Ewing, New Jersey-based mortgage subservicer Cenlar FSB has announced the promotion four leaders to vice president (VP) roles, and one to a director position.
The VPs promoted include Shanth Ananthuni to the role of VP of digital transformation, Dana Cifelli to VP of internal communications, David Drakesmith to VP of information technology (IT), and Bernadette Felix also to VP of IT.
“Congratulations to this team on their very well-deserved promotions,” Cenlar Chief Administrative Officer Glen Vilim said. “You all exemplify the best of our company and continue to deliver the most exceptional service to both our internal and external stakeholders.”
Ananthuni joined Cenlar in 2016 as a solutions architect and has been promoted up through his current role of director of IT, where he continues to be a high performer and outstanding leader within technology. In his new leadership role, Ananthuni will continue to lead the company’s automation efforts and digital program strategy. Shanth has more than 20 years of technical leadership and expertise.
Before Cenlar, Ananthuni served as a digital program manager and strategist for Bank of America/Merrill Lynch. He also held several solutions architect and technical program management roles at Collaborative Consulting, GMAC Mortgage Corp./Ally Bank and Accenture Consulting. Ananthuni holds a Master of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Findlay and an MS in Information Systems Management from the University of Akron. He also holds several professional certifications, including Certified Scrum Product Owner, Certified ScrumMaster, and the Accredited Mortgage Professional.
Cifelli, in her new role, will focus on both strategic and tactical execution for all internal communication plans and activities across the enterprise, as well as employee engagement. She will be responsible for developing the vision and strategy for effective and consistent communication plans that promote Cenlar’s internal branding, and enhancing the company’s culture and employee experience that aligns to Cenlar’s corporate goals. Cifelli is a strategic marketing and communications leader with over 15 years of experience in branding strategies and project management. Cifelli joined Cenlar in 2021 to lead the Contact Center Communications.
Prior to coming to Cenlar, Cifelli was with Verizon for more than 10 years where she held several leadership roles, including chief of staff. She earned her Master of Business Administration from Centenary University and a Bachelor of Arts in Hospitality Management from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Cifelli also holds a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certification.
Drakesmith, in his new role, will partner with business stakeholders to provide reporting and analytics for operational, financial and program performance for loan servicing. He will continue to further Cenlar’s automation efforts for reporting services for our clients, investors, and internal business partners as part of our technology transformation strategy.
Drakesmith joined Cenlar in 2018, and has more than 25 years of mortgage banking and financial services experience. Before Cenlar, Drakesmith worked at CitiMortgage, where he held several senior leadership roles in default servicing and project management. Drakesmith earned his Bachelor of Science in Administrative Management from Missouri State University.
Felix joined Cenlar in 2021 as director of IT, and will continue to lead the Servicing Systems team. She has more than 35 years of mortgage banking experience, having held IT project management leadership positions at Ocwen Financial, GMAC ResCap, and GMAC Mortgage Corp. She has extensive experience with the operation and technology aspects of loan servicing and is well versed in the development of information systems strategies and policies across complex functional levels.
In addition to the VP promotions, Cenlar also announced the promotion of Jonathan Lobb to the role of director of investor relations. In this role, Lobb will serve as a primary point of contact with investors, government agencies, rating agencies and their auditors. This role will partner with our investor relations officer to create and apply a consistent program to manage Cenlar’s agency investors and rating agencies.
Lobb joined Cenlar in March of 2020 as a manager in compliance where he was responsible for managing all aspects of the full scope reviews for the GSEs (including Fannie Mae STAR and Freddie Mac CORE Reviews), Fitch Ratings, S&P Global’s Servicer Evaluations, and Government Agencies Lender Review. Lobb is an attorney who worked at a large creditor’s rights law firm that represented mortgage lenders and servicers in foreclosure and related legal proceedings in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
As the firm’s real estate owned attorney, Lobb handled thousands of real estate transactions for the GSEs, mortgage lenders and investors. He earned his Juris Doctor from Widener School of Law and his bachelor’s degree from Cabrini College.