1. Keeping The Mortgage Professional Informed
the
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Reprinted with permission by The Mortgage Press, Ltd. 1-800-890-8090
November 2005
Al Crisanty is the
senior vice presi-
dentofproduction
for the Western
Region for Ameri-
can Brokers Con-
duit,thewholesale
division of Ameri-
canHomeMortgageInvestmentCor-
poration. He was formerly the
nationalproductionmanagerforSac-
ramento-Calif.-based Capitol Com-
merce Mortgage. When interest rates
suddenly increased in August 2003,
Capitol Commerce collapsed because
ofanunhedgedpipeline.Crisantyen-
gineered the transition of more than
300 former Capitol Commerce em-
ployees to American Home Mort-
gage’s wholesale division American
Brokers Conduit (ABC) and today
reportsdirectlytoDonaldHenig,pres-
ident of ABC.
Commenting on the integration
of Capitol Commerce into Ameri-
can Brokers Conduit and Al
Crisanty, Donald Henig offered,
“ABC significantly benefited when
we had the opportunity to hire well
over 300 top quality, experienced
wholesale employees. We experi-
enced an increase in our volume of
business, but more importantly we
retained the top management in Al
Crisanty. Al not only brought over
an entire team, but he and his team
helped us to improve our processes
and systems to work more efficient-
ly in a wholesale environment. This
opportunity changed the face of
American Brokers Conduit for the
better and is a key reason ABC is
currently ranked as the 10th largest
residential wholesale lender in the
U.S.” Mr. Henig continued, “Every
great team has a combination of
experience, desire, knowledge and
strong personalities. That describes
ABC’s senior management team to
the letter.”
Recently,TheMortgagePresshad
the exclusive opportunity to speak
with Al Crisanty.
The Mortgage Press: It’s great to
hear stories of success that come
out of something negative.
Al Crisanty: That’s so true. Much
too often we see these situations
break the spirit, but what really
stands out in my mind is how
quickly and strongly our team ral-
lied together in order to overcome
the challenges and turn them into
opportunities. I know I speak for
the entire team of managers who
became part of American Brokers
Conduit (ABC) back in the fall of
2003 when I say that we have had
both an exciting journey and suc-
cessful partnership. Our success is
clearly evident as ABC is currently
ranked as the 10th largest whole-
sale lender in the U.S. after Q2
2005, compared to being ranked
32nd in mid-year 2003.
TMP: Can you tell us how you
got into the mortgage industry?
AC: I started in the business in the
early 80s when interest rates were
as high as they’ve ever been. My
The Right ChoiceAn interview with Al Crisanty of American Brokers Conduit
Al Crisanty
The ABC west branch management team of (back row, left to right): Stan Bryant,
Denver and Salt Lake City; Cory Hubbard, Irvine, Calif.; Sean Gerrity, Novato, Calif.; Joy
Burns, Houston; Jeanette McGraw, Portland, Ore.; Al Crisanty; Sundi Olson, San Diego;
Martha Gramespacher, Fresno, Calif.; Dave Waddell, Folsom, Calif.; (front row, left to
right): Shelley Thurlow, Concord, Calif.; Lisa Kaulen, Bellevue, Wash.; Sean Hennessy,
Lisle and Minneapolis; Jeff Raich, Dallas; Toni Dann, Las Vegas and Brad Allen, Phoenix

2. Reprinted with permission by The Mortgage Press, Ltd. 1-800-890-8090
first job in the mortgage industry
wasactuallyin“hardmoney”lend-
ing.IlaterwenttoworkforUnified
MortgageCompany,locatedinCu-
pertino, Calif., where I worked as a
loan officer. I subsequently moved
into secondary marketing in 1984
where I remained until the compa-
nywaspurchasedbyFirstGibraltar
of Texas in the late 80s. I then tran-
sitioned into the correspondent
sideofthemortgagebusinesswork-
ing for Prudential Home Mortgage
from 1990-1993, Chemical Mort-
gagefrom1993-1995andBancBos-
ton/Homeside from 1995-1999.
TMP: When did you start with
Capitol Commerce?
AC: I joined Capitol Commerce
in early 1999 with a primary focus
of helping them expand their
origination unit as well as provide
strategic direction.
