Embrace Employee Spotlight: Pam Costa & Kevin Bjork

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 — new employees that many of us haven’t met yet as we continue to work remotely during the pandemic.

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]

KEVIN BJORK, Alliance Development Manager/VP – Financial Institutions Group

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

I’m part of the Financial Institutions Group (FIG) and I’m the Alliance Development Manager/VP. My job is to work with the FIG leadership team to help migrate the Ameriprise partnership to a joint venture. I help to develop and grow Embrace’s market offerings in joint venture, marketing services agreement relationships, and strategic outsourcing agreements. I also help recruit and support staffing for sales and operations of FIG partnerships, support other FIG leaders with relationship management activities, and use best practices and network to help Embrace exceed goals and vision.

What made you want to work at Embrace? 

Quite a few different things:

• The customer- and team member-focused culture.
• Getting to know many of the leaders and their focus on building a world-class organization.
• The opportunity to contribute and leverage my past experiences to help grow the FIG organization.
• Embrace’s commitment to the joint venture and partnership models.
• The ability to help build and grow the partnership channel at Embrace.

One of of the things that gets me out of bed is to help build and grow world class partnerships. I also love working with outstanding people that are also motivated to be the best they can be professionally.

How has it been starting a new job during COVID?

Very challenging. I have only met folks via Teams and Zoom calls. However, I must say that the onboarding experience so far has completely surpassed by expectations. Even with COVID, the onboarding team has done an outstanding job making me feel welcome and part of Embrace. Two of my former team members that are onboarding at Embrace as I write this have told me the same thing. Their words: “We have been blown away by the onboarding experience.”

So far, working at Embrace has been outstanding and I have never felt so supported.

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

I have been in the mortgage industry my whole career, primarily at Wells Fargo. I have held numerous leadership roles in Capital Markets, Correspondent/Wholesale, and Joint Venture channels. I was a business analyst and senior project manager as well. These roles really helped me to refine my ability to analyze and execute change.

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

• I’m originally from Chicago, IL, but grew up in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota.
• I have done a fair amount of travel abroad and I have four adopted children from Romania, Bulgaria, and two from Guatemala.
• I love the outdoors and enjoy biking, hiking, fishing, and camping.
• I have a 120-pound Greater Swiss Mountain Dog that thinks he is a lap dog, which makes for interesting snuggle time on the couch.
• I enjoy spending time with my family at our lake place in northern Minnesota where we play games, laugh, and share life together.

PAM COSTA, Martech Execution Specialist

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

Martech Execution Specialist. I do all things email-related in Total Expert and Hubspot — real estate agent emails, customer emails, prospect emails, email newsletters, email nurtures, email journeys, direct emails, custom emails.

How long have you worked for Embrace?

10 years, this past February.

What made you want to work at Embrace?

After working in print marketing for 10 years in education financing, Embrace offered a more robust marketing experience where I could learn and grow. After learning more about mortgages in print and event marketing, I changed my focus to email marketing.

What’s one of your favorite Embrace memories?

My home and property were flooded by a nearby development which left us with no running water for about three months. Embrace raised/donated money so I could pay for the repairs we needed.

How has it been working from home for most of this year? Has Embrace made it easier for you in any way?

I do enjoy not having to drive every day, but I miss seeing everyone in the office. Working from home has given me the opportunity to be more involved in my daughter’s remote education. I was able to recreate my cubicle in my home office space to make the transition easier.

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

I live in Westport, MA with my youngest daughter, husband, and three dogs. We also have four adult children and one grandchild. I have lived in southeastern Massachusetts my entire life and attended Diman Regional Vocational High School where I majored in Automotive Technologies. I received my Associated Degree in Computer Science from Fisher College. We spend most of our free time from May to October camping or tractor pulling.