Patty Arvielo

Chief Executive Officer, Co-founder, New American Funding

Patty Arvielo has been a leader in the mortgage industry for nearly 40 years. She has worked her way up from the bottom rung and gained extensive knowledge of the entire industry along the way. Over the course of her career, she functioned in a variety of capacities, from underwriting to processing to her current role as Co-Founder and CEO of New American Funding.

A first-generation Hispanic American, Patty learned the value of hard work from her mother, who built a successful cleaning business in California. At age 16, she entered the workforce with an entry-level clerical position at TransUnion Credit. From there, Patty landed a job at a prominent mortgage company, where she would rise through the ranks from a clerical loan opener all the way to branch manager to assistant vice president.

Living by the credo “with risk comes reward,” she and her husband Rick Arvielo launched their own mortgage company in 2003. In the years since, Patty has transformed New American Funding into one of the largest independent mortgage lenders in the U.S., one that helps tens of thousands of families achieve the dream of homeownership every year.

She also oversaw the creation and expansion of the company’s retail lending operation, which grew a small local operation to a national powerhouse with 285 locations and more than 4,700 employees across the country.

In fact, New American Funding is now the largest Latina-owned private mortgage company in the nation, appearing on Inc. 5000’s list of Fastest Growing Companies in America eight times. But Patty's company isn’t only defined by its size. Thanks to her dedication to creating an inclusive and encouraging environment, New American Funding has also become one of the best places to work in the entire country. 

Patty, Rick, and New American Funding recognize the importance of diversity and inclusion. As a result, New American Funding is committed to fostering, cultivating, and preserving a culture that respects and appreciates differences among employees, whether those differences are in ethnicity, gender, race, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, education, or religion.

The company has also been recognized multiple times as one of the best workplaces in the nation by FORTUNE and Great Place to Work®, including as a Best Workplace in Financial Services and Insurance, Best Workplace for Women, and Best Workplace for Millennials.

Patty's natural leadership qualities have led her to champion her team and give back as a mentor to help her employees grow their skill sets and careers. Her quarterly mentorship program, “Thrive and Lead,” provides New American Funding employees and external mortgage professionals intensive mentoring.

She also established the company’s “If You Want to Grow, We Want to Know” mentorship program, which allows employees to openly share their goals and aspirations with Arvielo and the company’s senior leaders for potential advancement in the company. Additionally, Patty and New American Funding recently rolled out the “360 Mentorship Program,” which matches an internal leader with another employee who is pursuing career advancement. The program serves as an opportunity for the mentor to share their knowledge, aid in the mentee’s professional development, and help the mentee develop the skills needed to work towards and pursue advanced career goals.

Beyond creating an enviable working environment, Patty has also driven New American Funding to become an industry leader in lending to diverse communities. In that spirit, she established the company’s Latino Focus and NAF Black Impact initiatives to improve the lending experiences of Latino and Black homebuyers, respectively.

Those initiatives have led New American Funding to become one of the top lenders to Latino and Black borrowers. As a result, Patty is a coveted national voice on lending to diverse communities, frequently advising federal and state lawmakers, federal and state regulators, governmental agencies, other large lenders, and much more on this critically important issue.

Patty was named to the 2022 Forbes 50 Over 50 list, which honors women for their “historic achievements and barrier-breaking success after 50.” Patty has been repeatedly honored for her leadership by Profiles in Diversity Journal, was named one of the 100 Influential Latinos by Bloomberg Linea, was inducted into the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Hall of Fame, named one of Most Powerful Women in Mortgage by Mortgage Banker Magazine, recognized as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Latinas by Latino Leaders Magazine, and named Latina Style’s Latina Executive of the Year.