Humboldt Group Advisors is the independent practice of Howard Michalski — founding COO of a national mortgage platform, zero to $10 billion.
For mortgage lenders, lending fintechs, and the sponsors behind them. Operator fluency, not advisory study.
Sell side and buy side. The strong deals find prepared buyers — come in unprepared, even the bad ones stay away.
The market already has an opinion about you — it’s shaping every recruit, every seller, every LO.
The market sees your leaks before you do — in the talent you can’t attract and the pricing you can’t hold.
Even world-class lenders lose 20–30% a year. That’s 30% growth just to stand still.
The market is retooling around you. What’s real, what’s hype, and the sequencing that doesn’t blow up production.
Never five services. Every engagement starts with one pillar — the value is that they’re connected, because a lending business is one business.
A $1.5B retail lender. 34 branches on net P&L. We rebuilt pricing branch by branch — and took back twenty basis points.
Pricing model rebuild
A $1.5B national retail lender — 34 branches across 12 states on net-branch P&L. Pricing, margin model, and cost allocation redesigned and rolled out branch by branch. Roughly 20 bps of profitability returned to the P&L.
Acquisition, turnaround, exit
A stalled specialty lender/servicer deal brought to close, GSE servicing contracts renegotiated post-close, then a successful sell-side exit. The full lifecycle, one operator.
Ownership transition
Technical advisor to an exiting minority owner — translating operations, financials, and lending mechanics so he could negotiate a partner buy-out on equal footing. Parties reached a definitive agreement.
Operator, acquirer, sponsor, founder, advisor — every side of the table. 100 deals of deep diligence, 70+ acquisitions closed, 220+ locations integrated, 1,800 employees.
COO of a PE-owned platform: a $100M private credit fund launched and scaled, multi-channel distribution built, capital-markets take-outs established. Before that: GE Capital, Fannie Mae automated underwriting, U.S. Army intelligence.