San Diego-based Smartfi Home Loans, which is primarily active as a wholesale lender in the reverse mortgage space and is actively building a retail division that offers reverse mortgage products, has hired industry veteran Martin Lenoir as its new chief marketing officer.
Lenoir most recently served as CMO at American Advisors Group (AAG), the industry’s former leading lender prior to its acquisition last year by Finance of America (FOA). In an exclusive interview with HousingWire’s Reverse Mortgage Daily, Lenoir and retail sales president Paul Fiore — who also joined Smartfi recently — discuss what their goals are in continuing to build a dedicated retail reverse mortgage division at the company.
Lenoir said he was impressed with the initial ambitions of the company, and although he had been interested in rejoining the industry, a meeting with the company’s leaders helped tosolidify his decision.
“With their long-term mindset of growing the market and helping more seniors, they’ve recognized an opportunity to expand retail in addition to wholesale and serve more seniors,” Lenoir said. “So, when the team approached me with the opportunity to help with that growth, I was already interested.”
Lenoir left AAG in late 2022 and observed its acquisition from afar. One of the enticing elements of the new CMO role at Smartfi was the potential reunion he would have with some of his former colleagues.
“I’ve known Paul for over eight years from AAG, and Kim Smith, who leads wholesale, for the same amount of time,” Lenoir explained. “While I don’t know everyone personally, I know a lot of the other participants. It’s a chance to join a great team of experienced people. So, long answer short, I’m joining to help drive the growth of the brand, so we can assist even more seniors, while also participating in the retail build-out with Paul.”
Lenoir felt like there were additional professional growth opportunities in the reverse mortgage space, considering his varied career experience and some of the unique realities of the reverse channel.
“I’ve been in the consumer marketing space my whole career — mostly in financial services, starting at Capital One — but also a bit in other areas like legal services,” Lenoir said. “I enjoy marketing to consumers, and I find the challenge really rewarding. I think the reverse mortgage product category is a big marketing challenge.
“The key question is, how do we get more seniors to understand the role their home equity can play in their financial planning?”
The team is an assemblage of veterans from various current and former industry players —including AAG, FOA and One Reverse Mortgage. This presents a unique growth opportunity when that knowledge is combined, Lenoir explained.
“I think that [shared experience in the industry] gives us the chance to build something from the ground up that really keeps the customer at the core,” Lenoir explained. “Marketing isn’t just about advertising — it’s about delivering on the promise to consumers and building momentum from there. So, for me, this was the right opportunity at the right time with the right people.”
As far as other elements of the job that appealed to him, Lenoir said the company has a “long-term mindset” that lends itself to creating a division from the ground up.
“From my perspective, that means we can stay true to what really matters — the consumer, the partner and the loan officer — while delivering a great experience for all of those stakeholders,” he said. “Compared with other places I’ve been, there are fewer competing priorities and other stakeholders, which makes it easier to focus on that long-term, strategic commitment to the space.”
But Lenoir and Fiore remain clear-eyed about the time it will take to build a new division, they said.
“I’ve been in this space for 20 years, so I have a pretty good understanding of where the consumer pain points are that prevent wider mainstream adoption,” Fiore said. “Martin, who spent over eight years at AAG, and I both know these challenges well. Our goal here isn’t just about taking market share; it’s about growing the market overall and making these products— whether traditional HECMs or proprietary options — more accessible.”
Addressing these preexisting pain points and determining a way forward is key for the development of the business, Fiore added.
“The idea is to improve the salesperson’s experience, which will naturally lead to a better customer experience,” Fiore said. “When we talk about customer-focused transactions and a high-touch approach, we want that experience to be more efficient, more customized to the borrower’s needs, and just overall smoother for everyone involved.”