🎙️ MISMO Mic’d Up — Episode Description

Guest: Chris Hazen, Chief Revenue Officer, FinLocker

Most lenders don’t meet a first-time homebuyer until they’re already stressed, confused, or half-disqualified.

That’s not a marketing problem.

It’s not a technology problem.

It’s a mindset problem.

In this episode of MISMO Mic’d Up, Brian Vieaux sits down with Chris Hazen, Chief Revenue Officer at FinLocker, to unpack why early-journey engagement—despite being talked about for more than a decade—remains largely unsolved at an enterprise level across the mortgage industry.

The conversation starts where it matters most: mindset. Chris explains why the industry’s historical focus on the transaction in front of us makes it hard to invest time, energy, and leadership attention into borrowers who may be 6, 12, or even 24 months away from applying. Yet those very borrowers represent one of the largest untapped growth opportunities for lenders—especially first-time homebuyers who need education, guidance, and confidence long before they need a rate quote.

From there, Brian and Chris explore what actually breaks when lenders try to solve early engagement at scale. Spoiler: it starts with people, quickly runs into process challenges, and only then becomes a technology conversation. Without clear objectives, defined outcomes, and leadership buy-in, even the best tools struggle to gain adoption.

A central theme of the episode is the shift from a “point of sale” mindset to a “point of thought” mindset—engaging consumers when they’re thinking about buying a home, not just when they’re ready to apply. Chris shares why “educate first” can feel uncomfortable for loan officers who are conditioned to convert leads quickly, and what changes when they instead focus on guiding, coaching, and providing value without pressure.

The result?

Stronger trust.

Longer-term relationships.

More repeat business and referrals.

And a healthier, more predictable pipeline over time.

The conversation then turns practical, with Chris walking through how FinLocker is designed specifically for the up-funnel moment—helping lenders and loan officers engage early without adding manual work, noise, or compliance risk. Through consumer-permissioned data, milestone-based alerts, and a native mobile experience, loan officers can stay present in a borrower’s journey while letting the technology handle the heavy lifting.

Brian and Chris also discuss what success looks like when lenders get this right at an enterprise level: improved borrower experience, more efficient loan officer workflows, and better economics driven by higher pull-through, stronger borrower quality, and long-term engagement that doesn’t end at closing.

Looking ahead, the episode closes with a forward-looking discussion on what will separate lenders who invest in early-journey engagement from those who don’t—and how industry standards, data portability, and collaboration through organizations like MISMO can help unlock a future where consumers are empowered, verified, and far less anxious as they move toward homeownership.

If you care about first-time homebuyers, sustainable growth, and building an ecosystem that works better for consumers and lenders alike, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.

🎙️ MISMO Mic’d Up: Michael Sachdev, CEO of Snapdocs

From Digital Closings to Digital Assets: Why Quality, Connectivity, and Standards Matter

In this episode of MISMO Mic’d Up, Brian Vieaux sits down with Michael Sachdev, CEO of Snapdocs, to explore what it really takes to scale the digital mortgage—from hybrid closings to eNotes, RON, and AI-powered quality control.

Michael shares his unconventional journey into mortgage technology, including how his background in regulated, infrastructure-heavy industries shaped his approach to digitizing mortgage closings and collateral. Together, Brian and Michael unpack why connected digital workflows across lenders, settlement partners, and the secondary market create higher-quality, faster-moving loan assets—and why collateral quality is quickly becoming a competitive advantage.

The conversation dives into real-world ROI from digitization, including reduced dwell time, fewer defects, increased funding certainty, and improved secondary market execution. Michael also offers a candid look at how lenders are using AI today—particularly in QC and back-office operations—to increase capacity and profitability without increasing risk.

The episode closes with practical guidance for lenders at any stage of adoption and a spotlight on the MISMO e-Eligibility Engine, powered by Snapdocs, a critical tool helping lenders understand how “e-eligible” each loan can be across jurisdictions and investor requirements.

