Weekly Real Estate News
Mortgage servicing technology company Sagent has promoted President Sridhar Sharma to chief executive officer and named longtime Fannie Mae executive Andrew Bon Salle chairman of its board as the company moves to scale deployment of its Dara servicing platform.
Sagent announced the leadership changes Monday, saying Sharma will lead its next phase of growth with a focus on large-scale Dara implementations, broader platform adoption and new capabilities for mortgage servicers.
The transition follows the development and launch of Dara under Chris Marshall, who had served as Sagent’s CEO and chairman. Sagent said Marshall’s leadership and vision are appreciated. The company told HousingWire that Sharma’s promotion was a planned transition and that Marshall remains close to Sagent while evaluating his next move in the financial industry.
Sharma takes CEO role as Dara deployment expands
Sharma previously served as Sagent’s president. Before joining the company, he spent about a decade leading product, technology and artificial intelligence initiatives at Mr. Cooper.
Sagent said Sharma’s work at Mr. Cooper included the development of patented artificial intelligence and machine-learning platforms. He will now oversee Sagent’s efforts to expand Dara, the company’s AI-native, end-to-end mortgage servicing platform.
“Mortgage servicing is entering an era where processes evolve in real-time and human capital is focused only on the most complex issues and in delivering amazing customer experience,” Sharma said in the company’s announcement.
Dara is designed to bring the mortgage servicing lifecycle onto a unified platform using real-time data, embedded compliance and automation. Sagent says DaraIQ, the platform’s underlying AI engine, is designed to help servicers automate workflows while maintaining compliance.
Fannie Mae veteran Bon Salle becomes chairman
Bon Salle brings nearly three decades of experience at Fannie Mae, where he held senior leadership positions spanning housing finance, servicing, capital markets, operations and technology.
As chairman, he will work with Sharma and Sagent’s leadership as the company seeks to expand Dara’s reach across the mortgage servicing industry.
“Dara is truly differentiated in the market,” Bon Salle said. “It is designed to meet servicers wherever they are on their AI transformation journey, giving them the flexibility to balance human expertise and AI-driven automation in the way that best fits their business.”
Leadership change comes at a pivotal time for servicing technology
Sagent provides mortgage servicing technology to major U.S. bank and nonbank lenders. The company has been positioning Dara as a replacement for fragmented servicing systems by combining core servicing, consumer experience, default management, analytics, claims, document workflows and other functions within one architecture.
The leadership transition puts Sharma in charge as Sagent shifts from developing and launching Dara toward deploying the platform at scale.
For mortgage servicers, the change is notable as artificial intelligence and automation become increasingly central to efforts to reduce servicing costs, improve borrower interactions and modernize legacy technology while meeting regulatory and compliance requirements.
