of home loans.
With a simple, straightforward process that always puts you first.
Let’s get started
Corporate Leadership
Shawn Broussard is President of ServiceFirst Mortgage. He started in the mortgage industry with Lomas Mortgage in 1991 upon completing his bachelor's in finance. He has been with ServiceFirst Mortgage since the company's inception in 1997 and has spearheaded many of the company's strategic initiatives. He comes to ServiceFirst Mortgage with a strong operations background having worked in both servicing and secondary, but his passion is origination. As a loan officer, Shawn was a top performer helping thousands of homeowners realize their dreams, and this experience has helped him develop a top-notch platform which allows ServiceFirst loan officers to deliver a superior product to the real estate markets.
The only thing more important to Shawn, other than his ServiceFirst family, is his wife Martha of 20 years and his two children, who are his passion. Shawn has lived in Plano, Texas for the past 14 years and is very involved with his community and his church.
Lester Odom is Vice President of Operations for ServiceFirst Mortgage. Lester oversees all originations activities, servicing, secondary marketing, accounting, and human resources for the organization. Lester brings mortgage banking leadership, financial acumen, and a strategic outlook after years of experience with some of the most innovative and successful mortgage companies. Lester joined ServiceFirst Mortgage in 2009.
Prior to joining ServiceFirst Mortgage, Lester had nearly 20 years of mortgage experience. Most notably, Lester has held roles as Vice President Regional Operations Center for Bank of America, Operations Manager for First Franklin Mortgage, Regional Operations Director for Radian Guarantee, Mortgage Lending Operations for Texas Dow Employees Credit Union, and Vice President Wholesale for First Plus Financial.
Lester has led underwriting and origination teams that topped over $100,000,000 per month in originations. Lester is well-rounded in all aspects of mortgage banking in both Prime and Alternative Lending environments. Lester has experience in loan origination, underwriting, branch management, servicing, and executive leadership positions.
Lester received a bachelor’s degree from Baylor University and a master of arts from the University of Houston.
John Donnelly started in the mortgage industry as a loan officer in 1996. In 1998, he relocated to Phoenix, Arizona and worked as a loan officer and eventually took on a role as a producing branch manager with Realty Mortgage. John eventually moved to the position of Vice President of Branch Operations with Realty Mortgage. In February 2009, he moved to ServiceFirst Mortgage as regional manager. He feels that ServiceFirst Mortgage is his home. John’s philosophy is to treat people as he would expect to be treated, and ServiceFirst Mortgage treats all of its employees with respect. Sentence should read: “He has learned in his 15-plus years in the mortgage industry, that mortgage origination is often very challenging and that he can’t afford to work for a company that creates additional hurdles to getting loans funded.
Kurt Gonzalez entered the mortgage industry in 1995. With a background in financial consulting, he became one of the top-producing loan officers and a President’s Circle member with CTX Mortgage, Network Funding, and WR Starkey Mortgage. As a branch manager and loan officer, he developed a variety of skills, including coaching, sales, sales management, and forming partnerships with real estate offices.
Kurt is originally from Canyon, Texas, and after attending the United States Military Academy at West Point as a baseball player, he received his bachelor’s degree from the University of North Texas. Kurt currently lives in Plano, Texas with his wife, Rosa, and daughter, Alexandria.
Matthew Royal started with ServiceFirst Mortgage in February 2001. Matthew has risen through the ranks of the mortgage industry learning every facet from shipping, funding, and closing to underwriting and managing files and customers’ expectations. Matthew uses his full and comprehensive knowledge of the vast array of mortgage products that ServiceFirst has to offer, along with continuing education, to make sure his customers and loan officers get the best financing and products available. He strongly believes that every individual’s personal goals and circumstances are just as important as their financial information. Matthew’s goal is to bring those two facets together in the very beginning, so that the best blend of financing and a customer’s needs can be achieved. He also takes a very hands-on approach from beginning to end. Matthew believes that a personal touch on every loan ensures the highest level of customer satisfaction. To him “customer service” is not a cliché and he sincerely strives every day to make the mortgage process not only a satisfying one, but actually an enjoyable one.
Jim Berkley began his real estate/mortgage career in 1987 selling real estate for Coldwell Banker in Little Rock, Arkansas.
After graduating college in 1991 with a marketing degree, Jim went to work for Sears Mortgage in shipping and insuring (post closing). During his career in the industry he has held positions in closing, processing, PPS management, and loan origination with companies such as Carl I Brown Mortgage, Arkansas Fidelity Mortgage, Norwest Mortgage, and Wells Fargo Mortgage. In 2003, Jim moved to Dallas to take a position in underwriting at United Guaranty Mortgage Insurance Company. In 2005, Jim was promoted to Assistant Regional Underwriting Manager for Texas and Oklahoma, and then Regional Underwriting Manager for the same territory in 2007. Jim joined ServiceFirst Mortgage in January 2011 as the underwriting and post closing manager.
Throughout her years in mortgage, Sonna Crestinger has worked her way through all operations positions. She started in the business in the late ’80s as a setup clerk and receptionist and quickly moved into shipping and insuring. Within a year, she was promoted to processing loan files. She worked in processing for many years perfecting her knowledge and skills handling all loan products. She was always looking for new challenges and took a position as an operations manager in a small branch.This was both challenging and rewarding, but she felt she could round out her understanding of mortgage lending by moving into underwriting. She moved companies and began underwriting both wholesale and retail, conventional and FHA loans. She spent several years in underwriting. As the market changed, she began to work closely between underwriting and post closing to streamline systems and eliminate issues. Working in conjunction with post closing helped her round out her knowledge across the board for correspondent lending. Sonna learned many things about warehousing loans, secondary marketing, and the ability to sell loans, while still maintaining her front-end experience as a processor and underwriter. Throughout the years she helped by wearing many different hats and filling in where needed. She feels this led her to become a well-rounded, knowledgeable resource in lending. Sonna has found her home at ServiceFirst Mortgage, and she plans to continue assisting all departments with the knowledge she has gained managing the processing department. ServiceFirst Mortgage is her career choice due to the team of professionals she gets to work with each day. Streamlining systems and maintaining integrity is key in Sonna’s position as processing manager. Success and excellence is what she strives for each and every day.
Kayla Eames has been with ServiceFirst Mortgage for nine years, and currently serves as the assistant vice president and the accounting department manager. Kayla started her career with ServiceFirst Mortgage in 2002 when she moved back to Texas after spending three years in Germany. Kayla initially started out as a temporary employee, assisting the accounting department with work overflow; then she progressed to accounting team leader, accounting supervisor, accounting manager, and to her current role as assistant vice president. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in accounting at the University of Texas at Dallas.
Dee Hoyle is the manager of the secondary marketing department for ServiceFirst Mortgage. Dee has been a part of ServiceFirst Mortgage for 11 years and has had many different roles within the company during that time. For the past nine years, Dee has been a part of the secondary marketing department and has helped with the growth of the company by establishing new relationships with correspondent lenders, initiating a company hedging program, and obtaining approval with government agencies.
Shelby Seaman is the human resources manager for ServiceFirst Mortgage and brings experience in all aspects of human resources, benefits, and payroll management. With a background in the mortgage industry and tenure with ServiceFirst Mortgage since 1999, Shelby understands the unique business culture of the company. Her goals are to support and communicate the needs of employees and to ensure a successful employment relationship. Formerly, Shelby was a senior loan processor and underwriter for ServiceFirst Mortgage.