Organization Name: New American Funding
Headquarters Location: Tustin, CA
Organization Website: www.newamericanfunding.com
Industry: Financial Services
Number of Employees: 3,900+
CEO: Rick Arvielo
Diversity Leader: Patty Arvielo
Diversity Leader Title: Co-Founder and President
1. Number of minority, women, or members of other underrepresented groups that are currently C-level executive at New American:
New American Funding is female and minority- owned. President and Co-Founder Patty Arvielo is a first-generation Hispanic-American with more than 40 years of experience in the mortgage industry. Additionally, New American Funding has a female Chief Operating Officer – Christy Bunce.
2. The diversity make-up of New American:
American Indian or Alaska Native 0.28%
Asian 8.70%
Black or African American 9.18%
Hispanic or Latino 21.58%
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander 0.58%
Two or more races 3.24%
3. Does New American have a Chief Diversity Officer who reports directly to the CEO?
While New American Funding does not have a person designated in the role of “Chief Diversity Officer,” Senior Vice President, People and Culture, Renae Souza functions in a similar role. Souza oversees the team that manages recruiting, onboarding, employee relations, compensation, benefits, and culture/engagement. The People and Culture team, guided by Souza is also responsible for overseeing the company’s award-winning culture, NAF360. NAF360 is designed to ensure employees feel balanced and valued in their work life and are treated with 360 degrees of respect. Additionally, the company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts are truly led by Co-Founder and President Patty Arvielo, as DEI efforts have been a focus of her career for more than four decades.
4. Do you have a robust pipeline-to-leadership program in place for women and members of minority and other underrepresented groups?
New American’s NAF 360 Mentorship Program is open to all employees within the organization. The 360 Mentorship Program is a developmental partnership through which the mentor and mentee share perspectives as they foster personal and professional growth and serves as an opportunity for the mentor to share their knowledge and aid in the mentee’s professional development. While not specifically tracked, the program has seen participants earn promotions and make career moves.
They also offer a career-development program, called “If You Want to Grow, We Want to Know,” where employees can openly share their goals and ideas with leaders. The campaign was started by President Patty Arvielo to encourage employees to grow and advance within the company. Whether they wanted to expand into a new area or have aspirations of advancing in their careers, senior leaders want to hear from them.
New American created a submission process where employees can submit their information, current position, the position they would like to grow to, and provide more information about themselves. Both Patty Arvielo and Chief Operating Officer Christy Bunce review each submission together and contact the employee’s manager to start the process of getting the employee moved up or on the right track.
Patty Arvielo also created a quarterly mentorship program called “Thrive and Lead,” which launched in October 2017. The program includes New American Funding employees and external mortgage professionals who are mentored for three months.
5. Is New American pursuing, or have you achieved, pay parity for women, minorities, and other underrepresented groups?
At this time, New American Funding has not put any specific plan into place. However, the company is committed to fair pay for all team members.
6. Are New American’s values clearly stated? All new hires are briefed on New American’s values as part of their orientation and the values are posted on the website and internal employee portal.
New American Funding understands the challenges of joining a new company, whether it be in-person or remote. To help them get started, all new hires attend an orientation session hosted by leaders from the New American Funding People and Culture (PAC) team. The three-hour orientations are held every Monday, and employees can attend from anywhere virtually. The orientation focuses on teaching new team members about the company’s mission, ethics, and policies, giving them the tools and knowledge they need to succeed at their new job.
The orientation sessions are informal and friendly, so that employees can absorb the information in a relaxed environment. This also encourages employees to ask any questions they have regarding these policies. All company policies and ethics guidelines are housed in an employee portal that employees can access and view at their convenience.
The PAC team leads the orientation with a focus on sharing the NAF360 culture at New American Funding. At the orientation, new employees watch videos of NAF360 in action and get to hear from current team members about their NAF360 experiences at New American Funding.
7. What is your Diversity and Inclusion statement?
Diversity and Inclusion is intertwined with our Vision and Mission statements.
Vision statement: New American Funding will transform the mortgage industry by providing world class service to our clients while maintaining our commitment to our NAF 360 culture. We will remain focused on our commitment to the underserved. Our innovative technology and sales platforms will allow the world to reimagine the possibilities of home ownership while simplifying the process from initial qualification to final payment.
Mission statement: New American Funding enables clients of all backgrounds to accomplish the American dream of homeownership by offering a diverse product suite, competitive pricing, and our promise to provide a timely and efficient closing. Our dedication to client service during the transaction extends after the closing while we service their mortgage. This passion for client service is displayed in every step of the homeownership experience with a focus on fulfilling our client’s needs in a manner that enhances their standard of living.
- How is it shared with jobseekers, employees, and the public? It is communicated to employees via internal communications, posted on NAF intranet, and stated here: https://www.newamericanfunding.com/about/
- How does it inform your hiring practices and interactions with employees, customers, and the community? Our mission statement contains our guiding principles that are forefront in all interactions, hiring and through the lifecycle of employment. These principles drive company direction, commitment, long-term strategy, and annual goals.
8. What programs, policies, or initiatives does New American currently have in place to ensure fairness and inclusion in the recruitment and hiring process?
