Chrissi Rhea, co-founder of Mortgage Investors Group, has died

Chrissi Callaghan Rhea, co-founder of Mortgage Investors Group and member of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) board of directors, died on Nov. 8, at the age of 73. 

“Chrissi was a pioneer in the industry, co-founding MIG in the late 1980s and leading the company until just a few months ago,” MBA president and CEO Bob Broeksmit said in a statement. 

Rhea co-founded Knoxville-based MIG in 1989. But in addition to her position as president and CEO at the company, she held various roles for the MBA, including current board member and chair of the MBA residential board of governors in 2023. She was also an engaged member of the IMB executive council.

One of her contributions to the industry was being a “driving force” behind MBA’s efforts to ban abusive mortgage trigger leads, Broeksmit said. 

Rhea was a HousingWire Woman of Influence in 2021. When COVID-19 hit, she swiftly implemented a work-from-home program for over 300 employees across multiple states. 

“My heart is heavy for her family and her colleagues. She was just a tremendous leader for the industry, and someone we’re going to greatly miss as both an industry leader and an advocate for the MBA,” said Gene Lugat, executive vice president of PrimeLending and Rhea’s successor as residential boards of governors chair in 2024.

“We first crossed paths in a peer group meeting around 2015. She was one of the few women in the room,” added Kate deKay, CEO of Eustis Mortgage. “She was a true force–a leader who had the utmost respect, yet was unpretentious, warm and wonderfully real.” 

Rhea’s son, Kevin Rhea, who worked with her at MIG for over two decades, said she was a “force in mortgage banking.” 

“Starting Mortgage Investors Group with a handful of people in 1989, she built it into one of the Southeast’s leading mortgage lenders, all while championing fair lending and affordable housing.”

As of Friday, per the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS), the mortgage lender had 150 sponsored loan officers and 43 active branch locations. According to tech platform Modex, the lender has originated about $940 million in loans over the last 12 months.