Kansas to Industry Leader: Adam Nicholson’s Vision for Mortgage Tech

HousingWire

Adam Nicholson explores his disciplined early life in Kansas, his journey into the mortgage industry, and the challenges and rewards of his career. Discover how Adam’s passion for technology, client impact, and company culture shapes the future of Polly and the mortgage industry.

Transcript

00:00I'm passionate about my people.

00:01My people are passionate about the people

00:03that they're working with.

00:04We always want to create that culture

00:06of you're important to us and you matter as a client.

00:10That's a big driver for me.

00:12I grew up in the Midwest, small little town

00:23in North Central Kansas, actually, called Concordia.

00:28Very structured.

00:30I had a curfew.

00:31Schoolwork was very important in it.

00:33It just taught me a lot of discipline

00:35very early in my life and made me appreciate

00:39putting the effort into something

00:42and making sure that you really do finish it.

00:44I jumped over to go to college at Wichita State.

00:49I graduated with a degree in business,

00:53keeping my options pretty open from there.

00:55And then from college, really jumped over

00:59straight into working.

01:02I had the fantastic opportunity to work

01:06for a cruise line very early on.

01:09I kind of took that customer experience

01:11and just ran with it.

01:12I found that it was something that I was

01:15really, really passionate about,

01:16making people's goals achievable

01:20with whatever that may be.

01:25I've always had a passion for supporting people,

01:29whether that is on the tech side,

01:32on the customer side with the borrowers

01:34that are interacting with our loan officers

01:37or our end users that we're working with.

01:40So I think the thing that really drew it to me

01:42was that end user experience,

01:46that you're helping somebody.

01:48So that is something that really,

01:50I've always been passionate about in my career

01:52is being that person that facilitates

01:56whatever it may be to help that person.

01:59Before I got into the mortgage industry,

02:00I worked in subprime lending,

02:03really eye-opening because you are truly helping people

02:07that are in a unique situation.

02:10I think that really started to propel me into mortgage

02:15because that was my next move from subprime lending

02:17was moving over to the mortgage industry.

02:20It's just that continued opportunity to uplift

02:24and support those people who need it,

02:26who are looking for their first home,

02:30who are looking for whatever it may be,

02:33and you've done something to help facilitate that.

02:35Not directly, maybe it's indirectly,

02:38but you're still part of that process

02:40and it's still something that adds value to someone's life.

02:44I head our professional services team.

02:47Our professional services team

02:49handles all of our client onboarding.

02:52So that is scoping,

02:54ensuring that we connect with our clients,

02:58that we understand their ask

02:59and what they need from Poly,

03:01and that we are building out a plan for them

03:03that we can execute on in our implementation phase

03:07that will support them, get them a good start,

03:09and then help them move forward.

03:11that will support them, get them what they need,

03:13and give them a return on their investment

03:16that they're expecting by moving over to Poly.

03:18So our team does all of that.

03:20We implement the client,

03:21we help them configure their instance,

03:24we make sure they have a point of contact

03:27throughout the entire process.

03:28There's never just open a ticket

03:30and then wait for someone to respond.

03:32We help facilitate Go Live with our clients,

03:34which means we're rolling out their platform

03:36and supporting them during that rollout phase.

03:38We wanna make sure that they're trained,

03:39both them and their end users are able to execute

03:41and appreciate what's been put together for them

03:44by their capital markets and engineering teams.

03:48They put in a lot of work and a lot of effort

03:49into onboarding with Poly,

03:52and we wanna make sure that those end results

03:53are captured and available to those end users as well.

04:02Something that I'm really passionate about

04:04in my current role here

04:05and other roles where I've been in a manager

04:09or leadership position is the ability to help

04:13direct people on their career paths,

04:16to make sure that I'm listening to what my employees want

04:20and how I can help them grow in those areas.

04:23I don't ever want to push a path for anybody

04:27or force anyone down a path during their career growth.

04:31There are opportunities that may be presented to them,

04:34keeping an open door policy,

04:36giving them options, being supportive.

04:38I'm supporting them in a way that fosters growth

04:40that they want in their careers

04:43and that they're excited about.

04:48One thing that we really, really push for

04:51is the LO experience, the end user experience.

04:54That's something that we have really focused on.

04:57So not only are you getting a flexible, intuitive,

05:02easy to use pricing engine,

05:05you're also getting the impact of your end users.

05:08And they're the ones that have to use it.

05:09We're taking the feedback from our end users,

05:12the LOs, the capital markets team, the lock desk,

05:16and saying, what else do you guys want out of this platform?

05:19And we actually listen.

05:21And when we talk about onboarding clients

05:23and what some of the key outcomes

05:24we want from those interactions,

05:27one of our big things at Poly is that

05:30while Poly is always here for you,

05:32where you always have a person you can reach out to,

05:35we don't want you to have to reach out to us.

05:38We want you to know our platform.

05:40We want you to be self-sufficient.

05:43If you need to go in and make a change,

05:45we want you to be trained, knowledgeable on the platform,

05:49and a subject matter expert when you get out

05:51of your configuration and your onboarding.

05:54That's one of our top priorities.

05:55So as we are configuring with our clients,

05:59it's a joint effort.

06:00We want you to be hands-on in that onboarding

06:03and configuration and reach out to us as needed.

06:06We want you to be productive in your day.

06:08We want you to make quick changes.

06:10We want you to be in control of the platform

06:13and how it's managed.

06:14We always make that a huge part of our onboarding

06:17and implementation process is making sure

06:21you're comfortable in the Poly system.

06:23You know how to navigate it.

06:24You know how to go in there and make updates.

06:26You're a subject matter expert

06:28when you get out of your implementation experience.

06:31I just see endless possibilities for where Poly is headed.

06:34You know, with how we're bringing on clients,

06:36the feedback that we're getting,

06:39you know, the massive changes that we've made

06:41with implementations and how we're supporting our clients.

06:44I only see upward momentum for us as far as I can see.

06:49I really do truly enjoy the onboarding experience.

06:52It is the first touch you really get with a client

06:55to make an impact on the platform.

06:58I can't wait to see how we continue to grow

07:00and how we continue to build on the successes

07:04that we've already had, you know, in 2024.

07:062025 is going to be a great year.

07:28♪ Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey

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