Kirk Donaldson
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Kirk Donaldson is a SAAS-based financial technologies professional with over 20 years of experience in corporate structure, client acquisition development, financial services, and business management.
Prior to Halcyon, Kirk served as President, Founder, and board member for LoanBeam, a leader in income software solutions for the lending and mortgage industry. He grew that company's revenue 85 times in four years. Previously, he was CEO Americas and Senior Advisor of Global Marketing for RMJM, one of the world's leading architectural and design firms.
In addition to his responsibilities at RMJM, Mr. Donaldson also served as CEO of the RMJM subsidiary, YRM, a leading nuclear technology and energy design firm based in London. In that role, he focused on emerging markets, leveraging expertise in political relationship management and capital introductions in the United States, Middle East, and Africa, while working closely with a cooperative of US government entities.
Before these positions, Mr. Donaldson worked at Morgan Stanley in New York City, focusing on the international investor business within the investments group. Prior to that, he was Senior Vice President and head of the Global Wealth Management Group at Merrill Lynch, overseeing several billion dollars in private and institutional assets. Complementing his domestic and international investment and project experience, Mr. Donaldson served on the Board of Directors of Sonoro Energy and held the position of President of the Bond Club of New York - the oldest financial association in America. He was also a board member and former Treasurer of The National Galleries and Library of Scotland and a Founding Member of the British Relief Fund and the Fourth Creek Conservancy.
Hardik Bhatt
Chief Development Officer
Hardik Bhatt has over 18 years of experience in designing, leading, and managing products for U.S. taxation and mortgage companies using web technologies. A natural at project management, his skill set includes requirement analysis, risk management, estimation, progress monitoring, and ensuring seamless project delivery. Hardik has managed key customer projects from conceptualization to roll-out with emphasis on end user support. During his career, he has also worked in management consulting with a focus on business development and business analysis.
Hardik began his career with an accounting firm, gaining knowledge in the taxation industry. He then moved to SurePrep LLC as project manager, which is a leading provider of tax preparation solutions to U.S public accounting firms. At SurePrep, Hardik successfully managed SurePrep Express and 1040 SCAN products, and worked on key client projects which involved multiple integration touchpoints. This experience gave him a holistic view of the US tax technology industry and gave him the opportunity to work with leading tax software like Wolters Kluwer’s CCH Axcess and Thomson Reuter’s UltraTax.
Hardik played an instrumental role in the success of LoanBeam and for more than 5 years managed and handled their core mortgage product. At LoanBeam his focus was on scaling the business by improving the product capability and process efficiency. He helped them to grow from producing 300 loans a month to 3000 loans per day. One of his key focus areas was product security and ensuring zero vulnerabilities.
As a project manager, Hardik excels in managing cross-functional teams focusing on bringing technical innovation in the US mortgage and taxation industry.
Hardik completed his degree from Mumbai University with a specialization in Computers and Taxations.
Bridget Trevino
Managing Director of Sales
Bridget Trevino stands out as a seasoned leader with more than 15 years of dedicated experience in successfully building, selling and implementing tech in the residential real estate industry. She's carved a niche for herself, celebrated for an entrepreneurial spirit that shines through her smart tactics and deep-seated knowledge. Her expertise isn't limited to building and nurturing a robust sales infrastructure; it extends into SaaS and technology sales where she has left indelible marks most recently with a pre-revenue start up, Rapidio and with Candor Technology, Inc.
Her approach is strategic, yet deeply intuitive, enabling her to consistently drive revenue growth and market expansion for her organizations. Bridget is celebrated for her ability to navigate complex Enterprise sales processes, leveraging her exceptional leadership skills and deep industry knowledge to build strategic relationships to deliver results.
Most recently, Bridget was awarded the 2023 Thought Leader Award presented by the Progress in Lending Association. Recognized for her innovative mindset paired with unwavering dedication to excellence-a combination that has etched her reputation as a pioneering force in the industry.
Elizabeth Boonin
President and Chief Operations Officer
As Chief Operating Officer at Halcyon, Elizabeth is focused on expanding security protocols in the tax accounting industry and providing opportunities for accountants to focus their valuable time and effort on services they are historically accustomed to providing.