If you’re focused on lowering cost per loan, improving execution quality, and preparing for an AI-ready mortgage ecosystem, this episode is a must-listen.

Michael Sachdev discusses how his background in law and sustainable energy—both highly regulated, complex industries—prepared him to tackle mortgage’s fragmentation and scale challenges with a systems-first mindset.

When lenders, title companies, and the secondary market operate on shared digital workflows, every loan becomes a higher-quality asset. The discussion highlights how digitization reduces friction, errors, and uncertainty at every handoff.

Rather than chasing RON first, Michael explains why maximizing hybrid adoption is the foundation for scaling eNotes and RON—and how eligibility must come before acceleration.

Beyond headline savings, the episode explores how reduced dwell time, fewer defects, and faster investor delivery can unlock hundreds of dollars per loan—and why $1,000 per loan in savings is an achievable north star.

Quality isn’t just about compliance anymore—it’s about liquidity. High-fidelity digital collateral performs better downstream, reduces risk, and can even command better execution in the secondary market.

Michael shares how lenders are successfully applying AI to QC, document recognition, and workflow automation—starting in low-judgment, high-volume back-office processes to safely scale impact.

Executive alignment, clear success metrics, and ecosystem readiness are key. The most successful lenders treat digital mortgage adoption as an enterprise strategy—not a side project.

Brian highlights the e-Eligibility Engine available at MISMO.org, helping lenders quickly assess how “e” each loan can be and chart a practical path toward greater digitization.

Episode DescriptionEpisode Overview / Key Themes🔹 A Different Path into Mortgage🔹 The Network Effect of Digital Closings🔹 Hybrid → eNote → RON: The Right Adoption Path🔹 Real ROI: Speed, Certainty, and Cost Reduction🔹 Collateral Quality as a Competitive Advantage🔹 AI in Mortgage: Where Value Is Showing Up Today🔹 Where Lenders Should Start🔹 Tool Spotlight: MISMO e-Eligibility Engine, Powered by Snapdocs

🎧 Episode Description

In the first MISMO Mic’d Up episode of 2026, Brian Vieaux sits down with Karol Villavicencio, Director of Product Management and Product Operations at Asurity, for a practical, inside-the-room conversation on RegCheck, standards, and what it really takes to move mortgage compliance forward at scale.

Karol shares how Asurity’s RegCheck platform supports lenders of all sizes, why configurability matters across the loan lifecycle, and how deep participation in MISMO—especially the Mortgage Compliance Dataset—creates real-world value for both technology providers and the industry.

From early collaboration with state regulators to hands-on MCD testing opportunities for lenders, this episode connects the dots between standards, adoption, and smarter compliance workflows. If you care about efficiency, scalability, and not building the same dataset 50 different ways… this one’s for you.

🧠 Key Topics Covered

What Asurity does and how RegCheck supports loan-level compliance

Why configurable RegTech matters for LOs, ops, and compliance teams

How RegCheck integrates directly into LOS workflows using MISMO standards

The origin and evolution of the Mortgage Compliance Dataset (MCD)

Why regulators, lenders, and technologists being at the table early matters

Adoption at scale: turning standards into real ROI

Asurity’s offer to help lenders test MCD files in a real compliance environment

How standardized data frees teams to focus on real risk management (not spreadsheets)

🔑 Notable Takeaways

Standards ≠ constraints — they’re the foundation for innovation

Early participation in MISMO workgroups creates product, partnership, and market advantages

MCD isn’t about reducing people—it’s about redeploying talent to higher-value work

Adoption only happens when testing, tooling, and collaboration show up together

🎯 Who Should Listen

Lenders operating in multiple states

Compliance, risk, and operations leaders

RegTech and mortgage technology builders

Anyone curious how standards actually become usable tools

In this episode of MISMO Mic’d Up, host Brian Vieaux sits down with Bruno Lorenzelli, Founder and CEO of Scalata, to unpack why data interoperability—not hype—is the real unlock for AI in mortgage lending.

