GARDEN GROVE, Calif., June 2, 2026 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Informative Research (IR), a leading technology provider of data-driven credit and verification solutions for the lending industry, today announced that Craig Leabig, Senior Vice President of Marketing, has been named a 2026 Marketing Leader by HousingWire. The award recognizes influential marketing executives who have transformed brands and driven measurable business results across the housing economy.

Image caption: Informative Research SVP of Marketing Craig Leabig named a 2026 HousingWire Marketing Leader.

Over the past year, Leabig led Informative Research’s marketing transformation, building a scalable, data-driven ecosystem that strengthens the company’s brand positioning and deepens its connection with lenders. Under his leadership, his team completed a full redesign of the company’s website, driving a notable increase in traffic. He also spearheaded significant social media growth, increasing both audience and impressions.

“This recognition reflects the work of an incredible team that has rallied around a shared vision for what marketing can do for our organization and our clients,” said Leabig. “We’ve focused on building systems and strategies that create lasting value, and I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished together.”

Beyond digital performance, Leabig developed a structured marketing nurture ecosystem designed to educate lenders throughout the buyer journey, ensuring that messaging is clear, relevant and actionable. He introduced standardized content frameworks for client communications, including product updates, launch announcements and educational materials. This has improved consistency across all customer touchpoints.

Leabig’s impact extends into operational and cross-functional improvements as well. He partnered with Compliance and Customer Success to streamline client onboarding and helped implement a HubSpot-based support ticketing system that gives the organization clear visibility into support requests, client trends and team performance.

“HousingWire’s Marketing Leaders represent the professionals shaping how housing companies connect, compete and grow in a constantly evolving market,” said HousingWire CEO Clayton Collins. “As market conditions, client expectations and business priorities continue to shift, this year’s honorees are helping their organizations adapt, innovate and grow. We’re proud to recognize the marketers driving meaningful impact across housing.”

Explore the full list of 2026 HousingWire Marketing Leaders: https://www.housingwire.com/articles/introducing-the-2026-marketing-leaders/.

About Informative Research

Informative Research, a Stewart company, is a premier technology provider delivering data-driven credit and verification solutions to the lending community. The solutions provider currently serves mortgage companies, banks and lenders throughout the United States. The company is recognized for streamlining the loan process with its straightforward service model, progressive solutions and cutting-edge technology. To learn more, visit https://www.informativeresearch.com.

News Source: Informative Research

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VANCOUVER, Wash., June 2, 2026 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Velinwood Publishing announced today that “Bunny, The Hidden Record: The First Empty Throne” (ISBN: 979-8950622007), the second novel by Her Majesty of Ink and Exit Wounds (Rebecca Maehlum), has received three five-star reviews from Readers’ Favorite — with each reviewer independently reaching the same conclusion: there is no comparable book currently in publication.

Image caption: Cover, ‘Bunny, The Hidden Record: The First Empty Throne,’ available now from Velinwood Publishing.

“Hand over heart, I have not come across a book like this ever,” wrote reviewer Jamie Michele. “And that’s a good thing.”

The convergence is unusual. Three reviewers, reading the novel separately, used three different vocabularies — technical craft, emotional architecture, and structural innovation — to arrive at the same verdict.

CRITICAL RECEPTION

Reviewer Jamie Michele identified the novel’s technical accomplishment:

“The writing is intelligent and witty, and the mastery of a second-person POV with a first-person narrator — a framed second-person narrative — is no easy feat. But it is done in Bunny, The Hidden Record, and it is done well… Readers who adore surreal literary fiction, haunted courts, and character-centric speculative fiction will enjoy this novel. Very highly recommended.”

Reviewer Makeda Cummings noted the novel’s emotional engineering:

“A fascinating story that flips other fantasy kingdom-building stories on their heads… The character depth is excellent, especially the way the author uses minor, seemingly trivial items to drop big hints about a character’s backstory. I loved how the narrative lets you piece together the emotional history of the family through discarded items, pulling you deeper into the world the characters occupy.”

