“NEO has already built what the industry is still trying to name,” Lees said in a statement. “My role is to define the brand architecture behind it — then scale it, so every advisor and every client can experience what makes this model different.”
Lees has led previous growth initiatives across mortgage and fintech organizations like Novus Home Mortgage and Robbins Research International.
“As NEO expands, our presence has to match the people behind it,” said Ryan Grant, president of NEO Home Loans. “Bri brings the clarity and structure to align our story, our systems, and how we grow.”
The addition of Lees to the NEO Home Loans team marks another step in the company’s hiring spree and retail expansion.
Earlier this month, NEO added Jim Juergens to the team as a branch leader for distributed retail to expand the company’s presence in Texas. In early September, NEO brought on the Gustafson team from loanDepot.
Since partnering with Better in early 2025, NEO Home Loans served approximately 1,000 borrowers and posted $428 million in funded volume in the second quarter of 2025, per Better’s earnings release.