With more than 30 years in technology banking and credit markets across Europe and the U.S., Bruno brings a global perspective shaped by the subprime crisis, large-scale credit servicing, and hard-earned lessons from building (and rebuilding) complex platforms. Scalata, a spin-off of a profitable European fintech, is entering the U.S. mortgage market with a clear mission: reduce the cost and complexity of working with disparate, unstructured data.

Bruno explains how Scalata acts as a digital framework layer sitting on top of legacy systems—ingesting everything from MISMO XML files to PDFs and spreadsheets—while enabling schema mapping, agentic workflows, and AI-driven underwriting without introducing hallucination risk. The conversation explores why standards matter more than ever, how agentic AI changes mortgage manufacturing, and what an AI-enabled mortgage ecosystem could look like in the next 3–5 years.

If you care about AI, data standards, interoperability, and the future of mortgage workflows, this episode is required listening.

Guest:
Bruno Lorenzelli – Founder & CEO, Scalata

Key Topics Covered:

• Bruno’s background in global credit markets and fintech infrastructure

• Why Scalata was built—and why mortgage is the right industry, right now

• The hidden cost of “tape cracking” and unstructured mortgage data

• Scalata as a framework layer that sits on top of legacy systems

• Zero-cost ingestion of MISMO files, PDFs, spreadsheets, and APIs

• Why schema mapping and data normalization reduce AI hallucination

• How agentic AI enables parallel workflows across mortgage manufacturing

• Replacing manual underwriting steps with policy-driven AI agents

• MISMO’s role in enabling interoperability and trustworthy AI

• The future of AI-enabled mortgage lending and customer interaction

• Why interoperability—not hype—is Scalata’s core value proposition

Notable Quotes:

• “MISMO exists to reduce the cost and complexity around data—and that’s exactly where Scalata fits.”

• “If you don’t normalize and map the data, you leave AI too much room to interpret—and that’s where hallucination comes from.”

• “We’re the glue. We connect systems, standards, and workflows—and we make it cheap and easy.”

Learn More:
🌐 https://scalata.ai
🎤 Catch Scalata at the MISMO Winter Summit

In this episode of MISMO Mic’d Up, Brian Vieaux sits down with Michael Vandi, Founder & CEO of Addy AI, to unpack what it really takes to build and implement an AI strategy in mortgage lending. Michael shares how Addy AI is working toward One-Touch CTC by using AI agents to prep CTC-ready loans in under five minutes, and why pairing young AI talent with seasoned mortgage pros is the unlock.

They also dig into regulatory guardrails, state-level scrutiny, and how lenders can map their process, run smart pilots, and use AI to extend the reach of originators—without blowing up their existing tech stack. Michael closes with a sneak peek of what Addy AI will be showcasing live at the MISMO Winter Summit in Amelia Island.

Show Notes

In This Episode

Brian and Michael cover:

How Addy AI is making the vision of One-Touch CTC real

Why AI strategy has become executive “ping pong” inside lenders

The growing regulatory and state-level scrutiny around AI use

Practical steps to map your process and identify where AI helps first

How AI agents can chase docs, calculate income, and support originators

Why pairing young AI engineers with mortgage vets is a competitive advantage

A live-demo preview of AI + human closing a loan at MISMO Winter Summit

Guest: John Haring, Head of Compliance, Wilqo

In this episode, Brian sits down with longtime “MISMITE” and compliance veteran John Haring, now Head of Compliance at Wilqo, a production optimization platform (“Charlie”) that unifies POS, LOS, AI, and BI in a single environment.

John shares his unconventional path into mortgage, why he believes compliance is how you keep your money, and how MISMO collaboration has shaped everything from HMDA and URLA to the new Mortgage Compliance Dataset (MCD). The conversation digs into AI, exams, and why alignment between lenders, vendors, and regulators is quietly becoming a serious competitive advantage.