Reviewer Olga Markova emphasized the novel’s atmospheric and structural achievement:

“This marvelous book is beyond praiseworthy. The irresistible cover featuring cute, defiant Bunny, intriguing chapter titles, and every scene kept me riveted until the very end. I thoroughly enjoyed the achingly bittersweet relics and memories of the Queen and hilarious humor.”

ABOUT THE BOOK

In the wake of the Queen’s withdrawal from the throne, Bunny — Chief Documentarian, Familiar of Vengeance, and the court’s reluctant guide — leads the reader through the locked chambers of Velinwood Court. What he reveals is not a kingdom in ruins but a kingdom in preservation: a war room of strategic records and remembered betrayals, an academy where ants are trained into an intelligence network, an untouched study filled with sealed letters the Queen refused to open. Each room is evidence. Each object is testimony. And Bunny — sarcastic, formal, structurally incapable of looking away — is the one who keeps the record straight.

“Bunny, The Hidden Record” operates on two simultaneous registers: a darkly comic guided tour readable on its surface, and a layered psychological architecture rewarding readers who attend to its depth. The novel deploys a framed second-person narrative — a first-person narrator addressing the reader directly as participant — that reviewers have identified as a sophisticated structural choice rare in contemporary fantasy.

The book is the second standalone novel in the larger Velinwood Court universe: a 23-book interconnected mythology built on chaos theory, strange attractor dynamics, and recurring characters whose meanings deepen across the body of work. It can be read entirely on its own.

As reviewer Olga Markova noted, “It was my first meet-and-greet with the series, and it read perfectly as a standalone.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rebecca Maehlum writes under the name Her Majesty of Ink and Exit Wounds. She is the sole architect of the Velinwood Court mythology, an interconnected literary universe spanning 23 published books with more in development, a parallel sequence of 50+ essays on cognitive architecture and AI ethics, and an ongoing visual archive. Her essays have appeared in Creative Loop, ADI Insights and Innovation Collective, Activated Thinker, and Toward AI.

Maehlum spent over a decade in executive operations at a global brand, plus additional years in chief-of-staff and advisory work within the federal regulatory sphere. That background — observing how large institutions hold, lose, and reconstruct information — informs the Velinwood universe’s recurring concern with archives, refusals, and how humans give form to things that resist language.

ABOUT VELINWOOD PUBLISHING

Velinwood Publishing is an independent press founded by Rebecca Maehlum to house the Velinwood Court mythology and related works. The press publishes literary fantasy, essay collections, and visual archive volumes, committed to work that operates at both accessible and architecturally complex registers. Velinwood titles are distributed through IngramSpark, Amazon KDP, Lulu, and direct retail at https://velinwoodcourt.com/.

BOOK DETAILS
Title: “Bunny, The Hidden Record: The First Empty Throne”
Author: Her Majesty of Ink and Exit Wounds (Rebecca Maehlum)
Publisher: Velinwood Publishing
ASIN: B0H1K3SHR2
ISBN: 9798950622007
Format: Paperback, Ebook
Pages: 200
Price: $16.99
Publication Date: May 13, 2026
Available at: Amazon, IngramSpark catalog, and velinwoodcourt.com

MULTIMEDIA:
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Image caption: Cover, “Bunny, The Hidden Record: The First Empty Throne,” available now from Velinwood

News Source: Velinwood Publishing

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BOULDER, Colo., June 2, 2026 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Floify, the mortgage industry’s leading point-of-sale (POS) solution, today announced that Courtney Dodd, head of marketing, has been named a 2026 HW Marketing Leader by HousingWire. The HW Marketing Leaders award recognizes the people behind the strategies, campaigns and brand decisions shaping housing finance. Dodd is one of 70 honorees named to the 2026 class.

Image caption: Courtney Dodd of Floify.

Dodd has fundamentally reshaped marketing’s role at Floify over the past 12 months, evolving it from a support function into a primary driver of revenue. By aligning marketing and business development representative teams under a unified strategy, she built a scalable pipeline engine that generated 68% of the company’s total pipeline in 2025, a milestone that reflects both strategic vision and disciplined execution.

