Amy Tierce has stepped down from the board of the Massachusetts Mortgage Bankers Association. Tierce had been chair-elect and was expected to become chair next year.
Her departure is the third major change in the organization’s leadership in a three year span. Longtime executive director Kevin Cuff left the organization when his contract expired in 2010. He was replaced by Kristin Langone, a former chief of staff for Boston City Councilor Jerry McDermott. The board declined to renew Langone’s contract at the end of 2011, and she was replaced by Deborah Sousa last fall. Sousa was the MMBA’s director of education for the bulk of Cuff’s tenure.
“This was a very tough move for me to make, but when I do something I give it everything I have and with the market as robust as it is I had to put my company ahead of a volunteer position in the industry,” Tierce wrote in an email to Banker & Tradesman, explaining that her role at Fairway Independent Mortgage has expanded.
Tierce will maintain a newly created role as “corporate advisor” at the MMBA.
“Amy is an amazing woman. She’s just doing so much at Fairway. I always knew there was a huge time commitment for both, and time-wise she was spread pretty thin,” said Sousa. “So I can’t say I was 100 percent surprised. But she is now our corporate advisor. So she’s still very much in our environment.”
Tierce is not being immediately replaced.
“What we chose to do is not fill for right now, because there’s really no need for us to make drastic decisions,” explained Sousa.
Moving Pieces
Coincidentally, Sousa said, at the group’s annual meeting in January the board passed a motion allowing the executive committee to split the role of secretary/treasurer to two positions. Louis Chinappi, industry relations manager at CATIC, will remain as treasurer, while former board member Michael Sinclair, vice president of residential lending at the Hingham Institution for Savings, has been appointed secretary.
Sinclair’s move from the board to the executive committee created a vacancy on the board. Jay Tuli, vice president, business development at Arlington-based Leader Bank, was appointed to the board to fill out the remainder of Sinclair’s term.
Cuff, who has since taken a role as vice president for community investment at Leader, has also becoming involved with the MMBA again in his new role, taking a seat on the group’s Community Investment Committee.
“There are some things when you’re a part of this association that never leave you. When it was formed in 2010, Kevin was a big part of that, so I think it was fitting,” said Sousa.
The MMBA has been hard hit by the financial crisis, with its net assets dropping by almost in half from 2008 to 2010, from $704,295 to $384,863 as membership has declined, according to tax forms filed annually with the Internal Revenue Service.
“I believe in the association and will continue to support their efforts in any way I can,” said Tierce. “I believe that our industry needs strong associations and that it is important for all members of our industry to participate and get involved.”
