Elliott Bay Associates are a tightly-knit, world-class alignment of talent, passion and generosity of mind, dedicated to you and your borrowers' mortgage needs. Our mission is to foster standardization of best practices in mortgage activities for all lenders, no matter what your asset size or volume of first or second mortgage business or investment.
We’ll help you realign your borrowers’ mortgage needs around the immense social and workplace changes underway. We’ll save you money, increase revenue and enhance your customer relations by delivering the best in mortgage consulting products and services with unique access to “core data” that drives the present and future of the mortgage industry. We offer outsourced services that contain compelling value propositions. Our loyalty to the principles of consumer-advocacy, best practice lending and best-of-breed technology is unsurpassed. Think “Accenture without the price tag,” regardless of size or budget.
Eileen M. O’Grady, EBA Founding Associate
Eileen is founder and CEO of Elliott Bay Associates. Eileen formed EBA in 1994, after cultivating a career in leadership positions at financial services, consulting and technology firms such as Citicorp, Deloitte & Touche, Sears Financial Group, Bear Stearns, and Sogeti Cap Gemini. Eileen levered her product development, mortgage capital markets and mortgage consulting expertise into technology expertise as EVP of Keystroke.com, the first online mortgage lender.
Eileen was the original Project Owner and Subject Matter Expert for the tech project at BECU, from which Prime Alliance emerged, and she has provided mortgage expertise to Balance Sheet Solutions CUSO and its credit union clients for the past two years. Eileen formed EBA to lead the next wave of change in mortgage and financial services, in the strategic application of better business practices and technology.
Eileen attended the Whittemore School of Business at the University of New Hampshire, and the University of Washington Business Administration Program. She speaks nationally on business and technology strategies in mortgage lending, and is a member of the Caux Roundtable, and international organization providing guidance in ethical business leadership.
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Gary Timmerman, Executive Associate
Gary is a seasoned investment and commercial banker, with world class credentials combined with a down-to-earth, practical perspective. His expertise is concentrated in asset-based lending with a proven ability to develop sustainable businesses. He has extensive background in client, credit and risk management as well as financial analysis and operational functions associated with lending portfolios of performing and distressed debt.
Gary spent eight years at Credit Suisse First Boston, as Managing Director, Fixed Income, as the Division Head of Mortgage Finance Group, where he created, grew and propelled whole loan residential mortgage warehouse business from inception to $12 billion of commitments and “top 5” lender ranking. Prior to CSFB, Gary was SVP at Bank of America (formerly LaSalle Bank), and PNC Bank (formerly Sears Mortgage) as VP of Warehouse Lending and Custodial Services.
Gary holds his NASD Series 7 and 63. He graduated from Northwestern University, J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management (Evanston, IL). Gary holds a Master of Management Degree with concentrations in Finance and Marketing -1989 and a BA in Economics from the
University of Chicago (Chicago, IL) He was the recipient of an academic scholarship and internship with First National Bank of Chicago
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Rachel Lynn Bell, Senior Associate
Rachel has twenty years experience in the banking and financial services industry. She has handled all aspects of the loan process through investor purchase. Rachel has also worked closely with corporate managers to identify market needs and assess vendor relationships. Rachel became eMortgage certified in 2003, and has continued to work with both MBA ResTech and MISMO initiatives. Rachel has developed expert level knowledge in creating technology solutions for manual processes while ensuring the ease of adoption.
Rachel has also worked directly with secondary management to create market specific products.
Additionally, Rachel has worked with clients, sales and internal staff to ensure superior customer service and ease of process.
The sum total of her experience is a strong understanding and proficiency in all aspects of the lending process.
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Kevin Kelker, Senior Associate
Kevin has over 25 years experience in real estate, finance and property management. He gained extensive real estate finance knowledge starting and managing a family owned private lending trust. Kevin has over ten years’ experience in mortgage loan origination, with a strong emphasis in consumer education working with over two hundred lenders as the retail branch manager for Broker One Mortgage. Kevin trained employees in all aspects of the loan process and became an expert in lender/GSE systems and technologies. An early adopter of DU/LP, Kevin was able to minimize turn times and create customer satisfaction.
