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Your Shot At The Future Of Lending

Here’s how it works:

1) Take a photo/video of your Wilqo shot glass at your home office or place of business

2) Upload it to LinkedIn with the hashtag #SHOTWITHWILQO and tag wilqo

3) You will automatically be entered to win a bottle of Tony Inskeep’s Bourbon

4) If selected, we will get in contact for delivery details

It is that simple! We look forward to the shot of your shot!

Post Yours Today! -->

WILQO Shot Glasses-2

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Founded by mortgage industry veterans, we are passionate about solving the problems that plague the industry.

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Copyright © 2025 Wilqo LLC

Lance Reese

CEO

Lance Reese, Wilqo's CEO, boasts an illustrious 30-year journey, blending technology with operational excellence across global industries.

Prior to Wilqo, Lance skyrocketed sharperimage.com's growth by 150% during his tenure as CEO. He led Amerimark Interactive, a $500M direct-to-consumer retail giant, and donned key roles from board memberships to COO and CIO stints at diverse companies, one being Docutech.

A tech aficionado from youth, Lance launched a tech consultancy at 16, evolving it into a pioneering contract management software venture for nuclear waste management.

A proud graduate of Indiana University and Brigham Young University with degrees in business administration and mathematics, Lance's commendation at the Indiana Kelley School of Business Academy of Alumni Fellows in 2021 is testament to his dedication. He continues to nurture his connection with Kelley, offering MBA students insights via case study endeavors.

Orlando is home for Lance, where he cherishes moments with his family, including four children, their partners, and three grandchildren.

Kelli Hodges

Head of Operations

Introducing Kelli - Driving Innovation in Mortgage Lending

Kelli has a proven track record of leading enterprise-level initiatives at esteemed mortgage lending and technology firms. With two decades of experience in the industry, she remains committed to constant growth and learning, enabling her to oversee operations and identify opportunities across functional departments. Her insights foster business innovation and consistent growth.

Before joining Wilqo, Kelli served as COO for Mortgage Coach and Head of Operations at Optimal Blue. Her expertise earned her recognition, including the HousingWire Insiders award and National Mortgage Professional's Mortgage Lending's Women of Inspiration award.

Beyond her work, Kelli cherishes a healthy work-life balance. She enjoys sharing joyful moments with her family, friends, and beloved pets, embracing laughter and meaningful connections beyond the workplace.

Kelli's dedication and passion for building strong relationships drive her success at Wilqo as we reach new heights together.

Gregg Holsapple

Head of Products

(Co-Founder)

Gregg's journey through the mortgage realm is both rich and extensive. His initial years saw him deep in the trenches with independent mortgage bankers, honing skills in secondary marketing, fulfillment, and systems integration.

Two decades back, Gregg transitioned into the tech heartbeat of the mortgage sector. He helmed product divisions for industry titans like DataTrac, Docutech, and ReverseVision. Then, with a burst of entrepreneurial spirit, co-founded Wilqo.

For Gregg, technology isn't just about innovation; it's a tool to refine and rejuvenate the lending process. His vision? A seamless experience for borrowers, coupled with peak efficiency for lenders.

Off-duty, Gregg's wanderlust takes him to far-off places, or he's simply unwinding with his beloved pups.

Brian Perry

Head of Architecture

(Co-Founder)

Brian's professional journey has been exclusively woven through the fabric of mortgage technology.

After earning a degree in Integrated Science, Mathematics, and Computer Science from Northwestern, he leaped into a start-up revolutionizing the mortgage secondary market. His next move, to Optimal Blue, saw him ascend to the role of Chief Architect. His pivotal contributions there reshaped the mortgage landscape, standing out as one of the most transformative tech solutions in the industry.

Hearing of an opportunity to address challenges in the loan manufacturing process, Brian eagerly joined the team as a co-founder of Wilqo.

Apart from steering Wilqo's architectural vision, Brian is a board member for the Housing Navigator Massachusetts, a nonprofit championing affordable rental housing.

Off the grid, Brian savors quality time with his wife, and hiking and exploring nature's embrace.

Tom Morelli

Head of Data Analytics

Tom Morelli, Head of Data at Wilqo, is focused on maximizing value from existing mortgage data as well as rethinking how data enables the industry. His team’s process is understanding industry pain points, vetting all possible solutions, and presenting actionable options.