She is a Certified Public Accountant and the President and Founder of Sound Accounting, a full-service accounting and business consulting firm in Smithtown, New York. While assessing the environment of the first practice she acquired, Elizabeth discovered the urgent need to help mitigate risk for aging professionals. This helped her shape the services of Sound Accounting to include providing a turn-key, secure infrastructure to safeguard client information for sole-practitioners on Long Island.
Since 2014, she has integrated several practices, while providing services to thousands of clients across more than 40 states. Prior to her founding Sound Accounting, Elizabeth worked in the financial services industry in New York City, specializing in valuing derivatives and other complex financial instruments.
She started her career as a tax reporting specialist, becoming a subject matter expert and project leader. She also spent several years as a financial analyst for the global equity financing divisions of both Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers.
Elizabeth is accredited by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) in business valuations (ABV), holds her Series 7 and Series 66, and maintains her broker’s license in the state of New York.
Jim McGowan
Chief Technology Officer
Jim McGowan has over 25 years bringing highly innovative and disruptive technologies to the market at scale.
Jim has a broad range of experiences in the start-up community since 2013, where he has served in various firms as Chief Technology Officer, SVP of Cloud & Strategic Partnerships, VP of Innovation, Head of Product, and has headed global teams in technology, AI/ML, product, partnerships and marketing. His efforts recently led to a “Rising Star” status at AWS, where he was in the freshman class of their Practical AI competency, and his efforts received an award from Microsoft Azure. He grew the industry’s largest big-data program in the $12B secondary event ticketing industry.
Jim started his career at Bell Labs making seminal contributions to voice-over-IP (VoIP) and mobile networks. He successfully led an industry effort to make his patented voice algorithm a required component in all smart phones. After building a successful outward-facing consulting program, he was tapped to be the technology lead of Bell Labs’ largest modern day project, a cloud-based video conferencing system.
Jim has over 50 patents granted or pending, provided key testimony in a landmark software licensing case, and lobbied on behalf of the ticketing industry. He is a sought-after advisor who has provided management, operations and technology consulting to companies of all sizes.
Jim has a doctorate from Rutgers University, where he studied the neural computations involved in human visual perception, and later served as an Adjunct Professor for over 6 years.
Ahad Zakir
Chief Product Officer
Ahad Zakir is an experienced digital leader with strong commercial acumen and a customer-first approach. As a Product Management leader, he has a strong focus on empowering and enabling teams to deliver impactful experiences.
With a career spanning over 15 years, Ahad Zakir has successfully delivered customer-centric solutions by taking products from concept to launch. He is skilled in design thinking, consumer research, data analytics, and agile delivery. As an executive, he served different multinational companies across Europe, Asia, United States, and West Africa.
Ahad Zakir started his Product Management career at Telenor Bank where he was a founding team member at a startup focused on launching the first digital mobile bank in South Asia. Over the next 6 years, he held different roles from product operations, analytics to strategy and in the process helped build a team of strong product managers. Currently, Telenor Bank has 9 million active monthly users. Ahad Zakir also served as Director Product Strategy at eServGlobal with a focus on emerging markets. He helped position the company’s mobile financial services product in West Africa by incorporating specific use cases in the product through strong collaboration with the product development team. Afterward, he joined a consumer payment startup as Head of Product and helped to revamp the complete user interface of their mobile application to solve the problem of low conversions by focusing on customer experience.
Ahad Zakir is passionate about delivering culture change in organizations using Design Thinking and Agile methodologies with a high focus on innovation and digitalization. He believes that the key to creating great products is growing great product leaders and actively contributes to the product community, and at an NGO by helping and guiding product managers towards success.
Ahad Zakir holds a Master’s degree in Computation from the University of Manchester.
Samir Agarwal
Samir joins us with over 20 years of executive leadership in transforming business operation models to support revenue and margin growth, vendor oversight and management, sales platforms and mobile technology. Throughout his career, he has led all elements of product innovation, go-to-market strategy, integrating voice-of-customer, and identifying new sales opportunities. Samir lives in Tampa, FL with his wife Sejal and his two sons Zayn and Nyal.