Kevin founded Atone Software, one of the first web based paperless end-to-end lending platforms. Atone was purchased by First American CoreLogic in 2006.
Kevin has a BS in Marketing from San Jose State University. He is a licensed appraiser with work experience at Foster Ousley, and earned the MBA e-mortgage certification in 2003.
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Anson Brooks, Associate
Anson is a business development specialist with over ten years’ experience in real estate and financial management, and early-stage business and technology strategies, including numerous internet and other start-ups. He previously served as director of sales and marketing with Keystroke.com, the first online mortgage lender and provider of online services to financial institutions, developing and implementing a comprehensive sales strategy. His work led to the startup funding for the company, and agreements with major customers, including Washington Mutual Bank, First USA, and Dean Witter Morgan Stanley.
Anson’s early career was in commercial real estate, where he accumulated major commercial real estate accounts including Alaska Airlines, Boeing, John Hancock, and the federal government's General Services Administration, among others.
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Sofia Echegaray, Associate
Sofia is a musical talent under cover as a business analyst with 5 years’ experience in applied technologies, including mortgage technology builds; an automated underwriting system for Chase Bank (formerly WaMu), deployment and testing of Summit Systems, and numerous other SDLC projects. Sofia has a highly developed facility with languages, and is fluent in English, Spanish and other languages. As a business analyst and project manager for Cap Gemini Sogeti, Sofia received the ACE Award for outstanding work at Chase Bank.
Sofia sees the “invisible revolution” that the Millenials are waging in the virtual realm. She sees it because she’s a part of it. She’ll keep us all in line.
Sofia received the Andover-Harvard Prize for excellence in undergraduate work at Harvard University. She graduated from New York University, Summa Cum Laude in Media Studies, Gallatin School and attended Harvard University, with a concentration in Humanities, after graduating from Phillips Academy Andover, Cum Laude
Sofia’s passion for consumer advocacy rivals her technical skills, including fluency in various Operating Systems, Web, Content, and Audio tools. Listen to her song “Nickel and Dimed” and you’ll see what we mean.
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We Are Hiring
We’re hiring brilliant,energetic consumer advocates with mortgage expertise. If you would like information about opportunities with EBA, contact our
recruiting team.
James A. Toliver, CFA
Executive Director, Financial Strategies Group
A Division of Balance Sheet Solutions, LLC
Asset Liability Management Strategies
jim.toliver@balancesheetsolutions.org
As Executive Director, Advisory Services, Jim is responsible for the overall coordination of the Investment Advisory services and products. Jim has over 20 years of experience in investments, capital markets, and the financial services industry.
Prior to this position, Jim was Chief Risk Officer at Mid-States Corporate FCU. He started his professional career in the capital markets with Bear Stearns, adding practical market experience to his academic background. Jim then went to First Nationwide, entering their management trainee program. There Jim received training and served internships in each key function of banking. Jim took this formal training to credit unions becoming the CEO of NARDA Credit Union for nine years. He also served as Vice President/Controller for Motorola Employee's Credit Union, followed by serving Alliant Credit Union as the Director of Investments.
Jim received his Bachelor's Degree in Finance from Arizona State University. He is a CFA Charter Holder, and is a member of the Investment Analysts Society of Chicago, and the CFA Institute.
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Urum Urumoglu
Senior Director, Mortgage Services
Urum.urumoglu@balancesheetsolutions.org
As Senior Director, Mortgage Services, Urum Urumoglu provides consultation to credit unions in the areas of mortgage banking and secondary market operations. He also assists credit unions in generating additional fee income through finding profitable niches in their mortgage operations, and to expand their mortgage-related product lines and delivery strategies. In addition, Urum provides training and education to credit unions for mortgage hedging and interest risk management strategies, as well as mortgage servicing rights (MSR), applicable accounting issues, and mortgage originations.
Prior to this position at Balance Sheet Solutions, Urum was Director of Finance at the University of Wisconsin Credit Union. Prior to that, he was CFO and VP-Secondary Marketing at Home Savings Bank.
He holds his B.S. in Economics, Accounting and Finance from the University of Istanbul, and his M.B.A. in Finance, Investments and Banking from the University of Wisconsin. In addition, he has special training and education in the areas of Total Quality Management, investment portfolio management, and asset liability management.
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