Craig Focardi , is a research area director for TowerGroup's Consumer Lending, Retail Banking, and Delivery Channels research and advisory services. His specific focus area is mortgage and consumer lending, which covers a wide range of business, process, strategic,and technical topics relating to loan origination, loan servicing, securitization, and risk management. Craig has 22 years of experience in a variety of finance, product development, and business development roles for mortgage technology vendors, lenders, and risk management firms.

Prior to joining TowerGroup, Craig was a financial services consultant for clients that included Wells Fargo. Before that, Craig was vice president of marketing for Tuttle Decision Systems. He was also director of business development at database vendor Mortgage Information Corp. and vice president of marketing at Indy Mac. Craig spent nine years at PMI Mortgage Insurance Co.

Craig has written numerous feature articles for Mortgage Banking magazine, and is quoted regularly in American Banker, National Mortgage News, Inside Mortgage Technology, and Mortgage Technology magazine. He speaks regularly at leading mortgage industry conferences.

In 2003, Craig received the prestigious Certified Mortgage Banker (CMB) designation from the Mortgage Bankers Association.Craig holds an M.A. in applied economics from the University of San Francisco and graduated with high honors from the State University of New York at Oneonta with a B.S. in business economics. Craig also attended Schiller University in Heidelberg, where he studied international trade.

Bill Draving, is the owner and editor of MortgageMag.com,an Internet based Mortgage Portal.MortgageMag.com is also a multi-media resource for mortgage brokers. Bill interviews accomplished industry professionals in his weekly media webcast at www.mortgagemediamag.com. Bill is also a Certified Public Accountant with degrees in Engineering(MS), Finance (MBA),and Computer Systems(MCS).Prior to joining TowerGroup, Craig was a financial services consultant for clients that included Wells Fargo. Before that, Craig was vice president of marketing for Tuttle Decision Systems. He was also director of business development at database vendor Mortgage Information Corp. and vice president of marketing at Indy Mac. Craig spent nine years at PMI Mortgage Insurance Co.

Christoph Knoess, Our Previous VP Mortgage & Financial Solutions, has hands on experience in the mortgage industry and a decade long track record of improving businesses through technology and process optimization. Having managed the loan processing and underwriting operations of a major lender in the US, Christoph understands the lending process in detail and works with clients to make the right technology choices to rapidly take existing processes to new levels. Christoph is a thought leader in the lending industry and has developed, both as customer and service provider, loan systems that radically change the efficiency of lending operations.

Prior to joining Tavant Technologies, and prior to his time in loan underwriting and processing, Christoph worked in the private equity and management consulting sector teaming with Fortune 500 corporations in the development and implementation of business strategies and operational improvement. He was a Partner at Mercer Management Consulting, focusing on high tech industries. Christoph enjoys exploring the world and is an avid jazz enthusiast.