Experience
Multilingual Multimedia Loan Disclosure Technology
Business Development, Sales, Compliance and More Meaningful Borrower Experience
Founding Members
George H. Baker is the CEO and Founder of Talkuments, LLC. Directly out of college, he began his career by selling APR calculation software to the mortgage industry. Intrigued by the trade, he went on to become a top loan originator, mortgage broker and mortgage banker. His 33 years of mortgage experience spans all facets of mortgage lending and is anchored by a maturity derived from detailed involvement with loan production.
From 2000 to 2014, Mr. Baker co-developed and managed direct-to-consumer mortgage lending call centers. An innovator, Mr. Baker co-developed business practices and software applications that facilitated and managed batch processing, task and issue management and reporting, and in-process quality control review functions. With a staff that never exceeded 55 full time employees, Mr. Baker co-managed a mortgage banking operation that closed over 25,000 prime loans.
In 2014, Mr. Baker began exploring the concept of Talkuments (short for “talking documents”). He concluded that lenders needed a market solution for the skyrocketing costs associated with new consumer protection laws, sales tools to meet changing consumer demographics and interactive multilingual multimedia technology to complete the digital loan experience. After extensive research, concept validation, and development, Mr. Baker launched Talkuments with the intent to change mortgage industry practices.
Mr. Baker graduated from the University of Delaware with a B.S. in Business Administration. He and his wife have three children and reside in Maryland
Gary Arthur Noubarian is the COO and co-founder of Talkuments. He has over 35 years of experience in real estate and mortgage banking. Gary was a Real Estate Broker in Maryland and the District of Columbia, and with decades of mortgage banking experience, he is uniquely qualified to address many of the issues facing our industry today.
Along with founder, George Baker, Mr. Noubarian created and co-managed call centers from years 2000 to 2013. Total production from his direct to consumer efforts resulted in over 25,000 closed prime loans. His organizational skills and programming talents allowed him to identify and address deficiencies ingrained in today’s loan manufacturing process. His efforts lead to the development and use of software that complimented existing LOS platforms, resulting in quicker loan closing, higher loan quality and a reduction in staff and fixed costs of more than 30 percent.
From a technology perspective, Mr. Noubarian’s opinion is that the mortgage business is several years behind other industries. Consumers have increased their demand for interactive information, however, consumer facing products are virtually non-existent. In addition, Mr. Noubarian believes that consumer facing technology solutions integrated into compliance management systems will help lenders avoid the costs associated with lawsuits, excessive regulation and enforcement.
Mr. Noubarian is a graduate of Elon University. He is an avid motorcyclist and composer.
Joshua Weinberg is a key advisor and founding member of Talkuments. Mr. Weinberg is a nationally recognized speaker, author, consultant and leader in mortgage lending; specializing in integrating compliance and technology. He is currently the President of First Line Compliance.
He works closely with Federal and State Regulators including the CFPB, FDIC, CSBS/AARMR, and the HUD/FHA and participates with many industry associations. He is the Chair of the MBA’s Regulatory Compliance Committee, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of MISMO, a member of the Registered Institutions Working Group for the NMLS, a member of ABA’s Residential Markets Committee, and an Advisory Board Member and Compliance Expert for Mortgage Compliance Magazine.
Mr. Weinberg also consults privately for mortgage lenders and some of the top mortgage technology vendors in the country. Previously he worked for a major LOS vendor where he was in charge of Compliance, Government Loan programs and Reverse Mortgages. He has worked in retail banking environments and also worked independently as the owner of a mortgage brokerage company.
Justin Burtch is a recognized software architect with a nearly 20-year track record of designing and delivering successful software projects. Those projects have included the creation of expert systems to enforce complex bureaucratic rule sets and the modernization of mission software to support the ever-changing world of counterterrorism. As the Chief Technology Officer at Talkuments, LLC, Justin enjoys building innovative engineering teams who share the same passion for solving complex problems and delivering customer delight. In his spare time, he is an avid golfer working his way across the US playing the top courses in the country.
Dustin Smithers provides leadership and technical innovation to direct Talkuments corporate strategy. Dustin has nearly 20 years as a Software and Systems Architect working for various IC agencies successfully implementing mission systems for the enterprise. Based on the belief that mission success depends on high functioning individuals Dustin has committed to create an environment and provide the tools necessary to build highly productive teams.
Matthew Kubal focuses on aligning customer needs with appropriate technologies leveraging over fifteen years of software engineering experience. His ability to provide creative problem solving to address the challenges of successful IT implementations in the IC enables customer mission success.
Advisory Board
Phil Bracken is Chairman of the Board and Founder of the America’s Homeowner Alliance – the advocacy and member benefits alliance for the 75 million existing (and aspiring) Homeowners of America (www.myaha.com)
In addition, he is a Partner at Falcon Capital Advisers where he has responsibility for the Mortgage Marketplace throughout America and Government & Industry Relations in Washington D.C. He was previously the Managing Director of VantageScore Solutions and the Chief Policy Officer and Head of Government & Industry Relations for Radian Guaranty Mortgage Insurance.
