Based in San Diego Smartfi home loanswhich operates primarily as a wholesale reverse mortgage lender and is actively building a retail division offering reverse mortgage products, has hired industry veteran Martin Lenoir as its new Chief Marketing Officer.
Lenoir most recently served as CMO at American consultant group (AAG), the former largest lender in the industry before its acquisition last year Finance of America (FOA). In an exclusive interview with HousingWire‘s Reverse Mortgage Daily, Lenoir and retail sales president Paul Fiore – who also recently joined Smartfi – discuss their goals as they continue to build a dedicated retail reverse mortgage division at the company.
Lenoir said he was impressed by the company’s initial ambitions, and although he had been interested in rejoining the industry, a meeting with the company’s leaders helped solidify his decision.
“With their long-term mindset to grow the market and serve more seniors, they have seen an opportunity to expand beyond wholesale to retail and serve more seniors,” Lenoir said. “So when the team approached me with the opportunity to help with that growth, I was already interested.”
Lenoir left AAG at the end of 2022 and observed the takeover from a distance. One of the enticing elements of the new CMO role at Smartfi was the potential reunion he would have with some of his former colleagues.
“I have known Paul from AAG for more than eight years, and Kim Smith, who runs the wholesale business, for just as long,” Lenoir explains. “Although I don’t know everyone personally, I do know many of the other participants. It’s an opportunity to join a great team of experienced people. So to make a long answer short, I’m joining to help drive the growth of the brand so we can help even more seniors, while also participating in the retail buildout with Paul.”
Lenoir felt there were additional professional growth opportunities in the reverse mortgage industry given his varied career experience and some of the unique realities of the reverse channel.
“I have worked in the consumer marketing sector my entire career, mainly in financial services from the start Capital One – but also a little bit in other areas, like legal services,” Lenoir said. “I enjoy consumer marketing, and I find the challenge really rewarding. I think the reverse mortgage product category is a major marketing challenge.
“The most important question is: how do we get more seniors to understand the role that their home equity can play in their financial planning?”
The team is a collection of veterans from several current and former industry players including AAG, FOA and One reverse mortgage. This provides a unique growth opportunity when that knowledge is combined, Lenoir explains.
“I think so [shared experience in the industry] gives us the opportunity to build something from the ground up that really puts the customer first,” Lenoir explains. “Marketing is not just about advertising; it’s about delivering on the promise to consumers and building momentum. So for me this was the right opportunity at the right time with the right people.”
As for other elements of the job that appealed to him, Lenoir said the company has a “long-term mentality” that lends itself to creating a division from the ground up.
“From my perspective, this means we can stay true to what really matters – the consumer, the partner and the loan officer – while delivering a great experience for all these stakeholders,” he said. “Compared to other places I’ve been, there are fewer competing priorities and other stakeholders, making it easier to focus on that long-term strategic commitment to the space.”
But Lenoir and Fiore remain clear about the time it will take to build a new division, they said.
“I’ve been in this space for 20 years, so I have a pretty good understanding of where the consumer pain points are that are preventing broader mainstream adoption,” Fiore said. “Martin, who has worked at AAG for more than eight years, and I both know these challenges well. Our goal here is not just to capture market share; it’s about growing the market as a whole and making these products – whether traditional HECMs or proprietary options – more accessible.”
Addressing these pre-existing pain points and determining a path forward is critical to the company’s development, Fiore said.
“The idea is to improve the merchant experience, which will obviously lead to a better customer experience,” Fiore said. “When we talk about customer-centric transactions and a high-touch approach, we want that experience to be more efficient, more customized to the needs of the borrower, and overall smoother for everyone involved.”