TMP: What was your role at
Capitol Commerce?
AC: I was their national production
manager.Mymainfocuswasonex-
pandingtheiroriginationunitwhich
meant identifying key growth mar-
kets, recruiting production profes-
sionals to manage and expand the
company’s branch network and in-
suringthatcorporateprioritieswere
aligned with this growth model. In
early 1999, the company had a
handful of offices in California, and
atthetime,werefundingonaverage
about $100 million per month. We
opened our first new office in Port-
land, Ore. in June 1999 and contin-
ued this process until we had 15
offices nationally.
TMP: Were you attached to a
core group of professionals at
Capitol Commerce that you
considered bringing with you
when you moved to a different
lender?
AC: Every manager had their own
special set of strengths that com-
plemented the team and contrib-
uted to our success. This was an
exceptional team of leaders, and I
am convinced that at the time,
this was the finest group of mort-
gage professionals assembled at
one company. In four and a half
years, we grew from $100 million
per month to over $3.5 billion in
our final month together (July
2003). Growth this dramatic can
only happen with an exceptional
team focused on results.
TMP: Why did you and your
team chose to join American
Home Mortgage (AHM) and be-
come part of ABC?
AC:WhenCapitolCommercewent
out of business, we only had a cou-
pleofdaystotrytoprocesswhathad
happened and take action. We did,
however, know that we needed to
move quickly if we were to keep the
team together. Our goal was to
move all 15 branches together, but
barring that, we would continue
working together to ensure that all
15 offices found a suitable home. I
startedcontactingpotentialcompa-
ny candidates on Friday (Aug. 15,
2003) and scheduled meetings with
a handful of companies for the fol-
lowingMondayandTuesday.Sever-
al of our branch managers with
various backgrounds and strengths
(product experts, finance experts,
andoperationalflowexperts,among
others) flew to our Folsom office to
participate in the interview process
with the potential candidates. We
followed a structured due diligence
process. Our goal was to identify an
organization where we would have
strongculturalalignment,andatthe
sametimehaveminimalbranch/ter-
ritory overlap.
TMP: What were the character-
istics of the companies that you
were looking at?
AC: Financial strength was critical
to us. If we had the financial
strength that AHM has, we may
have been able to weather the loss-
es we (Capitol Commerce) sus-
tained when the head of secondary
marketing failed to hedge the pipe-
line properly. Financial strength,
stability and a quality manage-
ment team were at the top of our
list. We were also concerned about
making sure we had a cultural fit
and that management would give
us a seat at the table and provide us
with the resources necessary to
continue to expand.
TMP: Would you say that the fit
with AHM had a lot to do with
the combined company having
the broker mentality?
AC: At that time, AHM was more
of a retail operation. They had
three wholesale offices on the east
coast operating as ABC and we
had 15 offices that we intended to
bring over. We saw this as a great
fit, because we could be the foun-
dation for the wholesale business
for the company. It would also
give us the opportunity to dem-
onstrate how our model worked
and how it could be successful.
We felt very strongly that the
leadership team at AHM would
listen to us, embrace what we
were doing and be open to de-
ploying the necessary resources.
TMP: How many of the former
employees who joined ABC are
still working with you today?
AC: After over two years there are
still about 60-70 percent of our
former employees working as
part of the ABC team. All 15
branches are still open and oper-
ating successfully with nine of the
original branch managers still in
place: Brad Allen, Phoenix; Joy
Burns, Houston; Toni Dann, Las
Vegas; Jeanette McGraw, Port-
land, Ore.; Sean Hennessy, Lisle,
Ill.; Martha Gramespacher,
Fresno, Calif.; Jeff Raich, Dallas;
Dave Waddell, Folsom, Calif. and
Sundi Olson, San Diego.
TMP: Would you say that those
employees who have made the
transition to ABC would say
that you made the right call?
AC: With 100 percent conviction,
I would say yes. There have been
some challenges, but the past few
years have been an exciting time
for us at ABC. Our team has
helped deliver both material re-
sults and positioned ABC as a lead-
er in the wholesale marketplace.
We are proud to be part of ABC
and American Home Mortgage.
