Longtime Cenlar CEO to retire, successors named

Greg Tornquist is retiring from Cenlar as chairman and CEO after more than 35 years at the helm and new leaders named at the company highlight what appears to be some heavy recruiting from the ranks of executives with government-sponsored enterprise ties.

Greg Tornquist

His successor in the chairman role is David Applegate, the former CEO of Common Securitization Solutions. CSS is a Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac joint venture that operationalized uniform mortgage-backed securities.

Applegate promised a smooth transition in leadership in a comment on his new role.

“Continuous investment in all aspects of our franchise will ensure Cenlar’s commitment to providing both high quality service to our customers and a rewarding work environment for our talented team,” he said in a press release.

The company also now has co-CEOs. One is D. James “Jim” Daras, who between 2015 and 2019 was Cenlar’s chief risk officer. Interestingly, that’s a position the CRO from Common Securitization Solutions, Sara Avery, later took on, essentially swapping employers with her predecessor Louis Glinn.

In addition to being co-CEO, Daras will also serve as Cenlar’s president. Daras transitioned to an advisory role at Cenlar in 2019 and became an executive vice president charged with managing banking functions, capital markets, finance and risk this year.

Cenlar’s other co-CEO, Rober “Rob” Lux at one point served as executive vice president and chief information officer at Freddie Mac. He joined Cenlar as CIO in 2017, and was named executive vice president and chief operating officer in 2019.

The strong operational backgrounds of Tornquist’s successors at Cenlar are in keeping with their predecessor’s. Tornquist is known for being a key contributor to the construction of the company’s subservicing platform.