Jason Cave, CFA
Piedmont Risk Advisors, LLC
Jason Cave has over 30 years of financial regulatory experience, starting as a commissioned bank examiner and holding several high-profile leadership positions at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) and Federal Housing Finance Agency (“FHFA”), promoting stability across banking, mortgage finance, and technology. Mr. Cave advised four Presidential-appointed leaders: FDIC Chairs Bair and Gruenberg and FHFA Directors Calabria and Thompson. Mr. Cave was an active member of international standards authorities, serving as the FDIC’s lead representative on the Basel Committee for Banking Supervision for over 10 years.
Mr. Cave was appointed the Agency’s first Chief Fintech Office, launching the FHFA Fintech Office, cultivating a network of over 100 market participants to employ artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to reduce costs and inefficiencies in the mortgage underwriting process and to remedy risk management and control weaknesses in the mortgage review/loan buyback framework. Working with the government-sponsored entities (GSEs) to develop proofs of concept to support new tech initiatives such as distributed ledger technology (DLT), to modernize their back office servicing and reduce the lead time for reporting information to investors and regulators.
Mr. Cave created the FHFA’s inaugural Tech Sprint bringing 80 participants across the mortgage landscape together to modernize the mortgage process through open banking, direct source data, DLT, AI/ML, and related risk management tools.
During his tenure at FDIC, Mr. Cave managed the FDIC’s Global Financial Crisis response program, working closely with the U.S Treasury and the Federal Reserve to stave off a funding crisis in the credit markets, Mr. Cave helped create the FDIC Debt Guaranty Program, providing $345 billion in emergency funding to over 120 firms at a net profit of $10 billion and testified on Capitol Hill on our success in winding down the program.
Mr. Cave was a key architect in the developing the FDIC’s post-crisis systemic risk and resolution framework, building the FDIC’s expertise in large bank risk management and readiness and was a key contributor to various government reviews of the cause of the Global Financial Crisis, testifying on behalf of the FDIC in front of the Congressional Oversight Panel.
Mr. Cave was called upon to address various stress events, serving as the FDIC Point on the JP Morgan London Whale scandal, working with executives, Fed and OCC to unwind the mismatched positions with minimal risk to the system.
Mr. Cave advised FDIC Chairman Bair on the resolution of WaMu, the Wachovia assisted transaction, the Citi and BofA asset guarantees, and the Citi recaps along with several high profile and troubled bank mergers, affiliate transactions, industry and firm recapitalization plans, loss share and structured assets sale programs, Board and executive search engagements.
Mr. Cave advises various companies looking to enhance their strategic and regulatory engagements in the banking, mortgage and tech industries.
Roy George
President & CEO
Roy George is the President and CEO of Miami-based MOR Companies, a C-Level mortgage fintech executive with a unique blend of compliance and operations expertise built on over 25 years of experience in the banking and mortgage industry. Often called an industry disruptor, he proudly embraces this moniker as he continues to revolutionize the mortgage space.
He serves on the board of directors for Preapprovedletter.com and Casamia. After experiencing rapid career growth, beginning with Citi Residential Mortgage/Citigroup, he rose to become Chief Compliance Officer of Better Mortgage. He strategically accepted a new role in 2016 with Taylor Morrison Home Funding, one of the top homebuilders in the U.S., where he led all compliance functions and teams.
Recognized for overhauling the leadership paradigm, Roy served on the Advisory Board of Stetson University’s Disruptive Leadership Certificate program. In addition, he was profiled as a thought leader possessing a unique blend of operations and compliance experience in James Deitch’s book, “Disruptive Fintech: The Coming Wave of Innovation in Financial Services with Thought Leadership Provided by CEOs.” Outside of work related service Roy currently serves on the Executive Board to a non-profit organization, Disability Guerillas.
Always seeking professional development, he is pursuing his JD/MBA. He is a Certified Mortgage Banker (CMB) and an active member of Mortgage Bankers of America (MBA) and the National Association of Minority Mortgage Bankers of America (NAMMBA), where he helped to launch the South Florida chapter as its first President.