TMP: How did you keep focused
on growing the business after
the demoralizing failure of Cap-
itol Commerce?
AC:That was definitely one of our
greatest challenges. I spent a lot of
time on the road meeting with the
managers and staff at our branch-
es in an effort to offer my support.
It took about a year for the
branches to work through the
Cap Com days and begin feeling
as if they were truly part of the
ABC family. Keep in mind that on
top of everything else, the team
went from funding over $3.5 bil-
lion in July 2003 to only $55 mil-
lion in September 2003. However,
by April 2004 the region’s volume
was up to just over $1.1 billion!
How did we get there? We chose to
focus on all of the positives. For
example, we had a few branches
that just seemed to hit the ground
running. Those were our Folsom,
Calif. office, run by Dave Waddell,
branch manager, and Roxanne
Mazarakis, operations manager;
our Phoenix office run by Brad
Allen, branch manager and our
Portland, Ore. office run by
Jeanette McGraw, branch manag-
er. They had their staff focus on
what we had to offer as part of
ABC and shared this with their
The Right Choice:
An interview with Al Crisanty of American Brokers Conduit

3. customers. Another significant
challenge was the perception of
our branches in the broker com-
munity in light of the failure. Un-
fortunately, many in the broker
community blamed our branch
teams for the impact on their busi-
ness. Our branches deserve a tre-
mendous amount of credit for
working through these enormous
challenges with their customers
and rebuilding those relationships.
TMP: What kind of production
would you say ABC west offices
are doing now?
AC: Today, we are running be-
tween $1 to $1.4 billion in volume
permonth.Wecontinuetogrowin
averydifficultmarginenvironment
where many companies are losing
ground.
TMP: What do you feel were the
biggest integration issues?
AC: One of the biggest issues was
that of technology. The AHM sys-
tem was foreign to us and was
heavily retail oriented. This meant
that there were many more screens
and fields to complete in order to
take a loan from input to funding.
That translated into huge ineffi-
cienciesatthebranchlevel.Wehad
created a team at Capitol Com-
merce comprised of staff members
familiarwithbothsystemsandpro-
cess flow specifically to assist with
these challenges. We called them
our System Strategy Task force
(SST). We sent our SST group to
our corporate office to see what
could be done to improve the sys-
tem, and after a few days they came
back with a recommendation of
eliminatingover160screens,along
with other process enhancements.
To the credit of Mike Strauss, CEO
of American Home Mortgage In-
vestmentCorporation;DonHenig,
president of ABC; Lisa Schreiber,
EVP of ABC; and Michele News-
ham, SVP of operations of ABC;
they took our recommendations
and immediately made the needed
changes to improve the process.
TMP: Did ABC modify their sys-
tems for the crew from Capitol
Commerce or did you adapt to
their systems?
AC:Therewasgiveandtakeonboth
sides. There was some discussion
about the system that was in place
and about replacing it with a new
system, but there were inherent
challengeswiththataswell.Wecon-
cluded that we were going to keep
the system and modify it to our
needs. Throughtheuseoftaskforc-
esandusergroupswemadespecific
changesthatallowedthebranchesto
gain operational flow efficiencies.
On the technology side, at Capitol
Commerce we spent four years try-
ing to create a viable Web site. We
havebeenpartofABCfortwoyears
now and the initiative to build a
Websitebeganjustaboutayearago,
and we now have a great Web site.
Lisa Schreiber spearheaded that ef-
fort,andIamamazedthattheywere
able to pull it together so quickly,
particularlywithaWebsitethatisas
functionalasours,withtoolssuchas
our online product search engine,
Product Advisor. Our brokers love
it, and today, over 90 percent of our
lock-ins are coming in via the Web.
TMP: How big is ABC’s West
Coast operation today?
AC: Today, there are 16 branches
(with the most recent opening of
our satellite branch in Minneapo-
lis), with about 430 employees in
the West Coast division.
TMP: What do you consider
your management style?
AC: I would call myself an engaged
manager. I am very supportive of
myteam,butIalsotrytopushthem
outsideoftheircomfortzonetohelp
them meet their potential. I really
focusonempowerment,whilemak-
ing sure that they have all the tools
and resources they need to do their
jobs successfully.
TMP: What is the culture of
ABC today?
