Embrace Employee Spotlight: Katie Wignall and Steve Adamo

There’s a lot to love about Embrace Home Loans, but one of our strongest assets has always been our employees. We have teammates who have been with us for 10, 20, even 30+ years. And we’ve also been hiring new employees at a furious pace recently.

In this Employee Spotlight, we’ll be featuring two Embrace teammates — one new employee, and one employee who has already been with us for a while. Each will give different perspectives on the Embrace experience and a little more personal info so you’ll be able to get to know them better.

Want to nominate someone to feature in a future spotlight? Email Mary Mack at [email protected]

STEVE ADAMO, President, National Retail Production

What is your official title and what do you do at Embrace?

My official title is President, National Retail Production. I like to think that I’m assisting others in their Retail growth and journey. We are growing considerably so with that growth comes enhanced training, on-boarding, capacity management, cultural integration — as well as so many other items and initiatives.

Each day I work to improve personally and professionally in the areas above. This is a dynamic company that is poised for growth and my work daily is focused on improving, growing, and telling “our story” in Retail.

What made you want to work at Embrace?

Embrace is a company that I’ve known for a long time and a company that I admired from afar. I was aware of the overall business model and Embrace’s strong culture — I wanted to become a part of it. Additionally, I thought that this was a place that I could grow and challenge myself both personally and professionally. Now that I’m here I can see that the culture is better than I thought and the teams are collaborative and encouraging of one another. 

How has it been starting a new job at Embrace during COVID?

COVID has certainly made things more challenging for sure. This pandemic has taken its toll on so many fronts that my small stresses of starting a new job pales in comparison to what so many have experienced. I would say that the necessities of working differently have been a positive. There are new abilities to communicate effectively through video and various technologies. Productivity as an individual and as an industry has improved. I do think that collaboration and cultural enhancements are more difficult when people are not together. There are many things that happen through “incidental contact” in an office environment. A quick hello or a discussion while getting coffee or lunch has value. Now, it’s more important than before to make the extra phone call and stay connected with each other.

Working at Embrace has been great. We’ve had some early successes which we can build upon and that’s exciting. Now it’s time to embrace our opportunity.

What did you do for a living before you came to Embrace?

I started my career out of college as a Loan Officer in Westboro, MA, and quickly moved to a Loan Officer position in RI. Most recently I worked for Santander Bank as the head of Home Lending nationally. That included all aspects of origination through servicing and portfolio management for both mortgage and home equity. I worked at Santander for six years and the eight years prior to that I worked for a large real estate company, Weichert Real Estate, as President and CEO of Weichert Financial Services which included the mortgage, title, and insurance businesses. Prior to Weichert I worked at Citizens Bank for twelve years in various capacities as MD of Business Banking and President and CEO of Mortgage Banking. So I’ve had mortgage banking in my career since day one.

We’d love to get to know you a little better! Tell us about yourself.

Currently, I live in Massachusetts with my wife, Sue. I grew up in Rhode Island and went to Mt. St. Charles Academy in Woonsocket, RI for high school and Merrimack College in Andover, MA.

Sue and I have two really great kids, Brian and Madison, and three beautiful grandchildren Colton, Kennedy, and Berkeley. We love to be together with each other and our family as much as possible considering everyone has such busy lives. Outside of work I enjoy exercising and spending time on various volunteer activities.

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KATIE WIGNALL, Senior Facilities Support Coordinator

What is your official title and what do you do at Embrace?

My official title is Senior Facilities Support Coordinator, which is a fancy way of saying I help set up/relocate and maintain our retail office locations. I deal with leaky ceilings and HVAC emergencies, coordinate office signage, buy furniture and appliances, hire janitorial companies and pest exterminators, communicate with landlords and property managers, order artwork … you get the idea. I oversee Embrace’s FedEx, Iron Mountain, W.B. Mason, and Amazon accounts. I work with the onboarding group to ensure safe and supportive workspaces, administer our physical access and security accounts, and reconcile rent invoices. Recently, I’ve been the Middletown Chair Fairy, distributing new chairs to those working out of the corporate office.

How long have you worked for Embrace?

It’s five years this month!

What made you want to work at Embrace?

I remember sitting in the 25 lobby before my second interview: there were more awards plaques on the walls than I had time to count. The place was bright, filled with color and light, and everyone spoke so highly of the company! The role looked like a challenge I was ready to tackle, and I am grateful to Deanna for trusting me with the position. Five years later, I’m the one telling painters our shade of orange is called Tango while I order those same company award plaques for the lobby.

What’s one of your favorite Embrace memories?

It was only my first or second week at Embrace when the NE Retail Sales group hosted a thank you outing for some of the operational folks in Middletown. At the time, I was about eight weeks sober from alcohol, so I was extremely nervous to attend this happy hour outing. I remember feeling so fragile as I roamed around that event with a death-grip on my club soda, but Deanna was supportive and introduced me to lots of nice folks. I made it through the night (and next five years!) without alcohol. I give Embrace a little credit here because Embrace gave newly sober me the opportunity by offering me a position, and then in turn offered space for me to grow and face all kinds of challenges. This is the first place I’ve worked hangover-free, and that gives it a special spot in my heart.

How was it working from home for most of this year?

Oh boy. How much time do we have? Cut to commercial.

Just kidding. It’s proven challenging in a variety of ways both personally and professionally. I’m grateful to be working out of the East Providence office more regularly these last six months, especially because it turns out that I need face-to-face interaction with other human beings in order to stay sane!

We’d love to get to know you a little better! Tell us about yourself.

Sure! I’m 34 years old, married with two dogs (Jake & Phoebe), and I live in Warwick, RI. I grew up in Lincoln, RI and despite wanting to move away as an adult, I married a man whose family business is run exclusively in our little Ocean State. But it’s for the best because I’ve really grown to love this place.

As for hobbies, I love to garden, bake, read/write short fiction, eat ice cream, and be outside in the sun! I love Letterkenny, Samwise Gamgee (the real LOTR hero), Vermont, and my nine nieces and nephews. I hate burpees and olives. The end!