Home valuation fintech pioneer HouseCanary, Inc. today announced that Craig Phillips has joined as a Senior Advisor. Phillips most recently served as Counselor to Secretary Steven Mnuchin at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Craig Phillips will be working with CEO and Founder Jeremy Sicklick and the senior team as the lending market undergoes fundamental changes with digital mortgages and automation of appraisals. Phillips is joining HouseCanary at a pivotal time in the mortgage lending industry. Late last year all of the federal banking regulators, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, along with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Reserve Board of Governors, adopted a rule that raised the threshold for which a traditional appraisal is required for residential real estate transactions from $250,000 to $400,000. The federal regulator of credit unions, the National Credit Union Administration, is in the process of making a similar modification to its regulations.
“Technology changes will likely enable a disruption of the traditional appraisal process as we now know it, benefitting both consumers and lenders,” said Mr. Phillips. He continued, “HouseCanary has developed industry-leading analytics that have the ability to support a frictionless home purchase and borrowing experience. I’m excited to join at this period of growth and innovation for the company and the industry.”
At the U.S. Department of Treasury, Phillips focused on financial institution and capital markets policy, debt management, fiscal policy, fiscal operations, government asset and liability management and general economic policy. He also led development of policy for the regulatory framework of the financial system under the Core Principles established by Executive Order 13772 and managed policy efforts to enhance the financial sector’s cyber security and resilience through the Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Compliance Policy.
Phillips has held leadership roles in driving innovation across the mortgage and capital markets over the past 30 years. Between 2008 and 2017, Mr. Phillips was a Managing Director of BlackRock where he founded and led the Financial Markets Advisory group, a global risk consulting practice that served over 200 unique clients in 32 countries and booked revenue in excess of $1.6 billion. From 1994 to 2006 he was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley and led its global Securitized Products Group.
“I am honored to have Craig join HouseCanary in this strategically important role,” said Jeremy Sicklick, CEO and Founder of HouseCanary. “Craig is a proven leader and pioneer in the mortgage and banking industry. His background in innovation, the private and public sector, and regulatory and financial systems are an asset to HouseCanary as we continue to build the most accurate valuations in the housing industry.”
About HouseCanary
Founded in 2013, valuation-focused real estate brokerage HouseCanary provides software and services to reshape the real estate marketplace. Financial institutions, investors, lenders, mortgage investors, appraisal management companies, and consumers turn to HouseCanary for industry-leading valuations, forecasts, and transaction-support tools. These clients trust HouseCanary to fuel acquisition, underwriting, portfolio management, and more.
