Optimal Blue Director of Data Solutions Brennan O’Connell Named a 2024 HousingWire Rising Star
PLANO, Texas – April 24, 2024 – Optimal Blue today announced that Brennan O’Connell, director of data solutions, has been honored with the 2024 HousingWire Rising Stars award. The award program celebrates emerging leaders in real estate and mortgage who have demonstrated rapid career growth and an ability to lead, achieving remarkable milestones before the age of 40.
“We are incredibly proud of Brennan’s accomplishments and the recognition he has received as a 2024 Rising Star,” said Optimal Blue interim CEO Scott Smith. “Brennan inspires those around him each day with his passion for sharing Optimal Blue’s rich data assets with our customers and beyond. He embodies and directly supports our company’s commitment to fostering a more competitive, informed, and successful housing industry.”
O’Connell joined Optimal Blue in 2019 with the task of productizing the company’s data sets for new markets. Since that time, he has expanded customer profiles to include government entities, hedge funds, universities, think tanks, and research institutions.
Today, O’Connell leads Optimal Blue’s strategy, business development, and sales engineering across all data products, including competitive loan pricing, origination activity, and pipeline hedging and trading. He also serves as an advisor for Optimal Blue clients who are building out their analytics capabilities using Optimal Blue’s data.
“The most outstanding leaders are forged in times of crisis. As the housing industry navigates the higher-for-longer rate environment, many emerging leaders have come to the surface to guide their companies, teams and clients to a more successful and promising future,” said Clayton Collins, CEO of HW Media. “Through Rising Stars, HousingWire has identified these leaders who are making their mark with leadership qualities and innovative ideas. The future will look different, and I’m confident these Rising Stars will play prominent roles in housing’s forward evolution.”
HousingWire’s selection committee chose this year’s Rising Stars based on their professional achievements within their organizations, contributions to the overall housing economy, community outreach, client impact and personal success. The full list of 2024 HW Rising Stars award winners can be viewed on the HousingWire website.
About Optimal Blue
Optimal Blue is a market leader in mortgage secondary marketing technology. The company facilitates transactions among mortgage market participants through its Marketplace Platform, actionable data, and technology vendor connections. The platform supports a range of functions for originators and investors to automate and optimize core processes related to product, pricing, and eligibility, hedge analytics, MSR valuation, loan trading, social media compliance, and counterparty oversight. The company’s premier products are used by 68% of the top 500 mortgage lenders in the U.S. For more information on Optimal Blue’s end-to-end secondary marketing automation, visit OptimalBlue.com.
Media contact:
Johnna Szegda
Depth for Optimal Blue
johnna@depthpr.com
404.798.1155