and revenue led the association to make a brief push for regionalization among the six New England mortgage banking associations last year. The push raised tensions with the Connecticut Mortgage Brokers Association, and the Connecticut group was disinvited to be a sponsor of the 2009 New England Mortgage Banking Conference (NEMBC), a trade show all six New England mortgage banking associations had jointly held for the previous two decades.
Revenue listed from “special events” held by the MMBA, which includes revenues from NEMBC, fell more than 34 percent between 2006 and 2008, from $319,000 to $210,000.
Keith Andre, chairman of the MMBA, said regionalization talks had never really gotten past the first meeting.
“Furthering the discussions to go into a regional organization wasn’t in the cards for everybody, and everybody in the room said, ‘one meeting is enough. Let’s just work on educational stuff together,’” Andre said.
Dannen said the Connecticut group has been in talks with the MMBA to return to the NEMBC this fall, and to work together on some continuing professional education projects for its joint membership.
“We’ll be more than happy to reestablish relations with [Cuff’s] successor,” Dannen said.
A Cog In A Wheel
Andre said the association will shortly begin its formal search for Cuff’s replacement, and had already received inquiries from potential candidates, though the board is not yet accepting resumes. He said the group is seeking an executive with a mortgage banking background, who will be well-placed to understand the rapidly shifting regulatory environment the industry is facing, and can lead both the association’s continuing education and lobbying efforts.
“The perfect candidate who has strong mortgage banking and strong [experience advocating on Beacon Hill] – that’s rare,” said Andre. “It’s more important to have the mortgage banking experience.”
Cuff himself didn’t seem to think the association would struggle to find his replacement.
“I work with a board of 20 competent people who could step in and do this job in a heartbeat,” said Cuff. “I’m a cog in a wheel….[the board] makes all the strategic decisions of the body. I’m a mere carpenter who happens to put the nails in the wall and that’s it.”
