Hal Knowlton

Current

• Chief Technology Officer at Kinecta Federal Credit Union

Past

• Senior IT Consultant at New Vista Group, LLC
• Vice President, Business Relationship Manager at Ameriquest Mortgage Company
• Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Prudential Fox & Roach Realtors / The Trident Group

• Director Information Systems, Chief Technology Officer at Kaufman and Broad Home Corporation
• Vice President, IT Account Manager at Great Western Bank
• Executive Vice President, Chief Information Officer at Clearview Capital and Prime Financial Corporations
• Senior Vice President, Management Information Systems at Victoria Mortgage Corporation
• Senior Vice President, Data Processing at Shearson Lehman Hutton Mortgage Corporation
• Applications Systems Supervisor at Title Insurance and Trust Company

see less...

6 more...

Education

• University of Phoenix
• Colorado State University
• Casper College

• Anthoney Schools
• Anthony Schools
• California State University
• California State University
• California State University
• University of Irvine
• Wilson Learning Center

see less...

7 more...

Recommended

12 people have recommended Hal

Connections

301 connections

Industry

Information Technology and Services

Websites

• My Website

Hal Knowlton’s Summary

Highly effective technology visionary and sometime pioneer. As CIO, CTO and Applications Development executive; actively partnered with senior management to align technology with strategic business initiatives to achieve growth and improve profitability. Notable accomplishments include: reduced loan origination/operations annual operating expense $92 Million; created industry leading real estate brokerage, mortgage, title insurance, property and casualty insurance, and relocation website generating annually $45 Million; created a mortgage Conduit Division originating annually $3 Billion; reduced secondary market/investor delivery cycle time 200%; and created mortgage warehouse lending department generating annually $9 Million.

Hal Knowlton’s Specialties:

Expertise in strategic planning, business & technology integration, business process re-engineering, application & web development, operations & infrastructure management, and resource management.

Industry Experience: Mortgage Banking, Real Estate Brokerage, Residential Construction and Title Insurance.

Hal Knowlton’s Experience

• Chief Technology Officer

  Kinecta Federal Credit Union

  (Non-Profit; 501-1000 employees; Banking industry)

  March 2007 — Present (2 years 9 months)

  $4.4 Billion credit union. Developed and implemented Information Technology Strategic Plan to align technology resources and investment with business initiatives. Lead all aspects of IT.

• Senior IT Consultant

  New Vista Group, LLC

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

  April 2006 — August 2006 (5 months)

  Senior IT Consultant at Aurora Loan Services (a Lehman Brothers subsidiary). Developed SOX complient SDLC policies & procedures and led Image-to-Image project.

• Vice President, Business Relationship Manager

  Ameriquest Mortgage Company

  (Privately Held; 10,001 or more employees; Financial Services industry)

  July 2003 — June 2005 (2 years )

  Joined $35 Billion specialty mortgage lender as VP, Business Relationship Manager (Applications Development Manager) to stabilize and significantly enhance mission critical loan origination system. Met initial objectives in six months. Responsibilities expanded to lead management, point-of-sale and pricing systems. Appointed to ASAP Board of Directors (strategic initiative to build next generation systems) where I contributed to application architecture, directed development of two critical subsystems and built ASAP Quality Assurance program. In conjunction with corporate & IT reorg, responsibilities expanded to include Ameriquest's B2C and internal B2E websites. Managed outsourced development (on shore and off shore India) for Ameriquest systems. Directed activities for network infrastructure, servers, data repositories and help desk functions supporting Ameriquest Mortgage Company. Role evolved to Division Information Officer. Staff of 320; $55 Million budget.

• Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer

  Prudential Fox & Roach Realtors / The Trident Group

  (Privately Held; 1001-5000 employees; Financial Services industry)

  July 2001 — March 2003 (1 year 9 months)

  Recruited to this privately held $12 billion real estate brokerage and financial services organization to identify and resolve operational deficiencies and turn technology into a “strategic weapon” in the company's markets. As a member of Senior Leadership Group, bridged the gap between business needs and technology strategy and IS investment decisions. Appointed to Business Excellence Team as member of inaugural Steering Committee. Quick resolution of debilitating problems impacting mission critical systems contributed to Prudential Fox & Roach Realtors / The Trident Group ascending from 8th to the nation’s 4th largest combined real estate brokerage and financial services firm. Managed internal and outsourced applications development. Directed server operations, LAN/WAN/broadband VPN/wireless networks, help desk, field technical support, security, capacity/contingency planning, IS purchasing, and contract negotiations/administration. Staff of 29; $6.2 million budget.

• Director Information Systems, Chief Technology Officer

  Kaufman and Broad Home Corporation

  (Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; KBH; Construction industry)

  February 1988 — February 2002 (14 years 1 month)

  Recruited to $2 Billion Fortune 500 homebuilder to orchestrate technical strategies to make KB Homes nation’s largest homebuilder. Appointed CIO Kaufman and Broad Mortgage Company and Director of enterprise Y2K Program. As CTO, appointed to IT Steering Committee to insure IT investments align with business strategies . As mortgage company CIO, chaired IT Steering Committee. Implemented mid-range, LAN/WAN, telecom, server, and desktop enterprise technology standards. Directed data warehouse, call center and mortgage applications development. Directed network, telecom & operations in 3 data centers and 35 regional IT centers supporting 180 offices. Directed Customer Service Center plus corporate & field technical support. Managed IT vendor relations & contract negotiation. Developed/implemented multinational Y2K Compliance Program for technical platforms, facilities, supplier/business partners and contingency planning. Staff of 210, $12 Million annual budget plus $4.1 Million Y2K budget.

