Leadership

John J. Arens

John Arens is a Managing Director, Head of Home Equity Investments. Mr. Arens joined Redwood in 2022 and oversees Redwood’s home equity investment strategies. Mr. Arens has over 25 years of experience in finance and real estate, previously serving in executive legal and business roles at fintech and proptech start-ups such as Divvy Homes, Unison and Funding Circle USA. While at Unison, Mr. Arens was responsible for building the legal and regulatory strategies that supported the company’s nationwide expansion in home equity investments. Previously, Mr. Arens served as vice president in the residential mortgage business at Redwood Trust from 2004 – 2007. John holds a Juris Doctor and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of San Diego.

Emil J. Fanelli

Emil Fanelli is a Managing Director of Business Development at Redwood Trust. In his role, Mr. Fanelli is responsible for oversight of business development activities with a primary focus on relationship management for approved and prospective sellers within Redwood’s Residential business. Prior to joining Redwood in 2013, Mr. Fanelli held key capital markets officer positions at the Bank of New York, and Morgan Stanley Capital Corporation. Mr. Fanelli earned his bachelor’s degree in Finance from California State University, Northridge.

Carlene A. Graham

Chief Operating Officer of Redwood Residential

Carlene Graham is the Chief Operating Officer of Redwood’s Residential Business. She joined the firm as a Vice President in 2013 and has held a number of roles across the organization since then, most recently as Managing Director of Purchase Operations. In her role, Carlene is responsible for all purchase activities within Redwood’s Residential business including underwriting, system and process design, transaction management, counterparty risk, vendor management, funding and client services. She is currently a board member for The Gathering Place in Denver, CO and serves as an advisory committee member for the University of Colorado Leeds School of Business.

Jonathan M. Groesbeck

Jon Groesbeck is a Managing Director and Head of Business Development at Redwood Trust, where he has been since 2009. In his role, he manages all business development functions related to the seller relationships facing the Redwood residential conduit, as well as several important whole loans and securitization investors relationships that purchase loans from the residential conduit. Jon has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Illinois and an M.B.A from the University of Southern California.

Shawnda D. Merriman

Shawnda Merriman is a Managing Director overseeing Redwood’s Residential Post Purchase Operations function. Shawnda joined Redwood in 2015 and she is responsible for all post purchase activities including loan set-up, trailing loan documents, servicing oversight and portfolio analysis. She has 30 years’ experience as a management-level professional, supervising residential servicing, master servicing, compliance and risk management. Shawnda is currently a board member for The Gathering Place in Denver, CO.

Jeremy P. Strom

Jeremy Strom is a Managing Director for Redwood’s Residential Capital Markets group. In his role, Jeremy is responsible for overseeing the development and execution of the Company’s funding and investment strategy for the mortgage conduit including trading, interest rate risk management, pricing, and Sequoia securitizations. Prior to joining Redwood in 2013, Jeremy served in various capital markets roles at Aurora Bank FSB (a Lehman Brother’s subsidiary). Jeremy holds a bachelor’s in Business Management from Clark University.

Gina M. Sykes

Gina Sykes is the Managing Director of Redwood’s Residential Pre-Purchase Operations group. Ms. Sykes joined Redwood in 2013 as a Client Services Representative and has held various roles across the organization since then, most recently as SVP Pre-Purchase Operations. In her current role, Ms. Sykes is responsible for all pre-purchase activities including funding, client services, indexing & data capture, appraisal review and collateral management. Ms. Sykes is currently a member of the Redwood Foundation and is an active participant in the Invest in Girls organization, sponsored by Redwood’s Together organization. Prior to joining Redwood, Ms. Sykes served in various retail mortgage roles at Aurora Loan Services (a Lehman Brother’s subsidiary) and Megastar Financial Corporation. 

Micaela M. Lumpkin

Micaela Lumpkin is Chief Credit Officer at CoreVest. In this role Ms. Lumpkin is responsible for oversight and administration of CoreVest’s credit practices, loan policies and procedures. Prior to her current role, Ms. Lumpkin was Managing Director, Head of Term Loans at CoreVest, where she was responsible for managing the operations of term financing products. Prior to joining CoreVest, Ms. Lumpkin spent almost ten years at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP as a Senior Associate, practicing in the Real Estate and Finance group, where she focused on the acquisition of distressed debt, as well as both mortgage and mezzanine financing. Ms. Lumpkin received her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and her B.A. from the University of Virginia.

