Stearns Appoints Wells Fargo Exec to New Position

In California, ""Stearns Lending, Inc."":http://www.stearns.com/, appointed Kathleen L. Vaughan to the newly created role of EVP of national third-party production.

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Vaughan has a long history holding high management positions, having served as COO at two separate mortgage banking firms in the 1990s and having worked most recently as EVP at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, where she led the wholesale business channel to a No. 1 market share position. In her 19-year tenure at Wells Fargo, she also served as EVP of home equity and SVP of correspondent lending.

In addition to her industry work, Vaughan is a founding member of the FORTUNE/U.S. State Department International Mentorship program and has been recognized by the FORTUNE Most Powerful Women Summit since 2006. She also serves as a member of the board of directors of Vital Voices, a non-profit that has trained and mentored more than 14,000 emerging women leaders from all over the world.

In her new position at Stearns, she will lead the company's technology-driven third-party origination platform, which includes both wholesale and correspondent lending channels, as well as the rapidly growing mortgage servicing rights acquisition unit.

""We are very pleased to welcome Kathleen to the senior management team at Stearns Lending,"" said CEO Brian Hale. ""With twenty-five years of mortgage industry experience and her impressive ability to drive results, Kathleen will be an invaluable asset to the entire organization, but especially to our Wholesale and Correspondent Division teams and clients.""