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The 2025 Executive Servicer Summit was held October 22-24 in Ojai, California, a scenic valley town in Southern California known for its natural beauty and relaxed atmosphere. The road to the resort was either a race car driver’s dream (you know who you are) or an opportunity to pop Dramamine and ginger chews like candy (you also know who you are).
The first official ESS event on Wednesday began with the Servicer-Only Roundtable, and by all accounts, was a huge success. One servicer commented, "it was one of the best ever." Then members, servicers, and their guests all came together to enjoy a warm welcome under the stars during the opening night event, the Fireside Kickoff: An Evening to Recharge & Reconnect, sponsored by Xome.
The following day started with a lovely breakfast, with some people skipping the French toast for the toppings, fresh cream and strawberries. (You also know who you are, and you were not judged.) The sessions began with keynote speaker Glenn Rottmann, C.Ht., a globally recognized hypnotherapist, NLP practitioner, author, and success coach. Rottmann invited attendees to intentionally step into the "moment before it becomes a memory," where real power resides. The hypnotizing keynote transitioned attendees well into the day’s insightful education and engaging activities.
The first learning session covered the ever exciting, Bankruptcy, which surprisingly was, thanks to the great panelists. Dan West led off with a long gulp of water, capturing the inside joke (the power of the pause) from the earlier keynote speech. The panel explored key developments shaping today’s bankruptcy practice, including a discussion of how the newly allowed motions to determine status and revised end-of-case requirements create risk and the need for further attention.
The second session, Artificial Intelligence, was particularly interesting and engaging with active polling. Many were furiously writing ideas in our USFN leather-bound notebooks of how AI could help some elements of our business with new possibilities for automation, document review, and predictive analytics. For additional insights into the potential impact of AI and blockchain technologies on our industry, be sure to read this issue’s cover feature.
Following the first day’s sessions, attendees spent the afternoon participating in activities that everyone could enjoy: pickleball for those with hand-eye coordination, and horseback riding for those without. Additional activities included bee keeping (for the brave souls of the group) and hand stamped jewelry making (for the creative ones). Others took advantage of the spa, which was amazing and available both days.
Dinner that night, sponsored by Sagent, was a taste of Ojai experience at the resort’s signature Olivella restaurant. The fine-dining atmosphere blended rustic elegance with modern California cuisine—and for one night only, it was reserved exclusively for USFN. It was more than a dinner—it was an experience to remember, capped by Ojai’s Pink Moment, a phenomenon at dusk when the sun’s light hits the Topatopa bluffs, causing the mountains and sky to glow with a vibrant pink hue.
After another great breakfast, the second day of events started with the first session, Things That Keep Us Up at Night (TTKUUAN), which in fact, are still causing sleepless nights months later! The concerns about inconsistent, state-by-state oversight are real. Worse, HUD’s evolving position on whether servicers should advance funds to bid above total indebtedness based on the CAFMV (Commissioner’s Adjusted Fair Market Value), was enough to send several of us looking for stronger coffee, or just something stronger.
How do you follow TTKUUAN? With Hot Topics in Case Law and Legislation, which has the same anxiety-inducing effect. The panel included a discussion of governing bodies and accompanying regulations in the mortgage servicing industry that continue to change as often as the attendees’ clothing layers for the cool mornings, un-layering for hot afternoons, and re-layering for even cooler evenings.
The last session, From Capitol Hill to Main Street: The Politics & Economics of Mortgage Default, truly showed how engaged USFN has become with our partners and advocacy groups as we navigate an ever-changing landscape.
The second day’s activities included another beekeeping and honey tasting, a mixed media painting class where attendees created stunning pieces of art inspired by Ojai’s famous Pixie tangerines, a challenging game of golf, and a guided biking tour.
The final farewell, sponsored by ServiceLink, was a beautiful evening held on the Orchard Event Lawn. It was a fragrant experience surrounded by citrus groves and native wildflowers. Attendees enjoyed locally inspired fare and honored the previous year’s Award of Excellence recipients. It was the perfect close to an engaging and insightful ESS 2025. Be sure to join us this year, Oct. 22-24, in another stunning location, The Ritz-Carlton Reynolds, Lake Oconee in Greensboro, GA.