- Cultural competence training for HR team and hiring managers
- Diverse hiring team
- Sourcing from nontraditional talent pools and diverse groups
9. What is New American’s Culture Statement?
New American’s Culture Statement is part of NAF360 – their overall company philosophy.
“We are driven, motivated, push for positive movement and most importantly we do it together. Our melting pot allows for individual growth through support, transparency, collaboration, and innovation. We are a community fighting for ALL communities to achieve the dream of homeownership.”
This is shared will all team members on our internal company web.
Company leadership truly cares about investing in their employees and helping them succeed both personally and professionally. That spirit is embodied in the company’s culture initiative, called NAF360.
The initiative works to support the company’s goal of having happy employees who enjoy coming to work every day. NAF360 was designed to ensure employees feel balanced and valued in their work life and know they are being treated with 360 degrees of respect.
This is more than just a motto – it’s a belief and way of life that employees take to heart. Employees take away a real sense that they’re part of a community, not just a company.
While treating customers this way seems like an easy thing to do, treating fellow team members the same way is also an important focus at New American Funding. The company requires its team to treat all vendors with dignity and respect. The company takes this point so seriously that it has parted from top producers who weren’t willing to take this expectation seriously.
Since New American Funding is focused on cultivating a community environment, the company’s leadership has chosen to collaborate in partnership with the company’s various departments to create a sustainable company culture. This culture is one that regularly sources new ideas for process improvements and new projects from vendors, customers, and especially employees at all levels within the organization.
10. Current ERGs supported by New American:
The New American Funding Diversity and Inclusion initiative has been in place for nearly eight years. However, this year, the company codified its internal diversity initiative with its external commitment to serving the underserved through its community lending programs into a new initiative, called “Included.” Included encompasses the company’s internal and external efforts to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion in all forms.
Included represents the New American Funding’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and unifies the company’s community lending programs and its internal Diversity and Inclusion initiative with the shared goal of creating, cultivating, and sustaining equity for all.
Included has specific goals that guide its efforts both internally and externally. Those goals are:
- Cast a wider net in recruiting to increase our goal of mirroring all communities
- Innovate specialized loan products and programs to contribute to increase homeownership rates for the underserved
- Offer resources and tools to help grow financial literacy in all communities
- Develop and provide learning and resource channels for our internal team’s professional development
- Identify and create Employee Resource Groups that consider the needs of all communities
New American Funding’s Included initiative involves the company’s Latino Focus and New American Dream initiatives, efforts designed to boost homeownership and mortgage industry career awareness among Hispanic and Black communities, respectively. The initiative also includes the company’s Military Heroes Focus, which works to increase homeownership for military servicemembers, veterans, and their families and to bring more veterans into the company’s workforce.
11. Honors/recognition for New American’s diversity efforts awarded during the past three years:
New American Funding has recently received numerous diversity awards, including:
2022:
Profiles in Diversity Journal: Latino Leaders Worth Watching | Patty Arvielo
Profiles in Diversity Journal: Diversity Leader | Patty Arvielo
Profiles in Diversity Journal: Asian Leaders Worth Watching | Karen Chiu
Stevies – The American Business Awards: Minority-Owned Business of the Year | New American Funding
FORTUNE/Great Places to Work: Best Workplaces for Women | New American Funding
Top Workplaces: Culture Excellence Awards – Compensations & Benefits, Innovation, Leadership, Purpose & Values, Work-life Flexibility | New American Funding
Association of Latino Professionals of America | Entrepreneurial Icon and Most Powerful Latinas
Profiles in Diversity Journal: Women Worth Watching® in Leadership Award | Patty Arvielo
Latina Style 50: Corporate Executive of the Year | Patty Arvielo
Clinton Foundation | Clinton Global Initiative 2022 Meeting | Featured Speaker | Patty Arvielo
2021:
FORTUNE/Great Places to Work: Best Workplaces for Women | New American Funding
Profiles in Diversity Journal: Diversity Leader | Patty Arvielo
Profiles in Diversity Journal: Latino Leaders Worth Watching | Patty Arvielo
National Association of Women in Real Estate Businesses: Diversity and Inclusion Leader | Patty Arvielo
Stevies – Women in Business: Social Change Maker of the Year | Patty Arvielo
Profiles in Diversity Journal: Innovations in Diversity Awards | New American Dream
Mortgage Women Magazine: Top Employers for Women | New American Funding
Profiles in Diversity Journal: Asian Leaders | Karen Chiu
Association of Latino Professionals For America: Most Powerful Latinas | Patty Arvielo
Profiles in Diversity Journal: Black Leaders Worth Watching | Charles Lowery
Profiles in Diversity Journal: Black Leaders Worth Watching | John Drumgoole Jr
Profiles in Diversity Journal: Black Leaders Worth Watching | Kim Arrington
Profiles in Diversity Journal: Black Leaders Worth Watching | Michael Moseby
Profiles in Diversity Journal: Black Leaders Worth Watching | Nisaa El-Hasan
2020:
FORTUNE/Great Places to Work: Best Workplaces for Women | New American Funding
Profiles in Diversity Journal: Women Worth Watching | Patty Arvielo
Latina Style 50: Corporate Executive of the Year | Patty Arvielo
