Nick Wolcott
Nick Wolcott has been in risk management and finance for over 17 years, holding mortgage quality control and leadership roles with major companies like State Farm Bank, Fannie Mae, and GMAC/Ally, so he knows a thing or two about keeping financial institutions safe. A Certified Fraud Examiner since 2017, he is today a risk management professional at Gate City Bank, where he’s responsible for mortgage and servicing quality control and expanding and maintaining the bank risk framework including regulatory change management across the entire enterprise. Gate City Bank, headquartered in Fargo, North Dakota, has 43 branch locations throughout the U.S., was ranked #4 in the country on the World’s Best Banks list, and named Best Bank in North Dakota by Forbes.
While his myriad of responsibilities are broad and complex, Nick’s approach is guided by his fundamental mission to keep Gate City safe and stable, from ensuring loan quality to reviewing, developing, and updating policies and procedures as trends, regulations, and guidelines evolve. And it’s not his first time doing so. While working with State Farm Bank, Nick reduced their exposure to repurchase risk by 60%. At Figure Lending, he successfully built out an entire risk and control department, complete with agency-approved quality control and technology integration. He also helped shape the industry wide QC tools and training at Fannie Mae, which lenders across the country use today. It is his unique combination of skill and experience and a passion for research that have time and again helped institutions flourish. “I like using data analysis to get to the root of the problem, then developing a solution from there.” But it’s not all data. Nick also draws on his natural empathy and emotional intelligence when working with colleagues across all departments. “I enjoy working with business units within my company,” he says. “I get to interact with so many different people because QC touches everything. That’s the best part of my job: it’s always something different.”
Originally from the Chicago suburbs, Nick currently resides in Charlotte NC, while previously living in the Philadelphia area for the previous 15 years. He holds a Six Sigma Black Belt and a certification in business creativity, collaboration and inclusivity from MIT Sloan School of Management.
Nick Wolcott
Senior Risk Officer – Lending
Gate City Bank, For a Better Way of Life®
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nickwolcott
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