News Source: Friday Harbor
Seasoned hires bring product and partnership firepower as Friday Harbor scales AI-native mortgage tech
SEATTLE, Wash., July 24, 2025 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Friday Harbor, an AI-powered platform that helps loan officers assemble complete and compliant loan files in real time, announced two strategic hires today: Chris Simms has joined as head of strategic partnerships, and Gregory Buehler has joined as founding product manager. They bring over 35 years of combined experience in mortgage lending, product strategy and technology innovation.
Image caption: Friday Harbor adds Chris Simms, Gregory Buehler to leadership team.
Simms will oversee Friday Harbor’s customer relationships as well as its strategic alliances with technology integration partners and industry associations. His initial focus will be on customer engagement and success as he works to ensure lenders see lower costs, shorter cycle times and a better experience for borrowers on every loan. He sees a clear opportunity to help lenders modernize in a space long overdue for change.
“Lenders are hindered by legacy systems and manual processes that haven’t kept up with the innovation in other industries,” Simms said. “Friday Harbor is the first solution I’ve seen that truly understands and improves the process with real AI. This role felt like a natural opportunity to combine my passion for innovation with my industry experience to help transform how loans are manufactured.”
Buehler will define and execute product strategy in close partnership with the founding team, a role that Friday Harbor CEO Theo Ellis describes as ‘the glue between business and engineering.’ To that end, Buehler will collaborate with engineering, operations and customer success to scale Friday Harbor’s platform to serve a wider range of lenders, loan types and use cases while maintaining alignment with real-world origination pain points, workflows and tech stacks.
“I’ve helped build product from scratch at multiple B2B startups, and what drew me to Friday Harbor was how well the founding team understands both the problem and the customer,” Buehler said. “With AI2’s backing and a clear opportunity to modernize mortgage lending, joining the team was an easy decision.”
“Chris and Gregory bring the kind of leadership we need at this stage: deep domain knowledge paired with a builder’s mentality,” said Ellis. “We’re not just growing headcount. We’re building the kind of team that can deliver real change to a long-stagnant part of financial services. With their help, we’re making loan manufacturing faster, smarter and finally worthy of the digital age.”
Simms joins Friday Harbor after a 20-year career leading mortgage sales, origination and capital markets teams at Mutual of Omaha Mortgage, First Integrity Mortgage Services, Pulaski Bank and other institutions. During his time at these lenders, he partnered directly with mortgage technology firms to help align software solutions with real-world industry workflows. He currently serves as president of the Mortgage Bankers Association of St. Louis.
Buehler has over ten years of experience leading product development at early-stage B2B startups including Pebble Health, learning management software provider Skilljar (acquired by Gainsight) and social analytics firm Simply Measured (acquired by Sprout Social). Buehler holds dual master’s degrees from the University of Washington: an M.B.A. in international studies from the Foster School of Business and an M.A. in Japan studies.
About Friday Harbor
Friday Harbor is an AI-powered platform that helps loan officers assemble complete and compliant loan files in real time. The company combines deep fintech expertise with cutting-edge artificial intelligence to remove complexity, slash origination costs and deliver a better borrower experience. For more information, visit https://fridayharbor.ai/.
Tags: #mortgagetech #AI #fintech
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