Management

Mark A. Casale is the founder of Essent and has served as Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the board of directors since 2008. Mr. Casale serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors and has more than 25 years of financial services management experience, with senior roles in the areas of mortgage banking, mortgage insurance, bond insurance and capital markets. From 2001 to 2007, Mr. Casale held various senior management positions with Radian Group, Inc., including most recently serving as the president of its mortgage insurance subsidiary, Radian Guaranty, Inc. Prior to that, Mr. Casale oversaw capital markets and strategic investments for Radian and managed its joint venture businesses. Mr. Casale also held various management positions with Advanta Corp., a financial services company, including serving as its senior vice president of corporate finance services. Mr. Casale holds a BS in accounting from St. Joseph's University and an MBA in finance from New York University.

Vijay Bhasin has served as Senior Vice President and Chief Risk Officer since 2009. Mr. Bhasin has significant mortgage finance industry expertise, including holding multiple senior management positions specializing in mortgage risk, modeling and analytics. From 2006 to 2008, Mr. Bhasin served as a managing director of Countrywide Financial Corporation/Bank of America, a mortgage lender, with responsibility for capital assessment, asset liability management, counterparty credit risk measurement and structured credit analytics. Earlier in his career, Mr. Bhasin held several management positions with Freddie Mac, including vice president for credit and prepayment modeling, and held research positions with Fannie Mae and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Mr. Bhasin holds a BS in mechanical engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, India, an MBA in finance and marketing from Southern Illinois University, and a PhD in finance from Indiana University, Bloomington.

Mary Lourdes Gibbons has served as Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Assistant Secretary since 2008. Ms. Gibbons has more than 20 years of experience in the mortgage industry. From 2003 to 2008, Ms. Gibbons served as chief legal officer of Wilmington Finance, Inc., a mortgage lender. Ms. Gibbons began her career at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court and White and Williams LLP, a law firm. Ms. Gibbons mortgage-related experience includes senior roles at ContiMortgage Corp. and Advanta Mortgage Corp. Ms. Gibbons holds a BS in marketing from St. Joseph's University and a JD from The Delaware Law School.

Joseph G. Hissong has served as President of Essent Reinsurance Ltd. (Essent Re) since 2015. Mr. Hissong has over 25 years of experience, specializing in strategy development and execution of new business initiatives associated with international reinsurance transactions and strategic investment opportunities. Before joining Essent Re, Mr. Hissong served as Executive Director with the Cartesian Re Group. Prior to Cartesian Re, he served as Executive Director and Head of Private Equity and Strategic Investments for PartnerRe where he sponsored PartnerRe’s original investment in Essent. Mr. Hissong also served as Managing Director for Swiss Re Financial Services where he was the senior legal officer of the U.S. insurance and reinsurance units. He was also a partner in the international law firm of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, LLP. Mr. Hissong graduated from the University of Chicago Law School and earned his Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and philosophy from Fordham University.

Lawrence E. McAlee has served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since 2009. Mr. McAlee has over 25 years of experience in the areas of finance, accounting, controls and risk management. Between 2002 and 2009, Mr. McAlee held a series of senior management positions at Sovereign Bancorp, Inc., including serving as its chief accounting officer, general auditor and chief enterprise risk management officer. Prior to joining Sovereign, Mr. McAlee was a partner with Arthur Andersen LLP. Mr. McAlee holds a BS in accounting from St. Joseph's University and is a certified public accountant.

Mr. Wollmann has served as Chief Underwriting Officer of Essent Reinsurance Ltd. since 2015 and has been with Essent Re since 2009. From 2007 to 2009, Mr. Wollmann was a Managing Director, Structured & Asset-Backed Finance for RAM Holdings Ltd. In addition to his reinsurance background in Bermuda, he has extensive experience in the structured finance area. Mr. Wollmann was previously employed as a Managing Director at RCS Limited and Ritchie Capital Management (Bermuda) Limited, both alternative asset management firms, from 2004 to 2007. From 1997 to 2004, Mr. Wollmann was with ACE Capital Re International Ltd. (now known as Assured Guaranty Re) where he last served as a Senior Vice President. He holds a BA from Rollins College, Florida, an MBA from The School of Risk Management, Insurance and Actuarial Science, St. John's University, New York, and holds the following insurance designations: Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter, Associate in Reinsurance and an Associate in Risk Management.