David B. Lowman
Industry Consultant,
Ex-CEO, Chase Home Lending
Dave has been in the mortgage and consumer finance business for over 30 years, serving at some of the nation's largest mortgage operations. As former head of Freddie Mac Single-Family, he had broad responsibility for the line of business, including managing the company's relationships with its Seller/Servicers, the performance of Freddie Mac's guarantee book of business, securitization of new business, and all sourcing, servicing, and business operations.
Prior to that, he was the CEO of Chase Home Lending from 2006 to 2011, overseeing $150 billion in annual production and a $1.2 trillion servicing portfolio when Chase was the country's third largest mortgage originator and servicer. Before Chase, he spent a decade in senior leadership roles at many of the lending businesses of Citigroup, including head of Citi Mortgage and Citicorp Trust Bank, FSB. Before joining And before joining Citigroup, Mr. Lowman spent eleven years at The Prudential Home Mortgage Company in ascending senior leadership roles.
Dave began his career in the Washington D.C. office of KPMG, where his clients included banks and mortgage bankers.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management and Accounting from the University of Maryland's College of Business and Management.
Kevin Peranio
Along with a pulse on the mortgage marketplace, PRMG Chief Lending Officer and partner, Kevin Peranio continues to exemplify what it truly means to be an active executive leader in the mortgage industry. Kevin is responsible for overseeing all production, including working with the sales and operations teams within the loan manufacturing process. His primary goal is to enhance the overall customer experience when doing business with PRMG. This includes creating robust reporting features along with consumer facing activities and modern lending technology to ensure accountability at all layers and levels of the process. In his own words, “the inside drives the outside”.
Since joining PRMG in 2010, Kevin led the Southeast Region to become the #1 Ranked Region for PRMG, reaching this milestone in record time. This achievement ultimately propelled Kevin to becoming one of the youngest partners at PRMG. Kevin is also a Four-Time President’s Cabinet Member and was recognized by NMP as a Top 40 Under 40. He is a national speaker within the mortgage industry, and has been interviewed on several podcasts, including speaking at HousingWire’s engage.marketing Summit, AIME Fuse, ICE Technology, and other industry events.
Most recently, Kevin has become known on LinkedIn for his insightful ‘Walk and Talk’ video posts, and for his Instagram 'KP Talks Dollars and Sense’ Podcast where he shares his perspective and knowledge on a wide range of subjects.
Kevin received his Bachelor of Science in Advertising Business from the University of Texas at Austin.
Thomas Sanzone
Former CEO and Vice Chairman, Black Knight Financial Services
Thomas has more than 30 years of experience in the financial services industry, having served as Chief Information Officer and Chief Administrative Officer at some of the world's largest global financial institutions.
Most recently, he had the roles of CEO and Vice Chairman of Black Knight Financial Services, a technology, data and analytics company, where he was responsible for the overall management of its technology, data and analytics offerings. And led their very successful IPO in 2015.
Prior to joining Black Knight Financial Services, Thomas was Executive Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton, where he led the firm's commercial financial services business. He also served as Chief Administrative Officer at Merrill Lynch, reporting to the CEO as part of the seven-person management committee running the firm. While at Merrill Lynch, he was responsible for global technology, operations and corporate services, representing a team of over 20,000 people. He helped steer the company through the financial crisis, which eventually led to the landmark merger with Bank of America – which he helped lead while partnering with the future CEO of Bank of America.
Before Merrill Lynch, he served as Chief Information Officer and a member of the executive board at Credit Suisse. While there, he also led the corporate sourcing program and ran all offshore locations, which contained functions from every area of the bank. Before joining Credit Suisse, he worked at Citigroup, serving as a Chief Information Officer. He also worked at Salomon Brothers, where he started as a programmer analyst and rose through the ranks to become Managing Director and head of global application development.
During his distinguished career, Thomas has designed and run multiple programs that have achieved over $1 billion in bottom line savings while also improving performance. In addition, he has successfully led many large-scale IT transformation programs.
He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Hofstra University.
