By Sean Dugan, CEO, Dark Matter Technologies
It was a pleasure connecting with many of you at our Horizon user conference. For those who couldn’t attend this year, we hope to see you at next year’s event. Your insights and partnership are what make gatherings like Horizon so valuable.
As I step into the role of CEO at Dark Matter Technologies, I’m excited about the road ahead and deeply committed to supporting our credit union clients in navigating the evolving mortgage landscape. Together, we share a mission rooted in service, trust, and community impact. Credit unions and the members you serve are at the heart of everything we do.
After more than 14 years working alongside Rich Gagliano, I’m proud to carry forward the strong foundation we built, grounded in values we all hold dear: integrity, transparency, collaboration, and a passion for solving meaningful challenges. But this is also a moment of renewal. We’re entering a new era—one focused on strategic growth, smarter technology, and deeper partnerships with institutions like yours.
What This Means for You
At Horizon, I introduced our strategic focus for 2025, which is centered around four key pillars: value, growth, simplification and relationships. Each is designed to help you serve your members more efficiently and effectively.
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Value: We’re focused on delivering solutions that address your real-world needs, whether that’s improving member experience, reducing costs, or driving operational efficiency. And we’re building based on your feedback.
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Growth: Whether you’re expanding mortgage offerings or seeking new ways to serve members, we’re developing tools and services that scale with you. Your growth is our growth.
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Simplification: Mortgage technology should make things easier, not harder. In 2025, we’re redesigning workflows, modernizing interfaces, and automating manual processes to free up your staff to focus on what matters most — your members.
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Relationships: Our technology may be sophisticated, but at the core, this is still a people business. We remain deeply engaged through ongoing conversations, advisory councils, and feedback loops. Your voice helps shape our direction.
We’re committed to accountability and transparency. I will hold our team and me to the highest standards and invite you to do the same. You deserve to know what we’re delivering, when and how.
Purpose-Built for the Future
Our recent move to Amazon Web Services (AWS) marked a significant step forward. It wasn’t just a technical upgrade but a strategic investment in flexibility, speed, and innovation. We completed the transition three months ahead of schedule, with zero disruption to any client, an achievement I’m incredibly proud of.
This move sets the stage for faster updates, better performance, and greater agility—exactly what credit unions need in today’s fast-paced, compliance-heavy environment.
Another critical step was the launch of our Developer Portal, which opened our architecture and supported easier integration. For credit unions working with core processors or other digital systems, this offers more flexibility, better data synchronization and a stronger technology ecosystem that works for you, and not the other way around.
Our AI strategy is also progressing thoughtfully. We're not chasing hype—we're implementing targeted automation and intelligent workflows that reduce friction, lower the cost to originate, and improve the overall lending experience for your team and your members.
Built for Credit Unions of All Sizes
Whether you’re a large institution with a whole mortgage department or a smaller credit union scaling your home lending offerings, we’re building a modular, customizable technology stack to meet your unique needs. Our data-driven approach means we’re making better decisions, faster — so you can too.
And we know the mortgage market is challenging. From rising rates to ongoing consolidation, the landscape is shifting. But at Dark Matter, we see these as opportunities to lead. As we explore partnerships and integrations, we’re doing so with a commitment to choice and flexibility, never forcing a one-size-fits-all solution. You should have options that align with your strategy and member priorities.
We also continue collaborating with key partners like ICE Mortgage Technology and Optimal Blue. Real innovation happens when technology providers work together, not against each other, to better serve our mutual clients.
Thank You for Your Trust
Credit unions are unique in the financial world. They are driven by mission, community, and a commitment to doing what’s right for members. At Dark Matter, we share those values, and we’re honored to walk alongside you.
We’re just getting started. Thank you for your continued trust, partnership, and commitment to delivering homeownership opportunities to the communities you serve.
Let’s shape the future of lending together.