Mason-McDuffie CEO Named

Marilyn J. Richardson of Danville has been promoted to president and chief executive officer of Mason-McDuffie Mortgage Corp. effective June 22.

Richardson has served as chief operating officer and executive vice-president in charge of day-to-day operations since Mason-McDuffie was founded in January, 2005.

She takes over from Herb Tasker who will serve as chairman of the corporation.

Richardson and Tasker are two of the five principals who brought the third iteration of the historic East Bay real estate brand back to the market in 2005. Mason-McDuffie dates to its 1887 founding.

'Marilyn has guided Mason-McDuffie to month-after-month of record production, both in terms of the number of loans and the dollar volume. Through her leadership, we've established a niche in the market where loan officers and their clients know we can deliver speedy turn-around and quality service,' Tasker said.

Despite the difficult market in from mid-2006 to the present, Mason-McDuffie has grown carefully and steadily. Starting with five offices in two states, the company now has more than 200 employees working in 16 offices in five states.

The growth through tough conditions has been carefully considered.

'We are very selective with the loan officers. Reputation is everything and we never want to bring someone on board who would spoil that,' Richardson said.

The privately-held Mason-McDuffie has strung together record growth each month since December and already had enough loans closed to ensure surpassing May's total by mid-June. July shapes up to continue the trend.

Richardson is an experienced mortgage professional and one of the founders of Mason-McDuffie. In 1972 she served as operations manager for Mason-McDuffie Financial and became the first woman partner in 1979.

Richardson has since successfully worked in operations for several mortgage companies in the Bay Area including RBC Mortgage, Zino Mortgage Group, Countrywide Home Loans, Union Security Mortgage and ITT Financial. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Mason-McDuffie.

Tasker is a respected mortgage banking executive and is involved with a mortgage company named Mason-McDuffie for the third time since 1982 when he led a group of partners to form the mortgage company after Weyerhauser had purchased certain assets of the firm. Tasker has since been successfully involved in the formation and sales of other mortgage companies including All Pacific Mortgage and AIG Centre Capital.

He is the former President of the National Mortgage Bankers Association of America, as well as a former President of the California Mortgage Bankers Association and President of Southern California Mortgage Bankers. He currently serves on the board of First American Title. Other board appointments include University of San Diego and the University's Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate Policy Advisory Board. The management team, with one exception, lives in the East Bay: Chairman Tasker (Orinda), President and CEO Marilyn Richardson (Danville), Principal Bill Simpson (Livermore), Managing Partner Brian Linchey (San Ramon) and Executive Vice President of Production Paul Schulz (Colorado).

Photos are available from Tim Hunt, huntenterprises1@comcast.net,

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