Daniel Sogorka
President & CEO, Sagent Lending Technologies
Daniel Sogorka, Current President & CEO of Sagent Lending Technologies and former CEO of Cloudvirga, has more than twenty years of experience leveraging technology to alleviate inefficiencies and lower costs in the mortgage space.
His strong track record as a senior executive at mortgage and real estate technology firms has bolstered his expertise in executive management, consultative sales, and product development. His mission is to transform the mortgage experience for consumers and originators with a world-class borrower experience and automated lender workflow.
Dan has received multiple industry awards, including the Mortgage Bankers Association’s “Tech All-Star” award and October Research’s “Innovator of the Year” award, as well as numerous patents for his innovations in the mortgage technology space.
Prior to Cloudvirga, Daniel served at Fidelity National Financial as President of EXOS Technologies and EVP of Sales and Strategy. Earlier in his career, he was President of the RealEC Technologies Business Unit and an integral executive member of the Black Knight Financial Services team that took the company public in May 2015.
Daniel holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Villanova University, where he was a Presidential Scholar.
Nikolaos Athanasiou
COO, Guaranteed Rate
As Chief Operating Officer of Guaranteed Rate, Nikolaus provides the vision and strategic leadership to spearhead the company’s national growth.
His extensive experience and knowledge have brought improved efficiencies and optimized performance to the company’s national sales, operations and underwriting departments. His accomplishments are unmatched in the industry, having been named to Crain’s Chicago Business prestigious “40 Under 40” list in 2017, based on his strategic leadership and Guaranteed Rate’s rapid growth during his tenure.
He first joined Guaranteed Rate’s New England branch office in 2009, serving in several leadership roles and playing a key role in the company’s continued success. In 2011, he relocated to Chicago where he led the growth of the direct division to nearly $2 billion nationally by 2013. His contributions helped to quadruple Guaranteed Rate’s revenue over a five-year span from 2011 to 2016.
Uday Devalla
Executive Vice President & CTO, Sagent Lending Technologies
Uday Devalla is an accomplished technology leader with extensive experience in the mortgage industry. He is currently the Executive Vice President & CTO at Sagent Lending Technologies, where he is leading Consumer First Modernization of the Mortgage Servicing industry.
Prior to Sagent, Uday was consulting in technology and business transformation services for financial services companies, the country’s leading lenders and GSEs. He worked with CXOs on creating roadmaps for Digital Transformation, Business Transformation & Reengineering, Enterprise Application Implementations, Process Optimization, and Cost Reduction Projects. He also supported CEO-, COO-, and CIO-level executives in Strategic Planning Exercises.
He was previously the CIO of Stearns Lending, where he was instrumental in Stearns becoming one of the top lenders in the country by leading a technology transformation and digitization initiative. Prior to Stearns he served as EVP & Technology Executive at Bank of America, leading the entire Origination Technology Platform for the Home Loans division.
In addition to serving on the board of Halcyon, Uday is a consultant and advisor for a number of fintechs and startups in the mortgage technology space.
Uday’s holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics and a OG Diploma in Information Systems Management.
Jon Hicks
Jon Hicks has been a leader in the financial services industry for 30 years. He most recently served as EVP and Division Head of Consumer Real Estate at Bank of the West. He had responsibility for all aspects of Mortgage and Home Equity lending. He was a member of the Consumer Bank leadership team and Bank of the West senior executive leadership committee. Prior to retiring in 2023 he helped ensure the successful acquisition and integration of BOW to Bank of Montreal.
At an industry level, Jon has served on the Housing Policy Executive Council for the past eight years, a D.C. based trade organization of industry leaders dedicated to addressing critical issues in housing finance.
Prior to joining Bank of the West, Jon served at Nationstar (Mr. Cooper) as EVP and head of Originations Fulfillment and Operations leading a full-scale transformation in the company’s lending strategy, structure, and capabilities.
Jon’s broader experience includes leading strategy, product development, marketing, pricing, production, servicing, technology, compliance, risk and innovation at some of the nations largest institutions including Citi, Bank of America, and Norwest (Wells Fargo).
Jon graduated from the University of Alabama with a B.S. in Business Administration, Finance and Corporate Management.