AC: It has always been a pro-pro-
duction culture and that has only
been amplified by this [integra-
tion] process. I think that Mike
Strauss and Don Henig have em-
braced our model and what we are
doing to help grow the business.
There has been growth both ways,
but the culture has been marked
by open and effective communica-
tion and acceptance of ideas. It
truly exemplifies what we wanted
two years ago, which was the op-
portunity to do what we feel we do
best and have access to the tools
and resources we need.
TMP: What are you doing to
drive ABC’s growth?
AC:ABC’sgrowth isbeingdrivenby
our management team’s focus and
the execution of our business plan,
which comprises a broker centric
strategy that is interconnected with
our five platforms of growth: Prod-
uct,Service,Technology,Marketing
and Education. These platforms
have been developed to help our
mortgagepartnersnotonlyincrease
their loan volume, but to also better
servicetheircustomersandimprove
theirprofitability. Goingintoapur-
chase market, we continue to focus
heavily on service levels. Competi-
tive pricing is important, but in a
purchase market, speed is impera-
tive. We are really working hard on
improvingourprocessflowefficien-
cies and are making sure that every
branchmaintainsstrongturntimes.
TMP: Do you think education is a
veryimportantprogramforalend-
ertodelivertoitsbrokerpartners?
AC: Yes, I do and at ABC, we are
committed in driving growth
througheducationalinitiativesthat
focusoncontinuousimprovement.
These initiatives are developed to
help both internal employees and
ABC’smortgagebrokerpartnersto
adjust to rapidly changing market
conditions. For example, in order
to help our wholesale brokers we
developed a series of nationwide
educationalseminarscalledtheAd-
visor Seminar Series. These semi-
nars are designed not only to better
understand what ABC can offer,
but to provide additional skills,
tools and resources to our mort-
gage brokers, in order to assist
them in building a larger, more
profitable business, while meeting
their customer’s needs. Since the
beginningoftheyear,our seminars
have been held in 40-plus cities
throughout the U.S. with over
5,000 mortgage brokers attending.
TMP: With your years of experi-
ence in the mortgage industry,
what do you feel is the future of
the mortgage broker?
AC: I certainly do not see the
mortgage broker community’s
role diminishing. They are the
quintessential entrepreneurs. I’ve
met many of them when I go out
with my account executives and
visit customers. These are the folks
who make it all happen. Although
we talk a lot about technology, this
is a relationship business. You take
therelationshipoutofthisbusiness
and things will come to a grinding
halt.Thebrokercommunitydoesa
fantasticjobestablishingandmain-
taining those relationships, and
ABC is committed to helping them
enhance those relationships.
TMP:Howdidyourstaffreactto
thenewsthatABCwasrankedas
the 10th largest wholesaler in
the second quarter of 2005, up
from 13th in the first quarter of
2005 and 16th in the fourth
quarter of 2004?
AC: We had a tremendous re-
The Right Choice:
An interview with Al Crisanty of American Brokers Conduit
Reprinted with permission by The Mortgage Press, Ltd. 1-800-890-8090

4. sponse from the branches. They
are very excited to be part of a suc-
cessful team and organization. Ev-
eryone loves to be part of a
winning team, and together, we
have created that here at ABC. In
particular, the western region
group that came from Capitol
Commerce feels very strongly that
we made the right decision and are
very proud of the fact that we are a
meaningful part of the success that
ABC and AHM has had. Even the
candidates who we interview for
positions here at ABC are aware of
the ranking and want to be a part
of our future success.
TMP: The real estate invest-
ment trust (REIT) structure of
ABC’s parent AHM offers the
ability to develop new products
in a relatively short time span.
Is that something that has been
well-received by the broker
community?
AC: Because of the competitive
nature of the mortgage business,
leading companies need to be
more agile and adept at producing
and delivering products that re-
spond to changing interest rates
andcustomerneeds. Beforejoining
ABC, we did not have the same
scope of product flexibility that we
now have at ABC because of our
parent company’s (AHM) REIT
structure. Our ability to develop
products outside of the main-
stream has been a critical part of
our success and has allowed us to
capture market share from com-
petitors. ABC is committed to of-
fering a product portfolio to its
mortgage broker partners that is
both innovative and flexible.