Fred J. Matera

Chief Investment Officer of Redwood and Co-Head of Business Purpose Lending

Fred J. Matera is Chief Investment Officer at Redwood Trust and Co-Head of Business Purpose Lending. Prior to his current roles, Fred held the role of Head of Redwood Residential. Fred also previously served as a Redwood board member from March 2019 to December 2020. Prior to that, Fred was co-founder of MoVi Partners, an advisory firm focused on promoting innovation through diversity in the fintech industry. During 2008-2016, Fred held several leadership positions with Redwood, including Chief Investment Officer and Head of Commercial. He has more than 30 years’ experience at top financial and mortgage banking firms, serving in senior-level positions. Fred has a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Tufts University, and an M.B.A. in finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

J. Ryan McBride

Co-Head of Business Purpose Lending and Chief Investment Officer of RWT Horizons

Ryan McBride is Co-Head of Business Purpose Lending and Chief Investment Officer of RWT Horizons. Mr. McBride joined Redwood Trust in October 2019 as a Managing Director in connection with Redwood’s acquisition of CoreVest American Finance Lender, LLC (“CoreVest”) where he was a co-founder and the Chief Operating Officer. Mr. McBride has more than 25 years of experience in real estate and finance, previously serving as an Executive Vice President for Colony American Homes where he was a co-founder and responsible for the company’s overall acquisition efforts. In 2022, Mr. McBride was named Chief Investment Officer of Redwood’s venture capital investment arm, RWT Horizons, with oversight of developing and executing on RWT Horizons’ investment and operational strategy, including capital deployment, strategic partnerships and other capital formation activities. Prior his current roles, Mr. McBride worked in investment banking for over a dozen years, most of this time at JP Morgan. Mr. McBride received an MBA in Finance from The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and a BBA in Finance from The College of William and Mary.

Michael T. Minck

Michael Minck serves as Managing Director, Legal and Compliance for CoreVest. In his role, Mr. Minck is responsible for building and leading the Legal Department in its effort to provide legal support to the various business units, as well as managing the internal legal and litigation matters for CoreVest. Prior to joining CoreVest in 2018, Mr. Minck spent 15 years in various legal and general counsel roles across the residential lending sector, supervising legal and compliance obligations for retail origination platforms. He holds a J.D. from Whittier Law School and a B.A. in Political Science from University of California, Irvine.

Michael H. Peerson

Michael Peerson is Chief Investment Officer at CoreVest. In this role, he is responsible for leading capital markets initiatives for the company. Prior to joining CoreVest in 2022, Mr. Peerson was a Director at Wells Fargo Securities, where he traded non-Agency MBS securities. In that role, Mr. Peerson was a market-maker providing liquidity, assessing relative value, and managing risk across multiple non-Agency MBS securities and subsectors. While at Wells Fargo Securities, Mr. Peerson also held positions trading CMBS, Consumer ABS, and Agency MBS. Before joining the trading group at Wells Fargo Securities, Mr. Peerson was a Collateral Manager for an actively managed CRE CDO. Prior to Wells Fargo, Mr. Peerson worked in investment banking within the Debt Capital Markets Group at Wachovia Securities. Mr. Peerson holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Finance from the University of Florida and is a CFA Charterholder.

Sean Robbins

Sean Robbins joined CoreVest in July 2022 as a Managing Director in connection with Redwood Trust’s acquisition of Riverbend Lending, a best in class private lender to investors. Mr. Robbins is one of the founding members of Riverbend Lending and also oversaw business development and loan growth for the company. Prior to Riverbend Lending, Mr. Robbins founded four private real estate investment funds. Mr. Robbins graduated from U.C.L.A with a major in Business Economics and a minor in Accounting/Public Policy.