Thomas Miglis
Thomas Miglis is a member of the Investment Committee of NYCA Partners and is a member of the Board of Directors of Andium and Intrinio and a Board Observer of OpenFin. He was previously the Chief Information Officer and member of the Portfolio Committee of Citadel for 14 years before retiring. He started two software and consulting firms prior to joining Citadel and was an Executive Managing Director, Partner and the head of Global Systems for Bankers Trust Company. He spent 16 years at Salomon Brothers in a variety of roles including financial, mortgage trading and served as Chief Information Officer leading their widely recognized global technology organization. Prior to Salomon, he was a CPA on the audit staff of Coopers & Lybrand. He graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Baruch College.
Parvesh Sahi
SVP Business Development, Ellie Mae
Parvesh is the Senior Vice President of Business Development at Ellie Mae, where he is responsible for the corporate strategy development of partner, investor, and government relations. At Ellie Mae, he’s able to incorporate his integrated and automated compliance experience to Encompass customers following the acquisition of Mavent, a mortgage compliance engine.
In his role, Parvesh has helped to execute Ellie Mae’s vision of automating all potential functions in the mortgage industry. His focus on technology, secondary market partner relationships, and connectivity has streamlined the mortgage origination process for Ellie Mae customers and partners – from the borrowing experience to mortgage servicing and securitization.
Prior to Ellie Mae, Parvesh helped grow ComplianceEase and QuestSof’s organization through his sales, product, and business development leadership. He has a background in real estate investment, and participates in several Bay Area technology and real estate groups to further cultivate a dialogue about the benefits of disruptive mortgage technology.
Parvesh holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of San Francisco.
Alvin Shah
Alvin Shah, Managing Partner at First Opinion Mortgage earned his BBA from Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business, achieved in 2002. Today, Mr. Shah is a distinguished executive with more than 18 years of experience in the business and has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Executives for dedication, achievements, and leadership in mortgage financing. He serves on the board as a district governor for the mortgage bankers association of Georgia. He is also an active member of the advisory council for the Lenders One mortgage cooperative. In 2020 Alvin was highlighted on the cover of Vision Magazine, a prominent magazine in the mortgage industry, as a servant leader. This accolade came because of his relentless attitude towards helping others grow.
For almost the past decade, since 2013, Mr. Shah has notably served as Managing Partner at First Option Mortgage, where he leads a team of more than 300 people and takes pride in helping them reach their financial goals. In his role with First Opinion Mortgage he is responsible for spearheading the sales and business development initiatives of the organization. He is also involved in corporate strategy, including capital markets, operations, and the overall vision of the company. In addition to his daily tasks, Mr. Shah likes to educate others, as he takes the most pride in watching people grow personally and professionally within the company and in the field as a whole.
Mr. Shah intends to continue expanding First Option Mortgage into a highly respected and recognized mortgage company nationwide. He attributes his success to persistence and perseverance. He always remembers to give back to the community and charity when he can, believing that service should become a natural piece of life once a certain level of success is attained.
Christy Soukhamneut
Christy Soukhamneut has more than 25 years of experience in the mortgage industry and is currently Senior Vice President Mortgage Finance at Texas Capital Bank. Prior to her time at Texas Capital bank, she led top performing sales teams for a mid-sized IMB. She currently sits on the boards of Halcyon, Voxtur, Trained, and Beneath the Surface Foundation, an organization founded by special operations veterans dedicated to combating the negative impacts of combat on the mental health of those who served.
In addition, Christy is a partner with Blue Wolf Coaching. She also serves on a wide variety of committees and industry boards as well as occasionally contributing as a subject matter expert for Stratmor. She has been married to her husband Air for nearly 30 years and they have three children. When not working you will find her on her yoga mat, reading a book, or enjoying a glass of red wine with friends.
Prior to Halcyon, financial firms were missing the insight needed to economically promote relevant and pre-approved client services.
Tax preparers were spending less time on what they do best.
Clients were scrambling with no single place to find documents and view their complete financial picture.
Interested in joining the Halcyon team?
Please get in touch, or apply to be part of our tax professionals network.
