Run Toward the Storm: Hunter Marckwardt’s Leadership Lessons

Bridget: Welcome back to CCM Talks. I am Bridget Linton, and I’m so thrilled to be joined by Executive Vice President Hunter Marckwardt.

Now, Hunter, you’re usually the one sitting in my seat doing the interviews, but we thought we’d switch it up a little bit today and put you in the hot seat. Are you ready for that?

Hunter: No, it’s very awkward.

Bridget: Oh, it is?

Hunter: Yeah.

Bridget: Are you feeling a little uncomfortable?

Hunter: A little bit, yes.

Bridget: All right, deep breaths. I’m gonna ask you so many hard-hitting questions.

Hunter: Okay.

Bridget: Start with the hardest one. How did you get into the mortgage business?

Hunter: I had a junior midlife crisis in the software business, and I was driving home from Silicon Valley, and I was stuck in 2.5 hours of traffic. I hated what I did. I sold products that I didn’t understand to people that didn’t like me. And I was like, this is not a good, this is not a good life.

So I, my family was in the mortgage business. I called my dad and he said, you know, if you if you want to give the mortgage business a shot, you can. But once you get in, you never get out. And, and, you know, here I am, 20 years later.

Bridget: 20 years. Okay. So let’s talk about more, specifically about CrossCountry Mortgage. When did you start with CCM? And can you talk a little about how you’ve grown in the company?

Hunter: Yeah, I, we came over almost three years now. So I mean…

Bridget: It seems like you’ve been here forever.

Hunter: I feel like I’ve been here forever. So, yeah, I mean, it’s just, you know, the combination of, of Ron, what he’s created, just the, you know, it’s just a company where it’s just in growth mode, growth mindset.

And I’m a big fan of kind of having a growth mindset in general. So, I mean, the people, I mean, every single thing about it, it’s just literally it’s just about growth and, and you know, that’s, that’s what it is. So that’s why I’m, you know, that’s why I’m here.

Bridget: And can you talk a little bit more about your specific journey when you started three years ago to where you are now?

Hunter: Yeah. I mean, it’s, it’s, how do I explain my journey in three years from where I was not. I mean, it’s a bunch of different things, right? I’ve got my own personal production. I’m involved with our leadership team for our division. The group that came over, three years ago. So it’s just, you know, it’s, it’s balancing our my own production and then also, you know, helping our leadership team, you know, continue to grow the division. So. But, I mean, it’s been a, it’s been a great run.

Bridget: And speaking of leadership, you are a fantastic leader. How do you motivate your employees?

Hunter: I think, so, I don’t know how I motivate people. I think it’s just, it’s a, there’s there’s this thing like a bullseye, right? If you think of a bullseye and you think of, I think people in our business think of, like the clients, the center of the bullseye, the business partners or the next level, and then your team’s the level after that. And I think it’s really the opposite.

If you, if you invest in your team as the bullseye, they, you know, it’s I’m a fan of feeling like a family. I don’t care if it sounds altruistic. It’s just like if you invest in your people, it goes outward as opposed to anything else. I think it just, it has a ripple effect on, on how you care about your, I think, how you care about your team, the team then pushes that out to our business partners. Our business partners are more committed to how they refer us to clients, etc., etc.

So just we just I mean, it’s day by day and it’s consistency and it’s caring more about people than just their roles. And so it’s, yeah. So it’s a lot of stuff that goes into it, but I love it.

Bridget: And I love that you brought up the whole aspect of team. And what’s something I love about CrossCountry Mortgage is you don’t feel like there is leaders and people below each other. We really do work together as a team. Yeah. Can you talk a little bit more about how CCM is different in that aspect compared to other mortgage businesses?

Hunter: Yeah, I mean you, I mean you just, people are, there’s kind of a concept that I like, which is attack problems, not people. And I think with inside the company, everybody understands that you’re trying to solve a problem and they’re not overly concerned about who’s like, can I go if I have an underwriting, an underwriting question like I can if I don’t agree with the underwriter, I can go to the manager. If I don’t agree with the manager, I can, you know, so it’s just like there’s a there’s a I think there’s a mindset of attacking problems, not people. And that is it’s there’s zero bureaucracy inside the company.

Bridget: Yes, I totally agree.

Hunter: From everything I’ve seen, you know, whether or not it’s, I mean, you can call Ron directly, you can call Jenn directly. You know, I mean, you’re going to get whoever you need to get to, to find the, find the answers.

Bridget: And we’re talking about working together as a team. But you are really good at building relationships. So let’s focus just on you. What do you think it is about you that makes you stand out?

Hunter: I mean, what, I mean, come on.

Bridget: Everything.

Hunter: Yeah, yeah. I mean, let’s just start with …

Bridget: He’s so handsome. Got a great personality. This is your chance to brag about yourself, Hunter.