For the past 11 years, Mr. Bracken has been Co-Chairman of the Consumer / Lender Roundtable in Washington, DC and President of the Housing Renaissance. He also has served more than 15 years on the Advisory Board of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.
He was formerly Executive Vice President and Head of Government & Industry Relations of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage (WFHM) for 15 years and prior to that was Managing Director of Prudential Home Mortgage.
In 2008, Bracken was awarded the “lifetime achievement award” – The Eagle Award – by the National Association of Real Estate Brokers. In 2009, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) of America awarded Bracken their “lifetime achievement award” – the Andrew D. Woodward Distinguished Service Award. The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) also recognized Bracken in November 2009 with their “lifetime achievement award” – The NAHREP Founders Award. In October, 2015, he received the “lifetime achievement award” – The Trailblazer Award from the National Bankers Association and in 2019 was awarded the Policy Champion Award by the Asian Real Estate Association of America.
He was the architect of the Housing Policy Council in Washington, DC and initiated the Hurricane Katrina Relief Coalition in Washington, DC.
Bracken earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing and management from Eastern Illinois University and played professional baseball before his career in financial services.
Over the past twenty-five years, Monica has focused her efforts on communications and marketing partnership assignments. Monica is a hybrid, working as a consultant, writer, editor, and writing instructor.
Over the course of her business career, Monica has implimented branding and partnership assignments for organizations that include: AT&T and its Olympic Family Program, The American Film Institute, Kellogg’s sponsorship of Major League Baseball, Discovery Communications, the National Endowment for the Humanities, The Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, Audi of America, the National Park Service, and creation and management of the Jesuit Refugee Service’s Lampedusa: Concerts for Refugees with Emmylou Harris and friends. Monica’s projects, which span the globe, involve strategic analysis, targeting and negotiation, project creation, external communications, and relationship management.
In addition to her business practice, Monica debuted a middle grade novel, Freestyle (Schiffer Books) in 2010, and wrote for Science Weekly for seven years. Currently her days are split between consulting, writing, and teaching creative writing (fiction and nonfiction) for WritopiaLab in Washington, D.C.
Monica holds a B.A. from the University of Minnesota, a Master’s in Business Administration from the College of William and Mary, and a Master’s in Fine Arts in Writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Terry Bazyluk is a policy expert, communications executive and former practicing attorney. He has extensive experience in the mortgage and finance markets and the regulatory/political environment in which they operate. Before heading his own consulting firm, he spent nearly a decade as head of executive communications at Freddie Mac.
Bazyluk has served in senior communications and policy roles for a number of CEOs, as well as presidential cabinet secretaries Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell and Robert Reich. His strengths in policy and politics include experience working on two winning presidential campaigns. During a career of more than 25 years, he has gained broad expertise with a range of economic, financial and mortgage market subjects.
Before his transition to communications and public policy, Bazyluk was a law clerk for two federal judges and worked as an attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice and the Washington law firm of Covington & Burling. He received his BA in Philosophy from Harvard College and his JD from the Yale Law School.
A childhood sojourn in Brazil sparked an interest in linguistics and cultural studies that Anne Akamatsu has developed into a 30 year career in language and intercultural communications instruction, course design, and publishing. She spent 10 years in Japan developing corporate training programs for Seiko Epson and Sumitomo Group companies, preparing employees for overseas transfer and to work in English with others from around the world in situations as varied as ship-to-shore communications in Malaysia and EU negotiations in Brussels.
Anne has worked extensively with corporations and universities utilizing the TOEIC assessment tool (Test of English for International Communication, ETS) and coauthors communication skills development courses run at numerous university sites in Japan. Her online work includes predeparture training courses for the Disney College Intern Program and development of online educational products for clients in the language testing field. Anne Akamatsu is the author of 11 textbooks and several online and distance learning products and presentations to include, “Using Common Technology to Build Uncommon Classes,” presented at the Japan Association of Language Teachers 2016 national conference in Nagoya, Japan.In addition to her vibrant consulting and authoring practice, Anne lives in Glen Ellyn, Illinois and is an Adjunct Faculty Instructor at the College of DuPage.
Anne received her Master’s in Art in TESOL from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS) and her Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics from the University of Minnesota. She speaks English, Japanese (advanced) and Spanish (intermediate,) and has also studied French, German, Latin, and Portuguese.
William “Bill” Schneider was the past Director of Internet Sales for First Choice Loan Services, Inc.
Currently, Bill is the Executive Vice President for Consumer Direct Sales at Cross Country Mortgage Services, LLC, one of the largest residential lenders in the USA. Bill supports the operations of Cross Country Mortgage Services related to loan originations through the Mortgage Services Program for COSTCO members. He leads a team that produces over 1 billion in loan volume annually.
Bill has an extensive banking background, serving in leadership positions at Citizens Community Bank, Citibank and WCS Lending.
Out of the office Bill spends time with his wife and two sons.