Jay Promisco On His First Week At Go Companies

This week, Go Companies named Jay Promisco as its CEO, signaling a push toward automation, data-driven mortgage origination and a renewed focus on company culture.

Promisco, who brings 20-plus years of executive leadership experience — including roles at Sierra Pacific Mortgage and Stearns Lending — will lead the technology-driven mortgage platform’s next phase, the company said. His most recent role was at JazzX AI as a senior advisory consultant.

Promisco’s first day at Go Companies was Jan. 19, the company confirmed. He sat down with HousingWire to talk about his first week in the new role, how he plans to emphasize cultural alignment and innovative practices, and the focus on process improvement and overall customer experience.

Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Sarah Wolak: Given that it’s your first week at Go, I wanted to ask about how you ended up in the role.

Jay Promisco: I just ended up meeting the founders and the investment team behind them, which is [majority owner] Jordan Hansell, and spent a long time making sure we were culturally aligned, looking at the business the right way, and if we saw the opportunity in the same way, if that makes sense. It was just by grace that I got introduced to a bunch of like-minded people at the same time.

SW: What were the signs that you and the Go team were culturally aligned and the right fit? Were you looking to lead a company or was this unexpected?

JP: I was looking to do something different in the industry. I wanted to find somebody who wanted to run the business the same way that I do. And inside the mortgage space today, it’s a lot of legacy companies that are kind of stuck looking at the business the same way they looked at it the last 20 years. And I was looking for an opportunity that was thinking about building the mortgage company in the future, not building it the way it needs to be done right now.

SW: How do you plan to use that mindset to run Go Companies and, more specifically, GO Mortgage?

JP: It’s about looking at process, procedure, customer experience, technology, and how do I improve the customer experience in every transaction we do? It’s about leveraging technology and people, and reimagining workflows and reimagining the customer experience, on a sustainable model that’s repeatable.

SW: This is interesting, especially as lenders are under pressure to help their customers through the housing affordability crisis. How do you imagine that you’ll lead GO Mortgage to help borrowers at a time when many want to achieve homeownership but might not know how or where to start?

JP: It’s education first, and then it’s product availability too. One of the things that attracted me to Go was their very wide product set — specifically in the first-time homebuyer space, whether it be down payment assistance programs, education programs, or we specifically have a builder division, where we’re doing renovation loans.

We think the builder space and construction lending is going to be a big thing over the next few years — and likely the near future — because everybody wants to create more housing. We can help do that through construction financing and not relying on big builders to do it. But for the people who want to do it on their own, we’re going to help them through that process as well.

But it’s education first and preparing borrowers for the experience in a way that makes sense, and leading them down that journey with a wide product set, so that we’re not just putting people into the loan that we want to put them in, but it’s the loan that’s right for them.

SW: I’m glad you brought up construction loans, because I understand that’s something that really sets GO Mortgage apart. How do you see that product positioning GO as a leader in the industry? Do you have any predictions for what you think the construction loan market will look like in 2026?

JP: There are a couple different avenues. We have both stick-built construction and we also have manufacturing construction. The new manufactured homes are absolutely phenomenal looking. We’re offering two different versions: With manufactured construction, we can get someone into a house built in less than a year. And we have relationships with other dealers across the country, which allows us to get more inventory available more quickly. Stick-built construction loans are definitely a big part of our business as well.

SW: My last question for you has to do with your leadership strategy and how you don’t want to become a company that’s ‘stuck.’ Are there any other principles that are guiding the leadership that you’re bringing to Go Companies?

JP: I think what the industry needs more than anything right now is to do the right thing always, which it has a hard time doing. And what I mean by that is, putting customers in the right loan at the right time in their lives. That means being disciplined and not trying to make a quick buck.

A lot of lenders today are trying to put customers in the highest-priced loans so that they can maximize their revenue per transaction. The thing that drives me every day is doing the right thing always, whether it’s for the consumer, for the employee, for the loan officers, for the industry.

This team is a phenomenal group of individuals. They’ve been working together for a very long time. We have exceptionally talented originators working in the platform already, and they’re already incredibly successful. So it’s a great team and we’re looking forward to building this thing together. And what I’ve been most excited by is just the way the team already works together. I feel like I came home.