| 
Meredith Spence
Rhode Island-based Embrace Home Loans has opened its first Boston office in the Seaport District as the company expands in the Northeast.
The mortgage lender said in a statement last week that it has hired Meredith Spence as branch manager for the new location, which is at One Marina Park Drive on Fan Pier.
In addition to writing loans, Spence will be responsible for hiring staff for the office and expanding Embrace Home Loans’ business in the Greater Boston area, the statement said.
“We are thrilled to have Meredith join the Embrace team,” Steve Adamo, the company’s president of national retail production, said in the statement. “She has a great knowledge and understanding of the Boston market. Her expertise will be a tremendous asset as we continue to expand in the Northeast.”
Spence has been a mortgage originator in Greater Boston for more than 30 years. She has closed over $3 billion in residential mortgage loans and helped more than 7,500 borrowers during her career, the statement said. Spence was most recently a senior home lending adviser with Chase Home Lending and previously spent 18 years at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. She has also worked for several correspondent lenders, the statement said.
Spence works in all types of mortgage financing, the company said, including loans for self-employed borrowers, new construction and condominiums.
“I’m very excited to be able to offer my customers Embrace’s state-of-the-art apps, innovative mortgage programs and streamlined processing,” Spence said in the statement. “I look forward to expanding Embrace’s presence in Boston and the surrounding communities while continuing to provide the high level of service that my clients and business partners have come to expect.”
Headquartered in Middletown, Rhode Island, Embrace Home Loans now has five locations in Massachusetts, with other offices in Wakefield, Plymouth, Falmouth and Springfield.
Embrace had hired Adamo last year as president of national retail production to increase the company’s retail sales team and expand its retail footprint, Embrace said in a statement last May. Adamo was previously head of U.S. mortgage banking at Santander Bank.
In addition to being a Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA and VA lender, Embrace also originates jumbo and other unconventional loans.
