Gary Mauris surprised by Albert Collu’s resignation

“Wayne Gretzky left the Edmonton Oilers,” Mauris said. And they still won an additional Stanley Cup

Even “Wayne Gretzky left the Edmonton Oilers,” Mauris said. And they still won an additional Stanley Cup

“[Albert] just decided to resign. We don’t know where he’s going at this point. A little disappointing; we like Albert, we think he was doing a pretty good job for us,” Gary Mauris, president and CEO of Dominion Lending Centres, told MortgageBrokerNews.ca. “I assume he’s going to a competitor. We’re grateful for his tenure here. He’s been with us for seven months; he got us through the takeover and transition. We wish him the best in his future endeavours.”

Collu has acted as president and CEO of Mortgage Architects – which was purchased by DLC in late 2015 -- for over seven years. He tendered his resignation last Thursday.

His resignation caught Mauris by surprise.

“Yeah, it did. We got Albert on board in January and we made a promise we would not be active in the business, day to day, and we haven’t been,” he said. “The relationship has been great all the way up to the surprise email that came last Thursday.”

DLC was swift in appointing Collu’s replacement, Dong Lee.

“As soon as we got notified by Albert last week … it was very easy for us. I think you’ll see great things with Mortgage Architects in the next few years,” Mauris said. “There was no guess in any way shape or form who we wanted. We thought Dong could have been the #1 guy for the last five years.”

Lee previously served as VP of operations with Mortgage Architects. And DLC is confident the 15 year veteran will continue to help the network succeed.

“Business is business. People come and go. Wayne Gretzky left the Edmonton Oilers,” Mauris said. “We hate to see him go because we thought he did a good job. With any type of change always comes opportunity. And mark my words: Dong Lee is going to knock it out of the park.

“We’re not sad; we’re excited.”

MortgageBrokerNews.ca is awaiting a response from Albert Collu.