CFO Kevin Ryan to retire from Better, will join PennyMac as chief strategy officer

Better’s chief financial officer, Kevin Ryan, is retiring from the company, according to an SEC filing on Friday, and will be joining PennyMac Financial Services as a senior managing director, chief strategy officer.

According to the filing, Ryan announced on Sept. 30 that he would be retiring but it is not clear when his last day will be. On Friday, Ryan posted about his new role on LinkedIn.

“Very happy to announce that I will soon be joining PennyMac Financial Services, Inc as a Senior Managing Director, Chief Strategy Officer,” Ryan’s post reads. “Very excited to join David, Doug and the entire team. The financial services and residential financing markets are going through tremendous change and i am looking forward to being a part of shaping that change. Thank you to all my colleagues and friends I have met over the last 25 years and looking forward to working together going forward.”

In a statement to HousingWire, Vishal Garg, Better’s founder and CEO, said “We thank Kevin for his years of service and wish him the very best moving forward. He remains committed to ensuring continuity as the company continues to execute on its strategy.”

The filing says that Better has commenced a search process to identify the next chief financial officer and, to ensure leadership continuity, Ryan will assist in the transition of CFO duties.

“This transition is without cause and Mr. Ryan has informed the Company that it is not due to any disagreement with the Board, the Company or management on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices,” the filing reads.

“[T]he last 5 years I have spent at Better have been the most rewarding of my career. Vishal and the team have built an AI-first company that is ready for the next stage of its evolution as the market improves and technological advancement in the industry accelerates. There is no company in the world better positioned to take advantage of these changes,” Ryan said in the filing. “As I transition, I will do everything I possibly can to support Better on its path to the next stage of market leadership. Congratulations to the Better team on all we have built and will continue to build.”

The filing also includes this statement from Garg:

“Kevin has done so much for Better in the past 5 years, from preparing us to IPO, to negotiating with our investors over $1.25 bln of additional capital raised, to working with us post-public listing to build our finance functions as a public company. We are indebted to him for all of his contributions and wish him the best of success in whatever he chooses to pursue in the future.”