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In this month's editorial, Vice President of Education, John Golden, discusses CampusMBA's own experiences with implementing
lean in the workplace. Also on the subject of lean, Leslie Stein, Project Coordination Manager at MBA, gives us tips on how
to reduce waste and increase efficiency.
In addition, we highlight the June School of Mortgage Banking graduation and announce the Willis Bryant Award winner and runner-ups.
You will also find information on the new course deadline extension, the upcoming Corporate Diversity Leadership (CDL) Awards,
the upcoming Mortgage Fraud Awareness Workshop, and our special Summer Sale. This month's CMB Profile features Douglas Alford,
CMB.
Lastly, we extend our congratulations to June's certificate and designation graduates, and the Path to Diversity scholarship
recipients.
Creating a Lean Culture at CampusMBA
by John Golden, Vice President of Education, Mortgage Bankers Association
 In the June issue of The Industry Campus, I mentioned that CampusMBA has begun implementing "lean" in order to become even more customer-centric and to ensure that
our products and services evolve with the changing dynamics of the industry. In response to your interest in learning more
about lean, why we decided to implement it, and what difference it will make to all of you in the real estate finance industry,
I would like to take a moment to share our experiences.
The Lean Enterprise Institute defines lean as:
"A business system for organizing and managing product development, operations, suppliers, and customer relations. Business
and other organizations use lean principles, practices, and tools to create precise customer value — goods and services with
higher quality and fewer defects — with less human effort, less space, less capital, and less time than the traditional system
of mass production." (Learn more)
CampusMBA's decision to implement lean is simple. Some senior executives at MBA were shown demonstrations of lean in action
and saw what it could potentially do for us as a service organization. CampusMBA, being a sophisticated training and education
operation, immediately recognized that lean could increase our ability to get even higher quality, more targeted products
and services to market faster to meet the new and evolving needs of those in the real estate finance industry. Although CampusMBA
already prided itself on being very customer-driven with programs built and delivered by industry practitioners and experts,
we saw an opportunity to become even more laser-focused on the customer.
By using the customer's needs and perceptions of value as the barometer for everything we do, we have already been able to
streamline our processes and accelerate our time-to-market with high quality, new and innovative products and services.
We began mapping out all of our processes in their current state and then relentlessly cutting out all of the unnecessary
steps and reducing wait time for moving a product or service through that process. Next we ensured that all of our products
and services are optimized from a quality, currency, and relevancy standpoint and that they are available to you in a timely
manner. Over the coming months, you will see a "new and improved" CampusMBA as a result of this lean initiative. You will
also hear from us directly as we look to continually solicit your feedback and input.
If you happen to find yourself at MBA headquarters at any stage in the future, please make sure to visit CampusMBA and see
first-hand a lean working environment. By eliminating everything that does not directly contribute to our every day operations
and making sure we utilize the latest in electronic document storage solutions and other solutions such as online faxes, we
have been able to create an environment that is extremely focused on serving your needs.
Waste Not, Work Better — Reducing Office Waste to Increase Efficiency
by Leslie Stein, Project Coordination Manager, Mortgage Bankers Association
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Did you know that 49% of managers surveyed said they are often unable to handle the volumes of information they receive? 38%
of managers say they have trouble locating information they do receive. Another 47% say collecting information distracts them
from their main job responsibilities. In today’s fast paced world, are we so information overloaded that we’re becoming LESS
efficient?
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Every piece of paper or e-mail in an inbox represents work, and sorting through hundreds of e-mails to find the one you really
need is work itself! Most employees don’t think of e-mails in their inboxes as waste, but they are. The typical belief is,
"I’ll get to it eventually, isn’t that what matters?" The answer is no. Each e-mail should be acted upon, filed as a reference,
or deleted to prevent inbox clutter. Consider these statistics from the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO):
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U.S. employees waste more than two hours per week finding, sharing, and storing documents (both paper & electronic).
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Data storage grows 80% annually (most data will not be referenced again).
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66% of business managers surveyed reported tension with colleagues, loss of job satisfaction, and strained personnel relationships
as a result of information overload. (How many cc'd e-mails are you sending or receiving?)
The good news is by learning to look for and eliminate office waste, you can begin to make your office more efficient. Identifying
waste and recognizing ways to improve it are the first steps in adopting a lean philosophy of continuous improvement. Below
are the 7 Wastes and examples of each so you can begin looking at your office environment and thinking of ways to improve.
1. Overproduction: Making more of something than you really need (producing five extra copies of a presentation "just in case" extra people
come to a meeting).
2. Defects: Work not done correctly the first time is waste because someone ends up doing it again to fix the mistakes! Consider how
often this happens and what measures can be put in place to catch or fix mistakes. (For example, if forms come in missing
key information can they be made electronic so submitters can’t move on without including that key information?)
3. Waiting: Anytime a workflow has to stop because someone else has to work on the same process or project (i.e., consider an expense
report having to wait for signatures or an e-mail that requires an answer before work can continue).
4. Inventory: Stock up of anything is waste (i.e., consider excess e-mails in your inbox which are actually work waiting to be done or
marketing materials that are printed in bulk but become outdated before they are used).
5. Overprocessing: Putting more work and effort into a document than are necessary (i.e., looking at a proof four times rather than making all
the changes at once).
6. Motion: An employee having to physically move to perform a task (i.e. traveling back and forth to the printer or fax machine or a
marketing rep who works with a department on a different floor rather than just sitting with the department he/she works with).