• Vice President, IT Account Manager

  Great Western Bank

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Banking industry)

  July 1996 — October 1997 (1 year 4 months)

  Recruited to Fortune 500 thrift institution to manage the relationship between IT and $40 billion Real Estate Services Division. Appointed to the Technology Architecture Committee to insure infrastructure aligned with business needs. Appointed co-chair of IT Change Control Board. Administered Real Estate Services Division IT policy and procedure, application systems development/acquisition, computer operations, LAN/WAN networks, telecom, hardware acquisitions, and data center capacity/disaster recovery planning. In late 1997 Washington Mutual merger resulted in elimination of senior IT leadership positions.

• Executive Vice President, Chief Information Officer

  Clearview Capital and Prime Financial Corporations

  (Privately Held; 501-1000 employees; Financial Services industry)

  January 1996 — June 1996 (6 months)

  Recruited to closely held $300 Million Title I mortgage originator and servicer as a member of the Executive Management Team to establish synergistic policies, procedures, and operating environments in both companies. I resigned my position when I discovered on-going use of highly unethical and potentially illegal business practices. Subsequent formal investigations resulted in the Board of Directors restructuring the companies. Directed all aspects of IT operations and applications development. Staff of 28, $1.5 Million annual budget.

• Senior Vice President, Management Information Systems

  Victoria Mortgage Corporation

  (Privately Held; 1001-5000 employees; Financial Services industry)

  March 1992 — December 1995 (3 years 10 months)

  Recruited to $1.2 Billion mortgage bank as member of Executive Management Team by the Managing Director and co-founder of joint venture between Managing Director and Western Bank to assist in positioning division for sale or merger. Completion of initial objectives contributed to division being sold in October 1993. Shortly thereafter, rapidly deteriorating economic conditions and a failed second merger forced firm to downsize 75%. Reorg included drastic reductions in MIS investment negating, by the Managing Director’s reluctant acceptance of my recommendation, the need for my position. Re-hired as consultant to drive rapid re-expansion of branch network. Directed mainframe, mid-range and desktop application development, computer operations, LAN/WAN networks, telecom, hardware/software acquisitions, and data center capacity/contingency planning. Staff of 28, $2.1 Million annual budget. Victoria Mortgage collapsed in early 1996.

• Senior Vice President, Data Processing

  Shearson Lehman Hutton Mortgage Corporation

  (Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; Financial Services industry)

  September 1977 — February 1992 (14 years 6 months)

  Recruited to mortgage bank as Sr. Project Leader by former manager to meet aggressive growth objectives. Over fourteen years I was promoted to Assistant Vice President, Vice President, and finally Senior Vice President, Data Processing (essentially CIO). Continually played vital role in growing company from 27th to 8th largest mortgage bank with annual originations of $15 Billion and servicing portfolio of more than $25 Billion. Repeatedly recognized by executive management for high impact contribution to strategic business initiatives including at the request of the CEO, creation of the Conduit Division. Developed and implemented operational, tactical and strategic IT plans for the enterprise. Managed mainframe, mini and desktop application systems development. Managed computer operations, LAN/WAN networks, hardware/software acquisition, and contract negotiation/administration. Grew staff from 4 to of 48, $5.6 Million annual budget.

• Applications Systems Supervisor

  Title Insurance and Trust Company

  (Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; Financial Services industry)

  October 1972 — August 1977 (4 years 11 months)

  Joined company as Programmer Trainee on Personal Trust Accounting System project. Received promotion to Programmer, Programmer/Analyst, Senior Programmer/Analyst, Project Leader and finally Applications Systems Supervisor. Received special recognition award from CEO, Mr. Rocko Siciliano, for contribution to Personal Trust project. Managed staff of 12 Programmers, Programmer/Analysts and/or Project Leaders supporting 22 financial systems.

Hal Knowlton’s Education

• University of Phoenix

  MBA/TM , Technology Management , December 1995 — February 1998

• Colorado State University

  BS, Business Administration , Management Science and Information Systems , September 1970 — June 1972

• Casper College

  Associates of Business , Data Processing , September 1967 — June 1970

• Anthoney Schools

  Continuing Education , California Real Estate Practice , July 2005

  In Progress

• Anthony Schools

  California Real Estate License , Real Estate , June 2005

• California State University

  Continuing Education , Marketing With eCommerce , June 2001

• California State University

  Continuing Education , eCommerce Applications , April 2001

• California State University

  Continuing Education , Building e-Commerce Sites , November 2000

• University of Irvine

  Continuing Education , E-Business Technology Overview for Professionals , October 2000

• Wilson Learning Center

  Continuing Education , Managing Interpersonal Relationships , July 1978

Additional Information

Hal Knowlton’s Websites:

• My Website

Hal Knowlton’s Interests:

Business & Pleasure Reading Golf, Fresh & Deep Sea Fishing, Snow Skiing, Scuba Diving Investing, Fine Art, Coin Collecting

Hal Knowlton’s Groups:

Free and Accepted Masons California, South Pasadena Lodge No. 290

•    CIO Exchange
•    ACC Professionals
•    Ameriquest Information Technology Alumni

Hal Knowlton’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• job inquiries
• expertise requests
• business deals
• reference requests
• getting back in touch