First Heritage Mortgage Expands Executive Leadership Team, Positioning Company for Historic Growth
Industry veterans Jennifer Dorr and Bryan Bjerk join FHM as the company targets a 25% increase in sales volume in 2026 and plans to double production within three years.
FAIRFAX, VA — First Heritage Mortgage (FHM), one of the nation’s leading independent mortgage lenders, today announced the appointment of Jennifer Dorr as Senior Vice President of Compliance and Risk and Bryan Bjerk as Executive Vice President of Capital Markets. These strategic hires reflect the company’s aggressive growth trajectory and its commitment to building a world-class leadership team capable of sustaining and accelerating that momentum.
First Heritage Mortgage is entering a new phase of expansion, with projections showing a 25% increase in closed loan volume in 2026 alone, and plans to double total production over the next two to three years. The addition of Dorr and Bjerk to the executive team signals FHM’s intention to scale not just in volume, but in operational sophistication, risk maturity, and market positioning. Notably, with Dorr’s appointment, women now make up 25% of FHM’s executive leadership team, a reflection of the company’s broader commitment to building diverse, high-caliber leadership.
“We are incredibly fortunate to welcome Bryan and Jen to the First Heritage Mortgage family. Both bring an extraordinary depth of expertise and a track record of results that is exactly what this moment demands. We are in the midst of significant, sustained growth. These appointments are a direct reflection of that. Bryan’s command of capital markets and Jen’s mastery of compliance and risk will be force multipliers as we scale. With leaders like these in place, I am more confident than ever in our ability to continue growing and to deliver exceptional outcomes for our borrowers, our partners, and our team.” – Steven Lagana, President, First Heritage Mortgage
Jennifer Dorr | Senior Vice President, Compliance and Risk
Jennifer Dorr brings more than two decades of mortgage industry experience to First Heritage Mortgage, having started her career on the front lines as a Mortgage Loan Officer before advancing through senior operations and management roles. This ground-up foundation, combined with early experience as a Legislative Assistant at Lehman Brothers tracking congressional and regulatory developments, gives her an unmatched perspective on both the practical and regulatory dimensions of the business.
Jen built the compliance function at her previous organization from the ground up, guiding it through landmark regulatory shifts, including loan officer licensure and TRID, all while the company scaled rapidly. Her philosophy that compliance enables growth rather than impeding it makes her ideally suited for FHM’s current moment. Outside of work, Jen is Co-Founder and Secretary of the Board for Lace ‘Em Up for Libby, a nonprofit supporting childhood cancer research and youth community services.
Bryan Bjerk | Executive Vice President, Capital Markets
Bryan Bjerk brings a rare combination of quantitative rigor, trading acumen, and secondary marketing leadership to First Heritage Mortgage. He joins FHM following four years as Vice President of Secondary Marketing at Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation, where he managed a multi-billion-dollar pipeline along with MSR hedging strategies, MBS and derivatives trading, quantitative modeling, and analytics. Prior to Fairway, Bryan served as Hedge Portfolio Manager at Compass Analytics, overseeing secondary marketing strategies for a diverse roster of banks, originators, servicers, and hedge funds.
A CFA Charterholder, Bryan holds a Master’s in Applied Economics from Georgetown University, a Post-Graduate Certificate in Machine Learning from Cornell University, and a Bachelor of Science in Applied Economics from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. He is currently an MBA candidate at the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business. At FHM, Bryan will focus on modernizing the company’s capital markets platform and driving efficiency across pricing, hedging, trading, and investor relations.