Tom joined Wilqo in 2021 after having built out reliable data practices at multiple companies. He worked with business leaders to challenge preconceived notions about their KPIs and align their teams on common goals.

An alumnus of Michigan State University with a degree in Finance, and a Masters Degree in Project Management from Walsh College, Tom got his start in the insurance industry leading numerous successful process improvement initiatives. His background covered compliance, quality, reducing cycle times, and identifying opportunities to increase revenue generation.

Tom currently resides in Camarillo, California with his wife Hannah and daughter Eleanor.

Never one to be satisfied with a status quo in life, Tom and his team are always looking for new ways for data to bring value to Wilqo and the industry.

Annette Wolf

Head of People & Culture

Annette Wolf, Head of People and Culture, joined Wilqo in November 2021. Annette is passionate about the impact people and culture can make to the success of a company.

During her 20-year career, she has focused on creating and supporting dynamic, high performing technology driven organizations. Most recently she led Human Resources for Optimal Blue where she helped grow the organization from 90 to more than 250 employees while fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration.

Annette grew up in Houston, Texas, but headed to the Northeast for her undergraduate studies. She received her bachelor’s degree in mathematics and economics from Boston University. After 4 winters in the Northeast, Annette was happy to return to Texas for her graduate studies. She received her MBA from The University of Texas at Austin with a focus on Entrepreneurship and Human Resources.

Annette currently lives in the Dallas/Fort Worth area with her husband and son. Outside of her work with Wilqo, Annette enjoys spending time with her family, particularly if it includes any type of Disney-related travel.

John Haring

Head of Compliance

John Haring serves as the Head of Compliance for Wilqo.

With over 20 years of experience in regulatory compliance and software development, John is responsible for ensuring that Charlie® brought to you by Wilqo, provides clients with the solutions they need to stay compliant with complex and ever-changing regulatory requirements.

Prior to joining Wilqo, he served as the Senior Director, Product Management at ICE (formerly Ellie Mae), where he spent the better part of 12 years supporting banks, lenders and brokers in implementing significant regulatory changes that impact the mortgage industry.

In 2015 Haring was named one of HousingWire’s Rising Stars in recognition for his accomplishments in helping the industry prepare for implementing “Know Before You Owe”.

Jeff McKay

Sr Account Executive

Jeff McKay is a Senior Account Executive for new sales at Wilqo.

His nearly 30-years in mortgage banking includes:

Loan Officer
Managing secondary for retail and wholesale IMBs (including processing/underwriting scratch-and-dent loans)
LOS administrator
Managing the developers and help desk support staff for H&R Block Mortgage
6 years as a wholesale account executive (including underwriting loans in the field)
6 years with AllRegs
6 years with ICE/EllieMae on the Encompass sales team

Jeff graduated from Western Oregon State University with a business and military science degree, earning him a commission in the US Army where he served for over 7 years.

Jeff lives in Raleigh NC with his wife and 3 children. He enjoys time in his garden, working in his wood shop, competitively shooting, hunting, and ocean fishing.

Tony Inskeep

EVP, Sales

Tony Inskeep, Wilqo's EVP of Sales, has created an illustrious career full of success and accolades.

Ty Jenkins

Chairman

(Co-Founder)

Ty Jenkins isn't just an entrepreneur; he's a trailblazer determined to revolutionize the industries he delves into. As the visionary founder and former CEO of Docutech, he pioneered dynamically generated collateral instruments for the mortgage sector. His hands-on work with every loan origination software (LOS) system laid the foundation for three critical realizations:

LOSs weren’t crafted for full-fledged integrations.
A majority of lenders are disillusioned with their LOS.
Changing an LOS? That's a notion they dread even more.

In 2020, after transitioning his stake in Docutech to First American, Ty embarked on a new mission: addressing the prevalent challenges of mortgage bankers. Leveraging insights from the Fintech realm and rallying a team of seasoned professionals he'd collaborated with throughout his journey, Wilqo was born.

Beyond business, Ty is an authentic cowboy at heart. You might spot him wrangling cattle on his Wyoming ranch or globetrotting with his beloved wife. Family time remains his cherished retreat, especially with his children and grandchildren.

