Reference Point hires Vicki Bott as housing finance leader

Reference Point, a financial services specialist consulting firm, has hired Vicki Bott as a director and head of its housing finance practice.

Based in Salt Lake City, Bott brings more than 35 years of experience, with a focus on mortgage banking. During her career, she has managed all aspects of the mortgage process from sales, operations, and credit to compliance oversight and risk management.

At Reference Point, Bott will oversee the housing finance practice and collaborate with an advisor network of former C-suite industry executives to support mortgage lender clients. The practice’s service offerings include planning, implementation of strategic options, mortgage technology strategy, M&A planning and integration, organizational change, and program management.

"This is an exciting time in the mortgage market with both opportunities and challenges to navigate,” said Scott Goeden, managing partner of Reference Point. “Much like our other offering leaders, Vicki has outstanding direct hands-on experience and understands the landscape that our clients are facing today. I personally look forward to working closely with Vicki to expand our strategic offering and continue to support banks in maximizing the value of their housing finance businesses."Bott joins Reference Point from Guaranteed Rate, a large independent mortgage bank, where she spent one year as EVP of risk and compliance. Before that, she spent three years as EVP of risk and compliance at Stearns Lending.

Bott previously spent 14 years at Wells Fargo, where she was latterly an SVP and primarily focused on credit and compliance areas. Her duties included managing operations of a 500-person group and leading teams that built and enhanced controls to support operations, credit, and compliance risk.

Bisecting her tenure at Wells Fargo, Bott joined the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) between 2009 and 2011 to serve as deputy assistant secretary. She managed all aspects of HUD’s single-family housing program (FHA) during the aftermath of the subprime mortgage crisis, overseeing a team of 800+ employees in DC and across the country as FHA grew to over 30% of the nation’s lending from a pre-crisis 3%. Bott was also a key participant in the State Attorney General servicing settlement that forms the foundation of today’s revamped mortgage servicing standards.

Bott holds a bachelor’s degree in business from Arizona State University.

Reference Point was founded in 2002 and delivers strategy, risk, data, and technology consulting services to clients in retail and consumer banking, corporate and investment banking, wealth and asset management, housing finance, insurance, and payments.

The consulting firm has more than 100 employees across offices in New York, Washington, DC, Charlotte, and San Francisco.