Brenda White--a remembrance.

Petite, modest, devoted mother, loving wife--not your typical description of a leading Wall Street investment banker who helped shape an industry. But that was Brenda B. White, an investment banker who basically wrote the book on mortgage industry initial public offerings (IPOs) and mergers and acquisitions (M&As) during the heyday of Salomon Brothers and, later, UBS. Brenda passed away in June, and is survived by her husband, Tim; daughter, Adrienne; and stepdaughter, Sarah.

The career-long list of deals she orchestrated reads like a Cliffs Notes version of the modern mortgage banking business. She was smart, articulate, a natural leader, a perfectionist--and she really, really got the mortgage business. And in a business dominated by men, she remained the perfectly dressed, classy, lady in the room--the one people listened to, the one with the expensive fur coat.

Brenda White's client list during her career reads like a Who's Who of Fortune 500 companies and money-center banks (GM, Fleet, GE Capital, PNC, BankAmerica, Travelers and so on). What they all had in common was they wanted in to the mortgage business at one point or another. A list of transactions she was involved with includes some of the seminal deals that shaped the mortgage business over the last three decades. Veteran mortgage banking chief executives remember many of them as the stuff of headlines--in very big type. An article she wrote for Mortgage Banking called "A Decade of Deals" published in October 1995 is a perfect distillation of the factors driving this period of extraordinary deal-making.

Some key participants in those deals remember White's gift for clearly spotting those driving factors as they were forming into powerful currents that would create powerful motivations for sellers and buyers of mortgage companies. John Rabbins, CMB, first met Brenda White in the early 1990s. She did an IPO for his company in April 1992. Then later on she was the investment banker on the sale of his company--American Residential Holding Corporation--to Chase Manhattan Bank in September 1994. It was the start of a stampede of bank purchases of large independent mortgage banking companies. White urged Robbins and his board to complete their transaction quickly, while the appetite from banks was strongest and they would pay a premium to get the deal done.

Robbins says, "Brenda White had a real insight into our industry and was, without question, a highly effective investment banker, having participated in many of the industry's mergers and acquisitions representing either the buyer or seller. She was involved in several of our transactions at American Residential Mortgage and American Mortgage Network. In the process, she became a good friend. Known for her integrity and intelligence, she never failed to contribute to our industry when asked to through participation in various Mortgage Bankers Association [MBA's] committees and assignments. The industry has lost a great asset and a wonderful human being."

Judy Berry also saw White's skills up close when she was part of the management team at American Residential, and later as former executive vice president and chief financial officer for AmNet Mortgage. Berry remembers White as someone who truly helped shape the industry and someone with complete inner access to a lot of senior management at mortgage companies and financial services firms around the country.

Berry recalls back in 1994, when large domestic banks were eager to pay up for mortgage banking firms with national origination franchises. White saw the trend early, and came to American Residential and Robbins with the idea of being acquired early before the stampede of banks came rushing into the mortgage business. White had an ear to the ground and knew which players wanted in to various sectors of financial services.

Berry recalls that, at Robbins' invitation, Brenda White made a presentation to American Residential's board of directors at a June meeting. That ended up convincing management to quickly put the company up for sale to capitalize on the very attractive pricing then available in the market. The company was put on the block within three weeks of the June presentation and the deal closed in September, Berry says. She says it was "a homerun for our shareholders." Berry said the market ended up turning shortly after that point, which is why American Residential ended up getting the top premium for its sale compared with other similar deals during that period.

White was well-known to many in the mortgage business because she was a frequent speaker at MBA's conferences during the 1980s and 1990s. One past MBA chairman, Ron McCord, CMB, said, "When I was in the 'chairs' from 1994 to 1997, there was a lot of M&A activity and special interest in learning more about the [mergers and acquisitions] among our members. Brenda was often a keynote speaker at the [MBA] Senior Executives Conference in New York City, at the Presidents Conference and at the [MBA| national convention. She was not only considered an expert in her field, but willingly shared her knowledge with others." McCord added, "Our industry has been blessed with many wonderful individuals whose wisdom and knowledge they have generously shared with others." He said, "Brenda was one of those individuals."

White began working for Salomon Brothers in 1984 and rose through the ranks, becoming managing director, bead of investment banking to the mortgage industry. Published accounts indicate that it was her promotion at Salomon Brothers in 1994 that was perhaps her proudest professional achievement. This was the period when she helped orchestrate major deals on behalf of The Travelers Corporation, Fleet Financial Group, Primerica Corporation, GE Capital Mortgage Services, BankAmerica Corporation and Lomas Financial Corporation.

She represented GE Capital Mortgage Services in its purchase of Shearson Lehman Hutton Mortgage Corporation, and she did an initial public offering for Fleet Mortgage Group as well as IPOs for American Residential and Margaretten Financial Corporation.

She later would work for UBS Investment Bank as a managing director in the financial institutions group. After that, she founded her own firm and served as president of B.B. White & Company before joining Deloitte & Touche Corporate Finance LLC as managing director, head of financial services.

Later in her career, she had a chance to join a select hand-picked group of 19 mortgage industry experts on a special council to provide thought leadership on where the industry was headed. The assignment had Brenda's name written all over it. Regina Lowrie, CMB, during her year as MBA chairman, decided to create the Council to Shape Change. Lowrie said, "The group, comprised of 19 industry leaders, was tasked with taking an independent look at what the real estate industry might look like in the future and the forces that would be driving change in our industry. I invited Brenda to serve on the council of industry leaders and she willingly accepted the invitation."

Lowrie added, "She was an active participant of the council, bringing her years of knowledge and expertise to all of the meetings and discussions. We all owe her a tremendous debt of gratitude for her commitment to our industry and her tireless efforts over the years." Lowrie added, "I will miss her not only as a colleague but dear friend for many years."

Many of her close business colleagues remember her also as a friend. Her generosity of spirit also inspired her to devote one of her regular columns in Mortgage Ranking to the legacy of Andy Woodward, a leading mortgage banker and former MBA chairman, when he died a few years ago. Woodward also served as chairman of the Council to Shape Change.

In her column, White celebrated Woodward's many accomplishments during his long and successful career. While another one of her columns was devoted to the groundbreaking accomplishments of another storied franchise in mortgage banking circles--Countrywide Home Loans.

Corinne Forti, an industry public relations professional and alumni of American Residential, worked with White to craft her regular column, called Deal Talk. She remembers, "As we worked together on her column, the piece she was proudest of was a tribute to Andy Woodward, whose career as a mortgage banker created a resume which closely mirrored the evolution of the mortgage industry. Brenda, like Andy, was a master of deal-making and a visionary."

But Berry perhaps sums up Brenda White's legacy best, saying, "Brenda was at the center of the IPOs, mergers and acquisitions within the mortgage banking industry during this entire span [the early to late 1990S]. She led more deals than any other banker, and was basically a household name within the corporate development/investment-banking sector. She had a tremendous strategic sense about the industry and she was the go-to banker for IPOs, private sales and mergers. She had a clear mind for how the business worked and where the landscape was headed, and she was known and highly respected on both sides of the table--whether she was representing a buyer or a seller. Brenda was known for her intelligence, knowledge, confidence, humility, professionalism and deep sense of personal integrity."