Ivan Darius, Ph.D.

Director

(Co-Founder)

Ivan H. Darius, Ph.D., co-founded Plano, Texas-based Optimal Blue, the leading SaaS provider of product eligibility and pricing engine (PPE) technology and content management in 2002. Ivan co-founded Optimal Blue with Larry Huff, bringing more than 30 years of executive experience in technology, product development, and operations.

While Co-CEO of Optimal Blue, he was responsible for managing the day-to-day activities of the company as well as focusing on the technical and strategic product direction. He designed the Optimal Blue system to leverage the convergence of technology with content management to seamlessly connect investors, lenders, and originators to more efficiently source, manage, price, and lock a loan in real-time.

Before founding Optimal Blue, Ivan was president and CEO of Sollen Technologies LLC (1999-2002) in Dallas. While there, Sollen became the first successful ASP selling automation and process improvement tools to the mortgage industry. Additionally, he designed and implemented the first highly scalable, massively parallel decision engine for pricing and eligibility. The company grew from zero to $2.5 million in annual revenue during his tenure.

Ivan’s career started at Texas Instruments Incorporated (1980 – 1993). His responsibilities as Director of the Decision Systems Lab included the application of artificial intelligence (AI), simulation-based modeling, and science-based operational improvement techniques to the semiconductor manufacturing process.

Ivan attended The Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in physics, summa cum laude and a Ph.D. in Physics, magna cum laude. He is fluent in English, French, Dutch, and has a working knowledge of German.

When he is not thinking of new ways to improve efficiency in the mortgage origination process, Ivan enjoys time with his 4 grandchildren and the occasional game of golf.

Jeff Benjamin

Director

(Co-Founder)

With four decades of experience in housing finance and mortgage technology, Jeff Benjamin has a lot of experience with the ebb and flow of lending cycles.

Right out of college he joined a Phoenix-based Independent Mortgage Banker where he quickly became the top retail originator. Bank of America then purchased the IMB and tasked Jeff with running their third-party lending initiatives in the Western US.

He continued in the role running both wholesale and correspondent sales until 1990. He left the bank a few weeks before getting married in 1990 and set off with his new bride to spend nearly a year exploring the US and Canada on a motorcycle. When he returned to the working world, he joined then-regional technology and compliance provider, Desert Document Services, and led their highly successful efforts to go nationwide over the next several years.

Jeff then joined Ellie Mae in 2001, eventually ascending to the role of SVP of Sales and Client Management. With the company on a run rate to hit a billion in revenue, he took a bow in early 2020, right on the cusp of the global pandemic.

Now a vital part of Wilqo's leadership, Jeff harnesses his rich experience to champion the transformative potential of our Production Optimization Platform within the industry. Away from the boardroom, he spends time in his beloved Colorado mountain biking, snowboarding, motorcycling and searching out new craft cocktail experiences. Jeff and his wife especially enjoy taking their RV around the country most any time, but especially to see college football games during the Fall.

Larry Huff

Director

(Co-Founder)

Larry Huff co-founded and was Co-CEO of Plano, Texas-based Optimal Blue, LLC, a cloud-based provider of pricing, secondary marketing, and other content-enabled enterprise lending services, including compliance, consumer direct and point-of-sale technology for the financial services industry. Larry, who has an extensive record of success in the mortgage, leasing, and technology sectors, co-founded Optimal Blue with Dr. Ivan Darius. He has over 20 years of executive experience in technology, business, and product development and operations.

In his current position, he shares responsibility for the company's day-to-day management, emphasizing corporate strategy, sales and marketing, and business development. Larry left Optimal Blue as part of the company's successful sale to GTCR, a Chicago-based private equity firm, in July 2016. Since leaving Optimal Blue, Larry is now an independent board member on four SaaS companies' Board of Directors.

Before co-founding Optimal Blue, Larry was Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder of Sollen Technologies, LLC, the first-ever cloud-based product and pricing engine for mortgage bankers. Earlier in his career, Larry worked for the Oakwood Group, a London-based Private Equity firm, and founded and managed a large mortgage brokerage and banking firm in Dallas, Texas.

Larry earned two Bachelor of Science degrees in Geology and Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University.