7. Transportation: Moving materials to a different location instead of storing them where they are used. (For example, if all shipping is done
from the mail room, why store packing materials such as tape or scissors at your desk only to have to carry them to the mail
room every time you use them?)
Start looking for wasteful practices in your office and determining ways to eliminate them. With a little effort, your office
will run more smoothly, produce work with fewer errors, and have happier, more productive employees.
To learn more about the 7 Wastes or other Lean Office concepts and how you can implement them at your organization, contact Leslie Stein at lstein@mortgagebankers.org or (202) 557-2712.
School of Mortgage Banking June 2007 Graduation
This past June 15th, 33 students completed CampusMBA's School of Mortgage Banking (SOMB), Course III, thus earning the Accredited Mortgage Professional (AMP) Specialist Designation.
SOMB consists of three (Course I, II, and III) five-day, classroom-based courses and has been the cornerstone of education
in the mortgage banking industry since 1948. Upon completion of the program, students have learned all the facets of mortgage
lending - from fundamental concepts to strategic planning. Plus, as AMPs, they are recognized as highly trained real estate
finance professionals.
Congratulations to the School of Mortgage Banking June 2007 class.
Willis Bryant Award
The highlight of every SOMB graduation is the announcement of the Willis Bryant Award winner. The award recognizes outstanding academic achievement in all three courses of SOMB and is awarded to the top student
graduate. To qualify, a student must achieve a grade of "excellent" on all SOMB exams and demonstrate exceptional leadership
qualities in both the classroom and when interacting with other students.
 The June 2007 Willis Bryant Award winner is Tom Kenny, AMP, Consumer Real Estate Sales Manager of Bank of America's Retail Sales Channel in Atlanta, Georgia. Kenny has been with Bank
of America in the Atlanta market since October 2005, and previously worked as a retail mortgage originator for the bank in
Pinellas County, Florida. Prior to his current role, Kenny held the position of Regional Sales Manager for CitiMortgage's
Correspondent Sales Channel in the Pacific Northwest.
Kenny has been involved in the mortgage industry for nine years and in banking for 14 years. He graduated from Eckerd College
in St. Petersburg, Florida with a BA in Business Management.
The award runner-ups are:
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David R. Powell, AMP, Operations Manager for Charlie Mac, LLC. Powell oversees day-to-day operations for the credit union mortgage investor, including
assisting credit unions with loan sales, working with internal and external parties to complete purchases and securitizations,
monitoring vendor relationships and managing product development and enhancement projects.
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Thomas Connally, AMP, Senior Vice President of Washington Mutual. Connally is a regional sales manager covering the Eastern and Central U.S. in
the Mortgage Banker Finance division of Washington Mutual. He is a member of WaMu Home Loans President’s Quorum. Connally
earned his CPA while employed at Arthur Andersen and is a candidate for the CMB.
20% of Foreclosures Fraud Related
Did you know industry experts believe that a minimum of 20% of foreclosures are fraud related? At a minimum, 10% of foreclosures
losses can be prevented. Furthermore, in at least 50% of fraud related cases, the red flags go undetected. Crimes reflect
the opportunities people have to commit them and 90% of mortgage frauds involve someone within the mortgage banking industry.
CampusMBA has combined our two most popular mortgage fraud courses, Detecting and Avoiding Mortgage Fraud and The Next Step
in Combating Mortgage Fraud into a new, in-depth, intensive, hands-on workshop entitled the Mortgage Fraud Awareness Workshop. Led by an all-star faculty, including Jackie Dreyer of The Prieston Group, Ryan Thomas from American Mortgage Law Group,
and Connie Wilson from Interthinx, this is the most current, comprehensive course available designed to walk you through the
key elements of detecting, preventing, and litigating fraud.
The next Mortgage Fraud Awareness Workshop will take place on July 17-19 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Register by July 3 to take advantage of the 10% HOTPICK discount.
CampusMBA's Summer Sale
From July 1 to September 30, CampusMBA is running a Summer Sale on print-based courses and selected publications. Don't miss this opportunity to save big on courses and books.
Print-Based Courses
All CampusMBA print-based courses are 25% off. The Summer Sale price is $142.50 for Members and $217.50 for Nonmembers. Search for print-based courses.
Publications
The following publications are 10% off:
Douglas Alford, CMB
a CMB Profile
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Douglas Alford, CMB
First Vice President
TierOne Bank
Lincoln, NE
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Douglas Alford, CMB, has been in the real estate finance business since 1955. During that time he has served as a commercial
real estate lending officer for insurance companies and banks. In 1980, Mr. Alford formed a mortgage banking company as a
wholly owned subsidiary of a bank. In his current employment, Mr. Alford encompasses secondary market function for TierOne
Bank and development of a wholesale mortgage banking business.
When did you earn the CMB designation?
I was presented the designation on October 25, 1976. The program was not very old at that time but I could see that the designation
was a goal worthy of attaining. Fulfilling the requirements was a challenge which led to more education and better qualification
for my chosen field.
How has the CMB designation impacted your career?
The CMB designation has given me stature in the industry and brought more rapid advancement in my career.
What advice do you have for those interested in obtaining the CMB designation?
Start early in your career to meet the necessary requirements and set a goal for attaining the designation. Persist in meeting
the goal even though other activities get in the way of making steady progress.
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