TMP: How does the senior
management team at ABC
work together?
AC: ABC operates with a very flat
management structure. This man-
agement structure allows us to lis-
ten, understand and respond to
business issues much more effec-
tively. It also allows ABC to meet
the needs of both the company and
its mortgage broker partners. Our
management team clearly under-
standsthedirectionofABC,andwe
are empowered to make decisions
and allow decisions to be made at
the lowest level whenever possible,
throughABC’staskforceandcom-
mittee process.
TMP: How do you and Bob O’
Branovich, head of ABC’s East
Coast wholesale division, work
together? Is it a rivalry or do you
work together to grow the over-
all business?
AC: As you can imagine, it was a
challenge for me to go from being
the head of national production to
taking over an entire region. But,
there was no way that I could have
heldthisteamtogetherthroughout
the integration process without
Bob’s cooperation. I have learned a
lot from Bob. He is a product ex-
pert and knows more about prod-
ucts than I will ever know. In fact,
BobandIworktogethercloselyand
complement each other well. We
are both very busy, but whenever
wegetthechancetochatandbrain-
storm, we do and I continue to
learnfromBob.Wearebothwork-
ing within our regions to open new
offices to increase ABC’s national
footprintandcontinueourgrowth.
TMP: What was your reason for
success in the past and now at
ABC?
AC: The bottom line is, I focus my
efforts on hiring the best people.
There are four points that I preach
to my managers: number one, hire
good people; secondly, put them
in the right place to succeed; third,
give them the tools and resources
they need to succeed, and finally,
let them do their jobs. This may
sound like a simple plan, but it is
my belief and the belief of my
managers that this strategy is the
reason that we have succeeded
where others have failed. We con-
tinually strive to bring the best
people on board, and do not just
hire bodies. I think if you focus on
your people, which ABC does, you
are well positioned to grow into
the future.
TMP: Do you feel that your in-
volvement with the National
Association of Mortgage Bro-
kers and the California Associ-
ation of Mortgage Brokers
enhances your relationship
with the mortgage broker
community?
AC:Ithinkitdoes,althoughforthe
last couple of years I have not been
able to commit as much time as I
would like to these relationships. I
believeinbeinginvolved,andmany
of our local branches are involved
with their local broker community
which is something that ABC
encourages. One of the goals of
eachofourmanagersistogooutin
the field to meet with customers
and be active at industry events. I
thinkit’scriticalthattheydothisin
order to stay on top of the issues of
the day, and to better support their
customers.
TMP: When Capitol Commerce
closed there was a message on
the answering machine that
said, “Thanks for the ride.”
The Right Choice:
An interview with Al Crisanty of American Brokers Conduit
Reprinted with permission by The Mortgage Press, Ltd. 1-800-890-8090
You’ve just gotten a ride on the
ABC train; do you think that
you’re going to stay on that ride
for a while?
AC: We often use the analogy of
riding a wave when we talk about
our success, and right now, it feels
like we’ve gotten hold of a big one
and we are going to ride it out. We
knowwe’redoingalotofthingsvery
well, but by no means are we satis-
fied with where we are and what we
have accomplished. Every great or-
ganizationrecognizestheirkeycom-
petenciesandworkhardeverydayto
keep everyone focused on improv-
ing. Many great organizations have
failed simply because they became
complacent. Not ABC. One of our
strengths is that we encourage open
andcandidcommunicationfromall
levels of the organization. This en-
suresthatwegetthefeedbackneces-
sary to identify key needs and
allocate resources appropriately.
Based on this ongoing feedback, we
currently have a number of initia-
tivesaimedatkeepingusontrackas
wemoveinto2006.Ifeelveryfortu-
natetohavehadsuchanexception-
albranchmanagementteamtoride
along with over the last two years,
and I can honestly say there is not a
more capable group of managers in
our industry than those I work with
every day. Combined with our
strongcorporateleadershipandour
innovative broker centric strategy,
we should be riding together for a
very long time to come.
Reps of the ABC Folsom,
Calif. branch include
Al Crisanty with Operations
Manager Roxanne
Mazarakis and Folsom
Branch Manager
Dave Waddell