Melissa Nelles
Orland Park,IL
Summary
Tenacious Operational Risk Analyst successfully develops and maintains comprehensive processes to identify and reduce operational risk across business units. Collaborates with functional leaders and subject matter experts to drive initiatives that contribute to long-term operational excellence. Analyzes operational policies and procedures to align improvement to performance shortfalls.
Overview
22
22
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Lead Underwriter
Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
06.2016 - 08.2023
- Maintained tolerance of under 3% of 11 high risk drivers established by root cause analysis of deficiency trends in all operation groups.
- Conducted meetings and generated reporting to support risk monitoring and management.
- Implemented and managed controls to comply with laws and regulations, agreements and SOPs.
- Implemented risk avoidance and mitigation strategies to eliminate hazards, activities and exposures that could negatively impact organizational assets.
- Delivered presentations and training courses to promote best practices for techniques and processes.
- Measured performance against process requirements to align improvement to performance shortfalls.
- Developed challenged inventory and deficiency dashboards that provided data for process measurement to identify indicators for future improvement opportunities.
- Developed risk assessment matrices and templates to increase visibility of risks and facilitate decision making.
- Coordinated client compliance and due diligence requests to facilitate quality assurance and internal audits.
- Developed short-term goals and long-term strategic plans to improve risk control and mitigation.
- Collaborated on implementation of collection strategies with collections, risk and fraud teams.
- Produced accurate and timely collections reports, facilitating measurement, decision-making and engagement with customers.
- Established strategy for operations reporting and analytics, identifying key needs for deliverables.
Quality Assurance Specialist
Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
05.2012 - 06.2016
- Recorded findings of inspection process, collaborating with quality team to implement corrective actions.
- Maintained 24 hour SLA on all reviews.
- Educated employees on specific QA standards and confirmed maintenance of standards.
- Analyzed quality and performance data to support operational decision-making.
- Implemented process improvements to increase productivity in quality assurance operations.
- Completed deviation forms and recorded findings of inspection process, collaborating with quality team members and department managers to implement procedural remedies.
- Monitored testing procedures and verified performance of tests according to established item specifications and protocol.
- Completed supporting documentation for testing procedures, data capture forms, equipment logbooks and inventory forms.
- Reviewed production processes and identified potential quality issues.
- Recorded and organized test data for report generation and analysis.
Senior Mortgage Underwriter
Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
06.2010 - 05.2012
- Maintain 100% compliance with 0 moderate or material findings on audits.
- Verified integrity of applicants' information to minimize fraud.
- Worked with processing team members to communicate errors and obtain missing information for current applications.
- Maintained mortgage program compliance with federal agencies such as VA, HUD, FHLMC and FNMA.
- Made careful determinations based on skilled analyses of submitted documentation covering credit histories, employment records, and current financial status.
- Trained junior team members in underwriting procedures and loan quality grading standards.
- Evaluated performance of less experienced underwriters and helped improve overall work quality by implementing improvement plans.
- Evaluated loan applications, determining creditworthiness, assessing risk and establishing loan conditions.
- Analyzed and verified applicant income, assets and credit history to support compliance with underwriting guidelines.
- Approved or denied loans based on established criteria and underwriting guidelines.
- Reviewed appraisals and title documents to verify accuracy and completeness.
- Negotiated and communicated with loan officers, processors and loan applicants to reach satisfactory loan terms.
- Collaborated with loan officers and processors to obtain additional information and resolve discrepancies.
- Developed and maintained relationships with investors to drive compliance with guidelines.
- Balanced risk against profitability to make optimal business decisions and guided junior team members in making similar critical decisions.
Regional Operations Manager
Encore Credit
02.2002 - 04.2008
- Led regions in 1million+ docs out per day and averaged over 120 units per month.
- Led weekly meetings with regional staff to review progress, address challenges and drive timely task completion.
- Collaborated with cross-functional teams to align operations with corporate objectives.
- Implemented process improvement to shape organizational culture, optimize procedures for higher efficiency and help company evolve and grow.
- Spearheaded operational procedures and processes to improve efficiency and optimize operations.
- Devised and executed training plans for new and existing staff to support competency and compliance.
- Built and maintained relationships with local vendors, suppliers and partners to maximize supply chain management.
- Assisted in recruiting, hiring and training of team members.
- Trained and guided team members to maintain high productivity and performance metrics.
Skills
- Subject matter expert in underwriting, closing, and secondary market
- Operational Efficiency, Support, Analysis, Process
- Decision Making
- Time Management , Planning and Organization
- Data Integrity/ Product Knowledge/Industry Best Practices
- Quality Assurance Risk Identification/Reduction
- Managing Multiple Projects
- Communication and Follow-up
- Attention to Detail
- Fraud Assessment
- Computer/Technical Multiple Software Expertise
- Regulatory/Compliance Requirements
- Service Delivery/Quality
- Loss Mitigation
- Operational Reports
- Customer Excellence
Accomplishments
- Achieved 2022 challenged inventory savings of 65 million by completing reviews of all loans recommended for challenged inventory with accuracy and efficiency.
- Mitigated risk to the organization by effectively implementing deficiency and challenged inventory dashboards that provide reporting of root cause, category, responsible group and responsible party which carried over to the team member scorecard.
Certification
FHA Direct Endorsement
Fannie Mae Desktop Underwriting
Freddie Mac Loan Prospector
USDA GUS
Timeline
Lead Underwriter
Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
06.2016 - 08.2023
Quality Assurance Specialist
Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
05.2012 - 06.2016
Senior Mortgage Underwriter
Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
06.2010 - 05.2012
Regional Operations Manager
Encore Credit
02.2002 - 04.2008
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