Executive Leader Entrepreneur Strategy Advisor Accredited Investor Director
Strategy Development
M&A Advisory
Capital Raising
Organizational Design
Product Development
Performance Optimization
Rick Seehausen
Professional Summary
Rick is a seasoned executive, entrepreneur, and strategic advisor with a proven track record of driving innovation and growth in tech-enabled and SaaS financial services companies over the past four decades. His expertise spans corporate leadership, strategic planning, operations and business development, with a focus on transforming organizations and delivering value.
Rick currently serves as a board director for Maxwell Labs, Inc., and as a board advisor to Rocktop Technologies and Swiched. His leadership continues to shape innovation and growth within these organizations.
In 2023, Rick advised LauraMac, an early-stage fintech company, where he played a pivotal role in unlocking millions in new sales, developing a comprehensive product and growth strategy, recruiting top talent, and leading key corporate development initiatives.
From 2019 to 2022, Rick was Vice Chairman, President, and COO of Cherry Creek Mortgage and Cherry Creek Holdings, a top-50 independent mortgage lender and a holding company for multiple affiliated businesses. In this role, he oversaw corporate services, including IT, operations, compliance, marketing, HR, finance, and accounting. He also spearheaded strategic initiatives, including acquiring a national real estate brokerage and proptech company and launched several new businesses, such as a national property and casualty insurance agency, a title and settlement business, and multiple joint ventures.
Rick co-founded Preserv Financial, Inc. in 1995 and LenderLive Holdings, Inc. in 1999. At LenderLive, he held various senior leadership roles before becoming President and CEO in 2003. Under his leadership, the company executed a balanced strategy of organic growth and M&A, culminating in a successful sale in 2014.
As a senior advisor to numerous ventures over the past decade, Rick continues to shape the future of financial services. He is an active supporter of the Colorado Mortgage Lenders Association and its Executive Forum. His philanthropic efforts include supporting BP’s Fight Against ALS, Habitat for Humanity, and the Colorado Homeownership Coalition.
Investments, Mergers and Acquisitions
Throughout his career, Rick identified and successfully executed on multiple strategic acquisitions.
He was responsible for the acquisition of Guardian Mortgage Documents in 2008, which transformed LenderLive from a mono-line loan processing company into a diversified tech-enabled services provider.
While at LenderLive, Rick continued to make opportunistic investments in five more platforms, including two title companies in 2011 and 2013, an innovative technology platform in 2014, and a specialized document compliance business in 2015. In 2017, he negotiated the acquisition of PHH’s private label services operations, which established LenderLive as the nations largest provider of loan fulfillment services.
in 2019, Rick led the financial restructuring of Cherry Creek Mortgage, which resulted in the creation of Cherry Creek Holdings and the successful divestiture of the company's founding capital partner. At Cherry Creek he also led the formation of Found It Companies, which included the acquisition of a national real estate brokerage, the creation of a P&C insurance agency and a title business. All together, Found It represented a tech-forward, ecosystem of real-estate, mortgage, insurance and settlement.
Rick currently holds investments in several private companies, including Covius Holdings, Neat Capital, LauraMac, and Maxwell.
Career Highlights
From 1985 to 1996 Rick held management positions with nationally recognized corporations including Citicorp, Mortgage Plus Incorporated, FirstPlus Financial and City National Bank.
In 1996, Rick co-founded Preserve Financial, Inc., a traditional first and second lien independent mortgage lender, where he served as the company’s Chairman, President and CEO from inception. Among his other accomplishments, Rick led a development team that created the Originator™ software application, a complete loan origination system and workflow management tool. During the credit crisis of 1998, Rick transformed Preserv from mortgage banker to software company. Upon selling Preserv to LenderLive in 1999, Originator became the nucleus of the LenderLive technology platform.
From 1999 through 2017, Rick was responsible for developing LenderLive’s strategy and converting it into a tactical reality. In addition to capitalizing on growth periods in the industry, Rick persevered through challenging times, successfully transforming LenderLive through the financial meltdown of 2008.
Under Rick’s continued leadership, LenderLive became the premier provider of technology and outsourced services to the nation’s largest banks, credit unions, vehicle finance companies and independent mortgage companies. He and the company developed strong relationships with the top four money center banks, 23 of the top 40 US banks by asset size, many of the nation’s largest credit unions and the industry’s leading independent mortgage companies.
In 2019 Rick joined the board of Cherry Creek Mortgage to provide oversight to the company and assist in a capital restructure. In 2020, Rick joined Cherry Creek full time as its President and COO, where he was responsible for all corporate operations.
In 2023, Rick joined Calterra Capital, where he provided advisory assistance to its portfolio investments, including LauraMac.
Rick is currently serving as an independent board director for Maxwell Labs, Inc, and is actively pursuing other ventures.