Inspired + Inspirational Leadership: Meet Ryan Zimmerman, Director of Product Management
In this series, we’re focused on the humans who make up Sagent. We’re fortunate to have a team that is constantly evolving – both professionally and personally – folks from all over the world who bring a variety of experience, education, and perspectives to advance our challenging mission. We’re excited to introduce you to some of these talented people who make Sagent a vibrant, productive community.
Where did you grow up? Where are you located now?
Being a nomad has really been a part of my entire life. I grew up in a few places. New York, then Pennsylvania, and finally I spent my young adulthood in Phoenix, Arizona. I recently spent a year as a full-time digital nomad, and now I tri-locate, splitting my time between Phoenix, Austin, and Jersey City.
What is your educational background?
I had a pretty unorthodox educational journey. My situation in college meant I had to work as much as possible, so I dropped out. I worked long hours for a considerable time to get by, and I decided to slowly start going back to school in my mid-twenties after I bought my first house. I took one or two classes at a time at my leisure, and I fell back in love with the learning process. Now, I keep learning simply because it interests me.
What are your hobbies?
Traveling is absolutely my biggest hobby. Any chance I get, I’m trying to collect more countries. I’ve seen 16 countries and have plans to make it to 18 before the end of the year. I also have been known to brew a mean batch of beer.
Do you do any volunteer work or have a soft spot for any charity in your community?
I founded a nonprofit during the COVID-19 pandemic called “Humans Doing.” My mission was to create a dashboard of live, public reporting of charitable donations for complete financial transparency. A donor could make a donation then see that transaction as part of a public ledger in real time. They could then see every purchase and receipt made with their funds to ensure 100% of all donations went to the cause they intended. We ended up doing a lot to help the unhoused population in NYC, and I’m really proud of that work.
What are your favorite movies, music, or TV shows?
I can’t pick just one, but my favorite movies right now are Pulp Fiction, Fight Club, and RRR. For music, I really like the Manchester Orchestra, Odesza, and Incubus. I am pretty classic with my TV – I love Friends and The Office.
Tell us about any notable accomplishments that you’re proud of.
Before I came to Sagent, I worked on a team that ideated and piloted new loss mitigation programs. Most of today’s programs were built from those programs that we worked with industry leaders to get adopted. Specifically, Flex Modification, deferments, and the pre-approved modification came from our work.
Do you have a role model? If so, tell me about them.
Monty Moran had a very early impact on the way I approach leadership. He was the Co-CEO of Chipotle, and he taught me that the best way to lead others is to serve. I also learned that a boss, a manager, and a leader are three very different things.
A person can be a great leader, but that doesn’t mean they have people who report to them. Inversely, just because someone is in a leadership position doesn’t automatically mean they’re a leader.
I highly recommend his book Love is Free, Guac is Extra to anyone looking to level up their leadership skills.
Tell me more about your career journey. Highlight a particularly positive or negative experience and what you learned from it.
After my burrito rolling days, I landed a job at Chase processing loss mitigation applications. I was part of the very first wave of “Single Point of Contact” (“SPOCSs”) when that became a thing. After about a year, I was asked to lead a couple of SPOC teams and then shortly after that, I went on to train the rest of the department and new hires for that area. After about five years at Chase, I became a business analyst on a portfolio strategy team, focused on bringing new loss mitigation programs to life and then to the wider industry.
How did you get into mortgage fintech?
My role at Chase gave me a very intimate understanding of loss mitigation waterfalls – largely because I helped create many of the programs, rules, and calculations used across the industry. When Sagent reached out to me four years ago to help with building our decision engine, I seized the opportunity to learn about the mortgage fintech industry.
What does your “day-to-day” look like in your role at Sagent?
Every day is different. I now lead four product teams and seven delivery teams, so my days change depending on the needs of my teams and the needs of Sagent. Some days I am on client calls, while others I am deep in collaboration sessions with my colleagues to keep them moving forward on our mission to transform America’s $14 trillion mortgage servicing industry. I have also been spending time demoing Dara for some of this industry’s biggest servicing leaders.
What is it about your job that motivates or challenges you?
The number one way I measure my success is if the people who are choosing to follow me are successful. Leadership is a privilege and comes with a great deal of responsibility and commitment. When the people around me succeed, it’s a highly motivating thing for me.
Have you had an impactful mentoring experience, either giving or receiving?
I’m incredibly lucky to have been on both sides of a mentoring experience at most points in my career, including right now. Something unique happens when you’re on both sides of that equation at the same time. Synergies start to present themselves that might not have enumerated otherwise. To put this into perspective, there was a day recently when I was getting some advice from my mentor on something, and on the same day, I found myself giving the same advice to one of my mentees.
The biggest thing I’ve realized in learning from a mentor and having people learn from me is – if you want to know if someone is a leader or not, look at why people are following them. Are people following them because they have to? Or are people following them because they want to?
In your opinion, what is the greatest impact of building cloud-native servicing technology?
When you can leverage data in real time, you can reconcile it in real time, move it in real time, use it in real time, fix it in real time. Problems don’t age well in the housing industry, and for some problems, even one day is far too long. A big part of what our clients do is solve delays due to the limitations of current mainframe technology.
What excites you about Sagent’s mission to lead the evolution in loan servicing by solving its most complex challenges?
What we’ve taken on is big. Really big. But it isn’t unrealistic. It’s achievable and we know that because if we look outside our industry, this kind of evolutionary journey has already been successfully achieved. We have a big mission that is going to make a lasting impact on our industry, and the effect of that impact will be carried through to homeowners all over the nation.
What makes me really excited is that we have a unique blend of vision, market scale from our existing products, an existing customer base we can partner with for a quicker time to market and, above all, a team of incredibly talented and focused people.
When you think about Sagent’s values of “Relentless, Relevant, Respectful, and Reliable” which of those resonates with you most?
I think all four of these are pillars that work together to produce transformative business. It’s hard to choose just one to pick though, because I feel like each one has resonated with me depending on what is happening on a certain day.
What is your experience with Sagent’s culture?
Culture is an investment a company needs to choose to make. Like an investment, the upwards line is clear. Sure, there have been some dips, but each time we’ve come back stronger than before. That is the thing about corporate culture. It’s not a binary thing. It’s the direction we move in, and the returns have been great to witness.
What is your favorite thing about working for Sagent?
The people I get to work with every day, for sure.
I like who I work for, I like my peers, and I like those who choose to follow me every day. Hard combination to beat.
To learn more about Ryan and what he does here at Sagent, check out his latest recognition as a 2025 HousingWire Rising Star!