NAMB Excellence Awards 2026 Winners

Congratulations to the 2026 NAMB Excellence Award Winners

Every professional and company below was selected by the NAMB Awards Committee for demonstrated excellence in the mortgage industry this year.

Formally recognized at NAMB National 2026, October 16 to 19, Las Vegas

These winners represent the brokers, originators, account executives, and service partners who moved the mortgage industry forward in 2026. NAMB congratulates every one of them.

Mortgage Broker of the Year

29 winners

  • Ben Bell UMortgage
  • Libra Branch The Mortgage Diva LLC
  • Imad Canavati C2 Financial Corporation
  • Melinda Casem IMPOSSIBLE IS POSSIBLE HOME LOANS empowered by Nexa Lending
  • Aaron Clark Harris Capital Mortgage Group, LLC
  • Daniel Clifton Clifton Mortgage Solutions
  • Bannen Davis Gershman Mortgage
  • Taylor Gardner Loan Lab Lending
  • Jacob Garrett Motto Mortgage Pathway
  • Ray Gulam Gulam Home Mortgage LLC
  • Vipul Hapani Vema Mortgage LLC
  • Marco Jimenez Banc Mortgage, Inc.
  • Omar Khamisa Mission San Jose Mortgage Inc.
  • Rene Kneller Mountain Equity Mortgage, Inc.
  • Jeni Lehnen Stockton Mortgage
  • Geiner Lopez Premier Loan Center Inc. (GA4088)
  • Gerry Manzi Manzi Mortgage group, LLC
  • Avalon McLeod McLeod Capital Fund
  • John Moel Broker House Lending
  • Ryan O'Keven O'Keven Financial
  • Joe Page All American Home Mortgage
  • Liliana Pribadi NEXA Lending
  • Chirag Rachhadia Vema Mortgage LLC
  • Brittney Sargent Momentum Mortgage, LLC
  • Alex Shekhtman LBC Mortgage
  • Tim Stacey Stacey Solutions
  • Brian Tewes Tewes Lending, Inc.
  • Brandon Watts The Equity Exchange
  • Harold Yang AAA Capital Investment

New Broker of the Year

6 winners

  • Nadia Affes Zoom Home Lending
  • Alex Aughenbaugh Valor Home Loans
  • Omaro Ayloush Pennymac
  • Jack Connors Kinfolk Home Loans
  • Amanda Embry PRIMERICA
  • Chance Stoffel Motto Mortgage Preferred Partners

Influencer of the Year

8 winners

  • Michael Belfor American Pacific Mortgage
  • Todd Bitter NEXA Lending
  • Martin De La Garza Motto Mortgage Best Life
  • Jessica Hernandez Citibank
  • Yillian Iglesias Goldpen Finance Service LLC
  • Laura Rojas Rodriguez Real-Finity Mortgage, LLC
  • Matt Shields USA Mortgage
  • Nathan Young North Star Mortgage Network

Young Professional of the Year

11 winners

  • Samuel Bromley xpert Home Lending
  • Daniel Canales Loan Lab Lending
  • Rachel Clark Clarks Crew LLC
  • Tiffany Genella Core lending
  • Marco Jimenez Banc Mortgage, Inc.
  • Kyle Christopher Leppert Mortgage Global Solutions Inc.
  • Elisa Marquez-Smith NEXA Lending
  • Linh Nguyen Amwest Funding Corp
  • Kevin Pennington Equity Smart Home Loans
  • Chrissian Potter Mortgage Global Solutions Inc.
  • Melanie Rader True north home loans

Account Executive of the Year (QM)

5 winners

  • Judy Chow AAA Capital Investment
  • Gwynne Griffin PennyMac TPO
  • Chris Mitchell Freedom Mortgage
  • Eric Salzwedel Windsor Mortgage
  • Jason Twiford Orion Lending

Account Executive of the Year (Non-QM)

2 winners

  • Lou Maldonado Plaza Home Mortgage
  • Ari Zaimi NewRez Wholesale

Service Partner of the Year

Six categories of company recognition

Appraisal Management

  • Equity Solutions USA
  • PCV Murcor

Compliance

  • Firstline Compliance
  • Guide Mortgage Licensing
  • Strategic Compliance Partners

Marketing

  • MLO Branding Academy
  • Ron Vaimberg International, Ltd.

Lender (Wholesale)

  • LoanStream Mortgage
  • NewRez LLC
  • PennyMac TPO

Processing

  • Apex Processors LLC
  • HR Loan Processing LLC
  • IME Mortgage Processing

Software & Technology

  • Lender Price
  • LendingPad
  • Vonk Digital

Thank you to everyone who submitted a nomination this year.

Winners are featured in NAMB's official press release and across NAMB's national platform. Questions about the awards program can be sent to namb@namb.org or 202-434-8250.