George R. Younes

George Younes is Managing Director and Head of CoreVest’s Asset Management division. Mr. Younes combines more than twenty-five years of commercial and residential real estate asset management with a well demonstrated ability to recruit and lead Special Assets teams for commercial banks, thrifts and commercial mortgage bankers. Mr. Younes has managed large teams of commercial loan servicing staff as well as large teams of commercial and residential loan special credits/special assets, commercial loan closing, and construction loan and commercial and residential loan administration operations staff. Mr. Younes’ Asset Management experience includes managing performing and non-performing loans against commercial and residential properties located across the U.S. for Aurora Bank (formerly known as Lehman Brothers Bank), for nearly seven years, and Washington Mutual Bank for over 12 years. Mr. Younes has direct experience with commercial/corporate real estate pricing and sales as well as complex loan workouts/restructures. In addition, Mr. Younes brings significant reporting experience with the capital markets teams, investor community and rating agencies. He holds a Bachelor of Social Science in Economics Degree from the University of Ottawa, Canada.

Nathan S. Charles

Nathan Charles is Managing Director and Co-Head of Technology Services at Redwood Trust. He is responsible for leading Application Development and Support including setting the direction for all SDLC methodologies, coding standards, tools, automation, software platform direction, and deployment processes for all technology teams. Prior to joining Redwood in 2014, Nathan held leadership positions at Promontory Financial Group, LLC and CGI, where he was responsible for client technology solutions, software development, offshore management, and client and employee coaching. Nathan holds a bachelor’s degree in Integrated Science and Technology / Computer Science from James Madison University.

Andrew M. Gillmer

Andrew Gillmer is a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Redwood Trust. He joined Redwood in 2005 and has also served as a member of the firm’s Investment Committee. In his role, Andrew is responsible for managing the firm’s investment portfolio; overseeing credit and structure analysis, hedging, pricing and trading functions; and managing the financing agreement and structured solutions for the portfolio. He has a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the University of Newcastle (Australia), an M.B.A in Finance from Johns Hopkins University and is a chartered financial analyst.

Leah K. Goldmintz

Leah Goldmintz is a Managing Director and Assistant Treasurer of Redwood Trust and CoreVest. In this role, she is responsible for managing the warehousing and securitization process across practice types. Since joining CoreVest in 2014 as part of the capital markets group, Leah has worked on all CoreVest issued securitizations. Prior to joining CoreVest, Leah was at Auction.com where she focused on residential investor bridge lending and acted as loan sale advisor for non-performing loan sales. Leah received her B.A. in Economics and International Studies from Johns Hopkins University.

John H. Isbrandtsen

John Isbrandtsen is a Managing Director and Treasurer of Redwood Trust. Since joining the firm in 1999, over the last 20 years he has overseen various rolls including technology, operations, and capital markets as well as managing the residential conduit. John directed the development and implementation of the residential conduit in 2001 and more recently the jumbo and conforming conduit in 2009. He has over 30 years of experience in the mortgage lending and banking industry. John holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance and Economics from Babson College.

Kaitlyn J. Mauritz

Head of Investor Relations

Kaitlyn Mauritz is a Managing Director and Head of Investor Relations for Redwood Trust. Kait’s responsibilities include establishing and expanding the company's relationships with sell-side and buy-side investment analysts, industry analysts, media personnel and investors worldwide. She also provides input on the company’s financial reporting, capital markets, public relations and ESG-related activities. Prior to joining Redwood in January 2022, Kait was Head of Investor Relations for New Residential Investment Corp. and also held other investor relations related roles at Annaly Capital Management Inc. and ICR Inc. Kait began her career at Citigroup in both Sales & Trading and Equity Capital Markets and graduated with a BA in Politics from Princeton University.

David P. Monks

David Monks is a Managing Director of Finance at Redwood Trust. Since joining in 2006, he has held a number of finance and accounting positions across the firm. In his role, David is responsible for managing the financial planning and analysis, mergers and acquisitions, and strategic partnerships functions at Redwood. He has a bachelor’s degree in Business and Finance from Dublin City University in Ireland and is a CFA charter holder.

Tuan Q. Pham

Tuan Pham is a Managing Director and Head of Marketing for Redwood Trust. In this role, he is responsible for marketing strategy, branding, communications, and lead generation efforts of the firm. Tuan joined CoreVest, a division of Redwood Trust, in 2016 and served as Chief Marketing Officer. Prior to that, Tuan led high performance marketing teams and programs for a variety of firms, from rising technology startups to established Fortune 500 companies in the real estate and finance space. He holds a BS degree in communications from Purdue University, and an MBA degree from the University of California, Riverside. Tuan is also an advisory board member for the customer experience program at Rutgers University and the University of California, Irvine.

