Amy Tierce has joined Wintrust Mortgage as New England regional vice president, opening a new branch for the firm in Needham, its first in the Bay State.

"I am incredibly excited to introduce a new lending brand to New England," Tierce said in a statement. "Wintrust offers the stability and clout of an $18 billion bank, the systems, compliance, and security of a nationally chartered entity along with the flexibility of a correspondent lending platform. We have huge product strength, expertise, and commitment to both jumbo and condominium lending, how could I resist this platform?"

Prior to joining Wintrust, Tierce was regional vice president for Fairway Independent Mortgage and manager of its No. 1 Newton location. Joining Tierce from Fairway are Deana Auman-Kirbach, regional operations manager; Linda Erwin, senior underwriter; and Michele Auman, senior processor; and loan originators Craig Tashjian and Brian Denton. Drew Grandi, formerly business development director at Poli Mortgage, will also be working on the originations side for Wintrust.

"When we met Amy and later her team, we knew that this was a group we could build a region around, they have high standards and strong value system around quality compliant origination, high-trust customer service, education, community engagement, and charitable involvement, all hallmarks of Wintrust," Bob Shield, executive vice president of sales for Wintrust, said in a statement.