She led go-to-market strategy for two major product launches: Dynamic AI, which transforms how lenders capture borrower data through intelligent automation, and Dynamic Apps 2.0, which expands workflow customization for mortgage professionals. Each launch was tightly connected to pipeline generation and revenue outcomes, with messaging, demand generation, outbound strategy and sales enablement fully aligned from the start.

Dodd’s ability to integrate cross-functional teams around measurable revenue impact has strengthened collaboration across sales, product and marketing and improved overall go-to-market efficiency. Her approach is grounded in data-driven decision-making, clear accountability and a consistent focus on execution that moves the business forward.

“Courtney has redefined what marketing means at Floify,” said Joshua Steffan, SVP and group general manager at Porch Group and interim president and general manager of Floify. “She built a function that doesn’t just support revenue, it drives it. The results speak for themselves, and the discipline and clarity she has brought to our go-to-market approach has made us a stronger, more competitive company. This recognition reflects the real and measurable impact she has had on our business.”

“The 2026 Marketing Leaders are raising the bar for what effective marketing looks like in housing,” said Sarah Wheeler, HousingWire’s editor-in-chief.

For a complete list of winners, visit the HousingWire website.

ABOUT FLOIFY:

Floify is a fully configurable point of sale (POS) platform that streamlines the loan process with a secure application, communication and document portal between lenders, borrowers, referral partners and other mortgage stakeholders. Its Dynamic AI feature reimagines the mortgage application process by moving document collection and AI-driven data extraction to the very beginning of the process, allowing borrowers to upload key documents and have applications prepopulated with verified information, accelerating pre-approvals and simplifying the borrower experience. Floify is a subsidiary of Porch Group, Inc. (“Porch Group”) (NASDAQ: PRCH). For more, visit https://floify.com/ or find us on social media at Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter / X.

X: @Floify #mortgage #fintech #housingfinance #HousingWire #HWAwards

News Source: Floify

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ATLANTA, Ga., June 1, 2026 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Down Payment Resource (DPR),the housing industry’s leading technology for connecting homebuyers with homeownership programs, today announced that Melinda Harris, vice president of marketing and communications, has been named a 2026 HW Marketing Leader by HousingWire. Each year, HousingWire’s HW Marketing Leaders program recognizes the executives shaping how housing finance companies communicate, compete and grow. Harris is among 70 honorees selected.

Image caption: Melinda Harris of Down Payment Resource.

Harris has spent nearly two decades helping shape how lenders, multiple listing services and housing professionals understand and use down payment programs. In that time, she built DPR’s marketing function from a one-person operation into a structured, scalable engine that today drives industry education, lead generation and platform adoption across a national network of lenders, MLSs and technology partners.

Over the past year, Harris led campaigns designed to correct persistent misconceptions around down payment assistance, including persona-based outreach and myth-busting initiatives that repositioned DPA as a viable strategy for a broader range of homebuyers, not just low-income or first-time buyers. Her data-driven campaigns, built around DPR’s proprietary Homeownership Program Index (HPI) and Declined Loan Analysis, have become a reliable source of market intelligence for journalists, policymakers and housing professionals alike.

Harris also implemented HubSpot to better align marketing and sales functions, improving lead visibility and conversion across the organization. Her work supporting events, partnerships and integrations with major industry platforms has helped DPR expand its reach and deepen its presence across the housing finance ecosystem.

Her contributions have coincided with a period of significant company growth. Down Payment Resource earned a spot on the 2025 Inc. 5000 list of the nation’s fastest-growing privately owned companies after achieving 130% revenue growth from 2021 to 2024, and has been named to the HousingWire Tech 100 for three consecutive years.

“Melinda has been instrumental in evolving how the industry thinks about down payment programs,” said Rob Chrane, chief executive officer of Down Payment Resource. “Her ability to translate complex data into clear, compelling narratives has helped us shift the conversation from niche to mainstream, and her commitment to accuracy and education reflects everything DPR stands for. This recognition is well deserved.”