Matthew J. Pope

Matthew J. Pope joined Redwood in May 2013 and is currently Managing Director – Deputy General Counsel. Mr. Pope is responsible for a wide variety of corporate and transactional matters at Redwood, including capital markets activities, secured financing transactions of mortgage loans and securities, M&A, portfolio investments and strategic partnership activities, and public company corporate governance matters. Additionally, Mr. Pope participates in the management of the firm’s compliance and risk management infrastructure. Prior to joining Redwood, Mr. Pope was an associate in the San Francisco and Menlo Park offices of Latham & Watkins LLP, with a practice specializing in financing emerging and public companies, mergers and acquisitions, securities law compliance, and corporate governance. Mr. Pope holds a J.D. from New York University School of Law and a B.A. in rhetoric from the University of California, Berkeley.

Lucy D. Ruiz

Lucy Ruiz is a Managing Director and Corporate Controller at Redwood Trust. She joined the firm in 2007 and has served in a number of accounting roles across Redwood since then, including Senior Accountant, Loan Accounting Manager, and Assistant Controller. In her role, Lucy is responsible for the oversight of the accounting and reporting functions of the company. Lucy holds a B.A. degree in Political Science from Wellesley College and a Master of Accountancy degree from Golden Gate University.

Tracy T. Stelk

Tracy T. Stelk is a Managing Director and Head of Financial Reporting and Accounting Policy at Redwood.  Prior to joining Redwood in September 2023, Ms. Stelk led the financial reporting related to the global trading entities, onshore and offshore funds at Millennium Management LLC and was also responsible for oversight of Millennium’s global accounting policies and certain regulatory filings. Prior to joining Millennium, Ms. Stelk worked as a member of American International Group Inc.’s (“AIG”) Office of Accounting Policy, serving in a variety of roles, including most recently as the Global Head of IFRS/International Accounting Policy. Prior to joining AIG, Ms. Stelk was an Audit Senior Manager at Ernst & Young, where she served as a resident in the National Asset Management Practice. Ms. Stelk holds a BBA in Accounting and Finance from Baylor University, is a Certified Public Accountant in Texas and New York and a member of the AICPA.

Shoshone ("Bo") A. Stern

Bo Stern serves as Portfolio Manager and Head of Financial Risk for Redwood Trust, Inc. Mr. Stern joined Redwood in 2003, and most recently served the Company’s Chief Investment Officer. He previously served as Redwood’s Treasurer from December 2009 to August 2016, and as Managing Director from December 2007 to December 2009. From February 2003 to December 2007, Mr. Stern served in several other management positions at Redwood. Prior to joining Redwood, Mr. Stern was employed by CIBC Oppenheimer in its investment banking group. Mr. Stern holds a B.S. degree in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley and an M.B.A from the University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University; he is also a CFA Charterholder.

Nic Tenwolde

Nic Tenwolde is a Managing Director and Co-Head of Technology Services at Redwood. He is responsible for overall technology enablement, standards and tools, as well as overseeing Infrastructure, Security and Corporate Support services. Prior to joining the organization in 2019, Nic held various technology and business-related leadership positions with Ernst & Young LLP, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and Carrington Mortgage Holdings. Nic holds an MBA in Finance from Southern Methodist University and a B.A. in Business Administration and Computer Science from the University of San Diego.

J. Ryan McBride

Co-Head of Business Purpose Lending and Chief Investment Officer of RWT Horizons

Ryan McBride is Co-Head of Business Purpose Lending and Chief Investment Officer of RWT Horizons. Mr. McBride joined Redwood Trust in October 2019 as a Managing Director in connection with Redwood’s acquisition of CoreVest American Finance Lender, LLC (“CoreVest”) where he was a co-founder and the Chief Operating Officer. Mr. McBride has more than 25 years of experience in real estate and finance, previously serving as an Executive Vice President for Colony American Homes where he was a co-founder and responsible for the company’s overall acquisition efforts. In 2022, Mr. McBride was named Chief Investment Officer of Redwood’s venture capital investment arm, RWT Horizons, with oversight of developing and executing on RWT Horizons’ investment and operational strategy, including capital deployment, strategic partnerships and other capital formation activities. Prior his current roles, Mr. McBride worked in investment banking for over a dozen years, most of this time at JP Morgan. Mr. McBride received an MBA in Finance from The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and a BBA in Finance from The College of William and Mary.