Mark V. Asdourian
President
Mark is a member of the bars of the State of California and New York. He recently returned to private practice after concluding his secondment as Chairman of the Board, CEO and General Counsel of a consumer finance subsidiary of GE Capital.
Mark was first retained by GE Capital in 2013 as the subsidiary’s chief legal officer responsible for the management of significant financial exposure associated with the origination and securitization of nonprime and Alt-A residential mortgage loans that experienced massive defaults during the Great Recession. In 2016, Mark was recruited to join GE Capital and assume the additional roles of Chairman and CEO of its residential mortgage subsidiary. In addition to overseeing teams of attorneys and managing the defense of multibillion-dollar RMBS litigation as well as compliance issues associated with discontinued mortgage loan origination operations, Mark was responsible for responding to a FIRREA investigation conducted by the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. As part of the subsidiary’s final wind down, Mark also successfully negotiated the settlement of $450M in claims asserted by five large financial institutions for $34M.
Prior to his employment with GE Capital, Mark operated a successful law firm which he founded in 1994. Over the course of his legal career, Mark established a reputation as a tough litigator who can deftly handle actions involving headline risk and secure just results. For example, Mark was co-trial counsel in obtaining a verdict in favor of Weyerhaeuser Mortgage Company against California Federal Bank and two former executives, each of whom was found liable for fraud and civil RICO. After a four-week trial, the jury awarded Weyerhaeuser over $6.5M in compensatory damages and $25M in punitive damages against all defendants.
Mark also represented WMC Mortgage as sole trial counsel in an action filed against a former executive officer and a competing lender who conspired to tortiously interfere with the sale of WMC’s subprime mortgage lending business to Wells Fargo Bank. After a nearly three-week trial, the court ruled that the defendants had intentionally interfered with WMC’s transaction, engaged in unfair competition and awarded damages in excess of $3M. Mark’s 25 plus years of business litigation experience and representation of business owners has sharpened his skills as an effective negotiator, both in resolving disputes and striking deals. He has negotiated and documented numerous businesses transactions on behalf of a broad range of clients from start-up entrepreneurs to established enterprises in the financial services industry.
Mark was born and raised in New York City. He immigrated to California in 1987 and moved to Orange County in 1991, where he and his wife, Charlene, raised two sons. Mark is an avid runner and, time permitting, enjoys traveling. Mark is a former member of the Board of Governors of The Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, currently serves as Chairman of the Trust Fund for St. Mary Armenian Apostolic Church of Costa Mesa, and is a firm believer in philanthropy.
Jamie L. Ackerman
Vice President – Legal & Compliance
Jamie is highly skilled in financial services, real estate litigation and transactional matters. Jamie has represented mortgage professionals, lenders, servicers, and interfaced with hundreds of borrowers over the course of a decade and has successfully resolved thousands of real estate and mortgage lending issues. Jamie is an expert in servicing issues, including resolution of lien release/title defect claims.
Jamie graduated cum laude from Chapman University School of Law and became a member of the California State Bar in 2008. She served as a contracts academic fellow and legal writing teaching assistant to the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and earned CALI Excellence Awards in Contracts, Corporations, Law & Economics, Corporate Governance, and Negotiations.
While in law school, Jamie also worked as a corporate paralegal with Mark V. Asdourian who served as general counsel & corporate secretary for Universal Guardian Holdings, Inc., a small cap, publicly traded company.
Before attending law school, Jamie graduated with honors from the University of California at Davis in 2005, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. While studying at Davis, Jamie interned in Washington, D.C. for United States Senator Dianne Feinstein as well as Steven Cash, Esq., General Counsel to Sen. Feinstein. Additionally, Jamie was a member of both the Golden Key International Honor Society and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars.
Jamie has advocated for her clients and prevailed in hundreds of cases before the Superior Courts of California, and the United States District Courts in California, Florida, Missouri, and Michigan. Jamie has argued and prevailed in Appellate cases before the California Courts of Appeal and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In each instance, Jamie secured excellent, expeditious results on behalf of her clients at an affordable price. Jamie also leverages her expertise and contacts in the financial services industry to resolve and/or settle thousands of lien release/title defect claims asserted against her clients, saving her clients tens of thousands of dollars in fees and valuable time and helping consumers clear title to their homes.
Jamie is passionate about her work in the financial services and real estate sectors, unwinding and resolving complicated title and servicing issues so that business and life can proceed. Jamie lives in Huntington Beach with her husband and three young daughters. In her free time, Jamie enjoys surfing, yoga, taking her daughters to the beach, and watching their soccer games and ballet recitals.
Robert Rothleder
Vice President – Operations
Robert has held multiple leadership roles in the mortgage industry since the mid 1980’s and most recently served as senior vice president of WMC Mortgage, LLC. Engaged in key aspects of mortgage lending, Robert has led initiatives promoting quality, cost management, and web-based lending, with a commitment to driving a valued experience for borrowers navigating the complexities of home financing.
He has learned the business from the front line beginning with Weyerhaeuser Mortgage Company, a top lender for builder clients, where he and his team catered to the unique needs of the builder community fulfilling both agency and non-agency loan products. Robert’s experience includes loan origination processes and systems, high impact operational reporting, exceptional customer care, call center management, efficient outsourcing, underwriting support systems, process improvement, post close and secondary market resolutions, servicing oversight, loan modification support, and complex title chain resolutions.
His commitment to quality has been instrumental in the development of system enhancements which contributed to millions saved through a lower cost to produce and fewer defect related expenditures, while delivering a highly rated customer experience. Robert managed the efforts to analyze over 500,000 originations and to produce reporting which was critical to defending WMC in multiple RMBS cases and litigation inquiries.
Robert has effectively leveraged knowledge gained from firsthand exposure to many business cycles during his career, including the Financial Crisis of 2008, in order to serve the consumer and contribute to the mortgage industry. With his breath of knowledge and extensive experience, Robert can effectively analyze loans and customer complaints, deliver fair and equitable solutions to customers and drive processes and system changes to reduce future defects and mitigate risk.