New American Funding names new co-CEO and president 

California lender New American Funding has promoted Patty Arvielo to CEO, becoming co-CEOs with her husband Rick. Christy Bunce will succeed Arvielo as president.

“Patty Arvielo had served as president of the company before being elevated to the co-CEO position but in effect has always conducted herself as co-CEO for NAF because of her and Rick’s amazing partnership in building and running NAF from a high level,” the company said in an e-mailed response when asked how her role would change with the new position. 

Patty Arvielo founded NAF with Rick in 2003, who has been serving as CEO for more than 20 years.

She created NAF’s Latino Focus and New American Dream initiatives, which is designed to boost homeownership and mortgage industry career awareness among Hispanic and Black communities. 

The company invests in mortgage professionals equipped to work with Hispanic borrowers, including a focused effort on hiring bilingual employees, according to its website.

Bunce will continue to manage the company’s day-to-day operations while helping New American Funding expand into new lines of business and grow its suite of offerings, the lender said Tuesday.

Since joining NAF as operations manager in 2008, “Bunce’s experience and expertise in loan processing, underwriting, and funding served as a guide for the company’s growth from its beginnings [as] a California-based call center to a nationwide lender with a massive retail footprint,” the company said in a statement.

After being promoted to chief operating officer in 2012, Bunce oversaw the creation and expansion of the company’s mortgage servicing division.

The company has 170 nationwide locations and more than 3,500 employees, according to NAF. The lender offers a variety of conventional, government, adjustable-rate and non-qualified mortgages with licenses in 50 states and Washington, D.C. 

After two years of rapid expansion, the slowdown in the mortgage market led the lender to lay off 941 employees in 2022 to right size the company, the lender said in November. 

The California lender hired about 2,800 employees in 2020 and more than 1,300 the following year, according to a company release from August 2021.

Inside Mortgage Finance pegged New American Funding as the 32nd largest lender in the country, originating $14.6 billion in 2022, down 50% from the previous year’s $29.3 billion.