• John’s path into mortgage

  • Moving from “true retail” compliance into mortgage

  • Getting licensed as an LO and learning the business from the ground up

  • Growing from small broker shops to VP of Compliance at a large multi-state lender

• From lender to tech: 13 years at the “800-pound gorilla”

  • Why early GFE, LO Comp, and NMLS changes made tech essential for compliance

  • How John became a conduit between lenders, MISMO/NMLS working groups, and Encompass

  • Turning dense regulations into practical software requirements

• The power of MISMO working groups

  • What it’s actually like to sit in MISMO/NMLS working sessions

  • “Safety in numbers” vs going it alone on big regulatory changes

  • The birth of iLAD and harmonizing the new URLA with real-world data needs

  • The career upside: relationships, reputation, and personal brand

• Why vendors need MISMO: table stakes for tech

  • Why supporting MISMO is the “base language” for mortgage technology

  • The risk of building compliance logic in isolation

  • Company benefit vs personal benefit from being at the table

• Inside Wilqo and the Production Optimization Platform (“Charlie”)

  • What a POP is and how Charlie differs from a traditional LOS

  • Bringing POS, LOS, AI, BI, and the consumer into one platform

  • Parallel processing, multiple users in the same file, and consumer-friendly UI

  • The advantage of an emerging platform built by industry veterans

• AI through a compliance lens

  • Why using AI for credit underwriting is high-impact, high-risk

  • Framing AI as “how do we get to yes safely?” instead of “no”

  • Using AI to surface discrepancies, automate stare-and-compare, and empower underwriters

  • The balance between automation and the human relationship with the borrower

• The Mortgage Compliance Dataset (MCD)

  • Lessons learned from the earlier LEF approach

  • How false positives and scattered data (LOS, PPE, doc engine) drove costs up

  • Why a MISMO-driven, multi-vendor standard is different this time

  • How better, trusted electronic exams can reduce onsite visits and lender costs

• Compliance as competitive advantage

  • John’s “hierarchy of pain”: regulators vs investors vs class-action attorneys

  • Why strong exams reduce repurchase and litigation risk

  • How more efficient compliance can keep more margin in the lender’s pocket

  • Ultimately, how this work benefits consumers through better, more stable execution

• John Haring on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-haring-6077641/

• Wilqo – Production Optimization Platform: https://wilqo.com/

• MISMO: (https://www.mismo.org/membership/become-a-mismo-member)

In this episode, Brian sits down with Amy Moses, VP of Strategic Growth at MISMO, for a behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming MISMO Winter Summit (Jan 12–15, Amelia Island, FL) — and why it may be the most important Summit yet.

Amy breaks down how MISMO Summits actually work (and why they’re nothing like a normal conference), how industry competitors collaborate side-by-side, and why newcomers consistently say, “I felt welcomed on day one.”

Brian and Amy also dive deep into two of MISMO’s most impactful initiatives for 2025 and beyond:

• Mortgage Compliance Dataset (MCD):
How a standardized dataset can reduce exam friction, streamline multi-state audits, and return hours — even headcount — back to IMB compliance teams.
(Plus: Why regulators are excited, too.)

• MISMO + CSBS Partnership:
A preview of the Dec 3 Tech Sprint and the Winter Summit MCD Workshop, where lenders, regulators, and tech partners will shape rollout strategies together.

You’ll also hear:
– Why GSE participation is so critical (and so unique).
– How 34 workgroups collaborate year-round.
– Why CMB candidates call MISMO Summits “cheat codes.”
– How AI, regulation, and innovation will take center stage in Amelia Island.
– A shoutout to Summit sponsors who make this community possible.

Learn more & register: https://www.mismo.org
MCD Overview: https://www.mismo.org/mcd
Dec 3 Tech Sprint Info: https://www.mismo.org/tech-sprint

If you're in compliance, risk, data, tech, valuations, operations, or leadership — this is a must-listen episode.