Company Profile
MBS Source is a Seattle based firm that was founded in 2006 on the principle of bringing transparency to the mortgage and asset backed markets. Our goal is to offer our users the most comprehensive MBS/ABS inventory in the industry, while continuing to keep the highest quality standards for data integrity.
MBS Source operates as a market-neutral IT service, offering a platform that dramatically reduces research time for our clients. We have accomplished this by developing the most advanced aggregation technologies in the industry, and by making them available in an easy-to-use, web-based format.
MBS Source’s intention has always been to provide services that fit both active and inactive market participants. Our current client base includes: Buy and Sell-Side market participants, Research Firms, Pricing Services, and Issuers. Furthermore, MBS Source is committed to continue adding products and services that meet the needs of our ever expanding client base.
Meet Our Executive Team
Mihai Szabo
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Mihai has over 20 years experience in Information Technology and has been working exclusively in the field of Mortgage and Asset Backed Securities for the past seven years. His areas of expertise in these fields include: securities trading, structured product compliance, development of software tools for trading, development of analytics and pricing tools for MBS, ABS and CMBS, and asset management of structured portfolios. He currently holds FINRA Series 7, 24, 27, 28 and 63 licenses. Prior to starting MBS Source, Mihai was able to take a fledgling broker-dealer to profitability in less than one year from taking over, and accomplished this without the use of any external capital. Mihai holds a Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s Degree in Information Technology from the University of Brasov, Romania (summa cum laude). Mr. Szabo founded MBS Source in 2006 under the principle of bringing transparency to the mortgage and asset backed markets.
John Connors
Senior Advisor
Mr. Connors spent sixteen years at Microsoft Corporation in several strategic roles. From January 2000 to April 2005 he was senior vice president of Finance and Administration and Chief Financial Officer. John also held a variety of positions including vice president of the Worldwide Enterprise Group, and vice president and Chief Information Officer (CIO). Before serving as CIO, he held a number of positions within and outside finance, including Corporate Controller, General Manager of worldwide financial operations, Director of business operations of Microsoft’s European headquarters in Paris, and Director of business operations of the Worldwide Sales and Support Strategy Group. Currently, John is a partner at Ignition Partners, a venture capital firm in Bellevue, Washington. John received his BA in accounting from the University of Montana. He also received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Montana.
R. Michael Crill
Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Crill has been a high-tech CFO since 1995, providing financial stewardship to almost 100 high-tech startups. He founded Atlas Accelerator in 1996 to provide start-ups with high-level CFO expertise when companies need to be cash conservative. By 2005, started working with emerging growth companies, and expanded from CFO to include COO, executive coach, board member, and strategic advisor. Michael helped raise over $80MM in angel and venture funding in more than 30 different funding rounds and has managed mergers and acquisitions. He sits on the board of Northwest Entrepreneur Network (NWEN), and has served as chairman of the screening committee for the Early-Stage Investment Forum. BS from Syracuse University (magna cum laude) with majors in Finance, Personnel and Industrial Relations, as well as Managerial Law and a Military Science Minors; graduated top of his class with an MBA from Duke University. Michael began working with MBS Source in 2007.
Cosmin Cristea
Chief Technology Officer
Mr. Cristea has a vast experience in client server n-tier applications, all development phases, business-to-business, and business-to-client web applications. Before joining MBS Source he was the team leader for project Aviva – a program that manages the contract validation workflow of pension funds. Additionally he worked as a team lead and developer on multiple banking applications. Mr. Cristea has a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from University of Cluj-Napoca in Romania.
Scott Hurley
VP of Sales and Marketing
Mr. Hurley comes to MBS Source with over 15 years of experience in the financial services industry. Prior to his career at MBS Source, Scott began as a trader in the options field. He later moved into teaching courses in options trading and day-trading, and soon began developing analytics tools for short-term traders. In 1999 he was the co-founder of Dessert Finance, which was a private hedge fund that catered to high net-worth private parties. He raised over $35 million of investment capital in less than 2 years and was the acting operations manager until 2003. In 2004 began working with small business owners to raise start-up and operational funding. He also worked with these individuals to fund start-up and existing small businesses with the use of qualified funds, without having to take taxable distributions. Mr. Hurley holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Speech Communications and Business from Central Washington University. Mr. Hurley began working with MBS Source in 2008.
Rik Croasdale
VP of Business Development
Rik brings 10 years of experience in Sales, Marketing and Biz Development to MBS Source. From 2007 to 2009 he headed up Business Development for an inc500 company focused on funding solutions for small businesses. Additionally, he spent two years advising more than 100 start-up businesses on funding solutions and lending options. Mr. Croasdale previously headed up Biz Dev projects for a successful start-up, and was instrumental in developing marketing collateral. Mr. Croasdale holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Brigham Young University, and graduated with honors. He joined MBS Source in 2009 to work with Sales, Marketing, and to head up our Biz Dev Team.