“[The 2026 Marketing Leaders] are raising the bar for what effective marketing looks like in housing,” said Sarah Wheeler, editor-in-chief at HousingWire. “They are combining creativity, strategy and data-driven execution to build stronger brands and deeper customer connections.”

For a complete list of the 2026 winners, visit the HousingWire website.

ABOUT DOWN PAYMENT RESOURCE:

Down Payment Resource (DPR) is the housing industry authority on homebuyer assistance program data and solutions. With a database that tracks more than 2,600 programs and toolsets for mortgage lenders, multiple listing services (MLSs) and API users, DPR helps housing professionals connect homebuyers with the assistance they need. DPR frequently lends its expertise to nonprofits, housing finance agencies, policymakers, government-sponsored enterprises and trade organizations seeking to improve housing affordability. Its technology is used by seven of the top 25 mortgage lenders, two of the largest real estate listing websites and 600,000 real estate agents. For more information, visit https://www.downpaymentresource.com/.

X: @DwnPmtResource #downpaymentassistance #downpayment #HousingWire #HWAwards

News Source: Down Payment Resource

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TROY, Mich., June 1, 2026 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Class Valuation, a leading real estate appraisal management company (AMC), announced today that Holly Shipley, head of marketing, has been named a 2026 HW Marketing Leader by HousingWire. The HW Marketing Leaders award recognizes the people behind the strategies, campaigns and brand decisions shaping housing finance. Shipley is one of 70 honorees named to the 2026 class.

Image caption: Holly Shipley of Class Valuation.

Shipley stepped into her role in early 2025 during a period of significant organizational change, including multiple acquisitions and internal team transitions, and quickly established structure, direction and strategic momentum for the marketing function. Over the past 12 months, she has rebuilt Class Valuation’s marketing capabilities with a focus on content, thought leadership and market engagement and unified messaging across acquired companies while honoring the regional expertise and specialty strengths each division brings.

One of her most consequential initiatives was leading Class Valuation’s UAD 3.6 readiness campaign, a multi-channel effort that included webinars, blog content, contributed articles and a centralized resource hub. The campaign positioned Class Valuation as a trusted guide for lenders navigating one of the most significant appraisal data transitions in years and delivered measurable results: more than 3,500 page views, hundreds of webinar views and a significant volume of client and prospect consultation requests. Shipley also spearheaded internal adoption campaigns for next-gen appraisal platform Class Marketplace, helping migrate 90% of clients to the platform, and pioneered a companywide AI initiative that aligned 13 cross-functional departments around a shared platform and dataset.

Externally, Shipley has elevated Class Valuation’s industry voice through integrated campaigns, strategic partnerships and contributed thought leadership that has expanded the company’s presence among lenders, appraisers and housing finance professionals.

“Holly came into a demanding situation and immediately demonstrated the kind of leadership that makes organizations stronger,” said Jonathan Willen, chief revenue officer of Class Valuation. “She brought clarity to our messaging, cohesion to our teams and real strategic impact to our marketing function at exactly the moment we needed it. The results she has driven in a short time are a reflection of her talent and her commitment to this company.”

“As market conditions, client expectations and business priorities continue to shift, this year’s honorees are helping their organizations adapt, innovate and grow,” said Clayton Collins, CEO of HousingWire. “We’re proud to recognize the marketers driving meaningful impact across housing.”

For a complete list of winners for 2026, visit the HousingWire website.

ABOUT CLASS VALUATION:

Class Valuation is a leading nationwide appraisal management company (AMC) renowned for its commitment to fast turn times, exceptional quality and unparalleled client service. The company leverages a powerful combination of skilled professionals, innovative products, optimized processes and advanced technology to empower lenders in fulfilling homeownership dreams. Consistently recognized by top mortgage lenders for its outstanding performance, Class Valuation has also earned accolades as a top workplace and received numerous industry awards. Founded in 2009, Class Valuation is headquartered in Troy, Michigan. For more information, please visit https://www.classvaluation.com.

X: @ClassValuation #appraisal #valuation #lending #HousingWire #HWAwards

News Source: Class Valuation

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