Hunter: Yeah, it’s, it’s the 250 pounds of pure pleasure. I would say, it’s, it’s asking more questions than talking, right? I mean, I think that’s how you create relationships, and it’s truly like, people are interesting to me. And I like to ask people a lot of questions and probably hear myself talk a little less, except for this, you know.

Bridget: Except here I’m asking the questions.

Hunter: Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. But I, but I do think that that is what relationships are about is asking more questions than, you know, if you find yourself talking too much about yourself, you’re probably not doing a good job. And I really enjoy figuring out who people are, what makes them tick. And that just ends up having a, you know, an impact on the relationships.

Bridget: Well, I’m going to make you talk about yourself a little bit more. So right before we did this interview, I found out a fun fact about yourself. Can you talk about your bar trick?

Hunter: Yeah. So I was a, I was a competition break dancer in fourth grade. My name was my, my, it’s very …

Bridget: Hired at a young age.

Hunter: I almost got kicked out of a Christian school for teaching breakdancing lessons at recess.

And I had, you know, my my my name was Doctor Purple, and I had purple high tops, and that was why I, I went to the mall and with my cardboard box and I had breakdancing, like, full blown, like, contests.

Bridget: How did you teach yourself breakdancing? Did you go to class for this?

Hunter: I literally like, I saw a guy like, this is going back to the fourth grade. I saw a guy in front of me like, and he just started, he just like, I was like, what the hell’s he doing? And so I just started and then like, pop the movie Breakin’, and what was it like the Electric Boogaloo and like, all these. I just, I just loved it. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, if you haven’t watched Breakin’ and Turbo, like Turbo’s, Turbo’s my hero.

Bridget: Are we going to get a little taste of this at some point?

Hunter: I prefer not.

Bridget: Okay.

Hunter: But yeah.

Bridget: Maybe I’ll capture him on video to show everybody.

Hunter: It does, it does happen at times. It just kind of comes out so.

Bridget: Oh my gosh. Well that’s a huge accomplishment in your life, is becoming a breakdancer, but let’s talk about your career. What has been your biggest accomplishment?

Hunter: I don’t, it’s, I would say, like with our team with, like, I’ve done a lot of coaching throughout the years and just having an impact on people, like, if you like, that is it. I’ve, I have a lot of very good friends that have coached me, that I’ve coached, and when you see people develop, do things that they haven’t, they didn’t think they could do. And you know, if you had some impact on that, it’s super gratifying.

So I think more than you know, I mean, I have this thing like we’re all going to die, like it sounds, it’s morbid, like, but we’re all going to die. And it’s like, you’re not going to remember how many loans you closed. You’re not going, you really are going to remember the people or hopefully be remembered for the people that you’ve impacted in your life. And that’s probably my, my biggest accomplishment.

Bridget: I love that answer, Hunter. I was not expecting that. And I really love that. And you talk about how you’ve helped a lot of people, but there have been some people that have helped you too. Who has been your biggest mentor?

Hunter: Without question, hard for me, my dad. I mean, he he, so, like, he’s my hero. He, we lost him a couple of years ago, so. But yeah, my dad for sure.

Bridget: And does that go for life and business?

Hunter: Everything. Yeah. He’s just like he’s, there’s a term called the true gentleman. And he like, literally like he exemplified all of it.

Bridget: Hunter, that’s amazing. Well, we’ll, we’ll switch gears, make it a little happier. We talked about your breakdancing, but you have something with Buffalos. I don’t know what this is all about, but I need to hear it.

Hunter: So, So Buffalo, the whole thing, there’s the story of of the, you’ve never heard the story of the cow and the buffalo?

Bridget: No.

Hunter: Okay. So so so cows, so like — and I think it’s reflective of the mortgage industry in general — but cows, when a storm’s coming, cows run away from the storm.

Bridget: Okay.

Hunter: And they freeze to death because they’re running away from the storm. And buffalo get through the storm because they run straight into it, and they get to the other side as quickly as possible. So I just I love the concept of, you know, if my, my boys are really tired of hearing about the buffalo, but but it’s like, yes. So that’s, that’s why I love the story of the, the buffalo. It’s like it’s just a reminder of just head into the storm, get through the other side as quickly as possible.

Bridget: That I do love that.

Hunter: Yeah.

Bridget: Well Hunter, thank you so much. You’ve been such a great mentor and leader here at CrossCountry Mortgage. We’re honored to have you in the company. And thanks so much for letting us switch spots here, and let me interview you for once.

Hunter: Thanks, Bridget, I appreciate it.

Bridget: For more information about CCM Cares, you can visit CCM.com. We look forward to seeing you on our next episode of CCM Talks.