Sridhar Sharma, who is credited with developing the patented AI of Mr. Cooper, was promoted to a new role, and three new technology leaders joined from other companies.
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The country’s largest mortgage servicer, Mr. Cooper, is revitalizing its leadership team to take full advantage of its investments in new technologies and artificial intelligence.
Sridhar Sharma, who is credited with developing Pyro AI, the patented AI of Mr. Cooper and its advanced machine learning platform, has been named chief innovation and digital officer, the company said Wednesday.
Mr. Dallas, Texas-based Cooper Group collects monthly payments on more than $1 trillion in outstanding mortgage loans from more than 4 million borrowers. AI and other automation tools help reduce labor costs and constantly look for borrowers who can be refinanced.
Sridhar Sharma
As the chief information officer of Mr. Cooper since 2015, Sharma’s innovations “have driven the company’s ability to grow and achieve superior customer service and repeat acquisition rates,” the company said in announcing his new role. “Sharma will continue to lead the first strategy of Mr. Cooper is focused on developing and deploying AI and machine learning solutions to provide customers and team members with a seamless experience while continuing to advance the mortgage industry.
Jeff Carroll
Mr. Cooper also brought in three new technology leaders from outside the company, including Jeff Carroll, the company’s new chief technology officer. As Sabre’s senior vice president, platform and cloud engineering, Carroll managed the company’s technology infrastructure and led efforts to modernize the platform “resulting in cost efficiencies, improved security and an improved user experience,” the company said.
Carroll will oversee the operation of the technical infrastructure that is the core of Mr. Cooper’s “focus on stability and balance to support the company’s continued growth.”
Prerna Kandhari
Mr. Cooper hired senior vice president of inbound data engineering, Prerna Kandhari, from Capital One, where she worked for nearly four years as director of software engineering. Prior to that, Kandhari spent nearly five years at real estate services and investment firm CBRE.
David Graham
David Graham joins Mr. Cooper as senior vice president, data management at RBC, where he spent nearly 10 years as an executive in positions where he managed operational and data risk. He also spent seven years in Shanghai and Singapore as an executive at Standard Chartered Bank.
Kandhari and Graham will “work together to lead the company’s data strategy and management models to execute responsible AI and machine learning across the company,” the company said.
“By focusing on digital transformation, Mr. Cooper has solidified our position as the largest and leading mortgage servicer in the country,” company President Mike Weinbach said in a statement. “We’re excited to deepen our technology leadership expertise and build our momentum while unleashing the power of responsible AI to provide our customers with a better experience driven by new tools, data and products to help make homeownership more rewarding.”
Technology helps Mr. Cooper to cut costs and manage its large loan servicing portfolio more efficiently — it spends several hundred million dollars a year on call center operations and expects at least $50 million in annual savings from its investment in a multi-year AI project.
But protecting the information a company entrusts is a challenge of its own. Last year the company disclosed that hackers gained access to the personal information of nearly 15 million current and past customers, including Social Security numbers, dates of birth and bank account numbers.
Mr. Cooper offered to offer affected customers two years of free credit monitoring, credit reports and credit score services from TransUnion, which sends alerts when changes occur in a consumer’s credit file.
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