Our Team

Guidance Residential's expert leadership and management team brings over 100 years of collective experience in the industry we serve.

Kal Elsayed

President & CEO

Kal Elsayed, based in Reston, Va., is president and CEO of Guidance Residential where he has overall responsibility for the management and performance of the company. He is a leading U.S. home finance industry executive with broad national experience in all aspects of the business, including sales and operations. He is an accomplished leader in start-up and high-growth business environments and has extensive experience in building motivated teams to achieve and exceed target objectives. He was previously president and CEO of HomeView Lending, where he helped start the company and build its sales and operating structure. Prior to HomeView, he held various executive positions with New Century Mortgage Corp, culminating in the position of President of the Wholesale Division, where he assumed full P&L responsibility and grew annual production from US $4 billion to US $46 billion over a three-year period. NMLS# 26161

Kal Elsayed

President & CEO

Nick Minardi

Executive Vice PresidentChief Operating Officer

Nick Minardi is the Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer for Guidance Residential. He initially joined the company in 2011 and has formally acted as its Chief Operations Officer, Chief Risk Officer, and Chief Financial Officer. With over 30 years of banking and mortgage industry experience, he oversees and seeks to continually improve our secondary, capital markets, servicing, and finance activity. NMLS# 12494

Nick Minardi

Executive Vice PresidentChief Operating Officer

Heidi Partida

Executive Vice PresidentCorporate Governance

Heidi Partida is currently the Executive Vice President, Corporate Governance at Guidance Residential, where she has served for over 11 years in various capacities. She has almost 30 years of experience in various leadership roles in different industries. Her career experience includes organizational development, operational workflow analysis, project management, business analytics, and human resources. She has almost two decades of experience in the mortgage industry. Heidi attended Azusa Pacific University, where she received a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership, and Ashford University, where she received her Master of Business Administration in Human Resources Management. Before joining Guidance Residential, she was the Vice President of Administration at HomeView Lending. NMLS# 1516789

Heidi Partida

Executive Vice PresidentCorporate Governance

Hussam Qutub

Senior Vice PresidentNational Sales Manager

Hussam Qutub is the Senior Vice President, National Sales Manager for Guidance Residential. Hussam joined Guidance in March 2003 and has served in a variety of Senior and Executive Management roles. His past responsibilities included vice president of Marketing and Communications, where he played a significant role in the company's first ten years of geographic expansion and was instrumental in establishing our brand. Hussam's most recent role was that of President of Guidance Home Services LLC, Guidance Residential's sister company. Before embarking on his career with Guidance, he studied international relations at George Mason University. He specializes in leadership and team building, business development, communications management, branding and positioning, public relations, digital marketing and lead generation.

Hussam Qutub

Senior Vice PresidentNational Sales Manager

Suha Elsayed

Senior Vice PresidentChief Credit Officer

Suha Elsayed is the senior vice president, chief credit officer at Guidance Residential, a role in which she has served since 2015. She has over 15 years of experience in home finance operations and management and has been instrumental in training staff on how to increase productivity and efficiency using technology. She has been with Guidance Residential for over 16 years. She served with the company from 2002-2006, and rejoined the organization in 2007. Prior to rejoining the organization, she worked as a senior default underwriter for Freddie Mac. She received a bachelor's degree in information technology and operations management from George Mason University. NMLS# 1389395

Suha Elsayed

Senior Vice PresidentChief Credit Officer

Thomas Gainor

Senior Vice PresidentChief Legal Counsel

Thomas Gainor has served as the Senior Vice-President, General Counsel for the Company since its inception. Prior to serving with Guidance Residential, he worked for five years with a Kuwait based Islamic Investment Bank focusing on product development and advisory services. Tom started his professional career in 1981 after majoring in accounting at the University of Rhode Island. He is a certified public accountant as well as a licensed lawyer. He earned his J.D. and LL.M. in taxation from the University of Miami School of Law.

Thomas Gainor

Senior Vice PresidentChief Legal Counsel

Riffat Lakhani

Senior Vice PresidentChief Marketing Officer

Riffat Lakhani is the Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer for Guidance Residential. She oversees all marketing services and activities for the organization, including brand awareness, lead generation and nurturing, social media, events, content creation, graphic design, and general marketing support. Her background is a fusion of graphic design, real estate sales, business, and marketing. Her dedication to excellence and passion for making a difference keeps her focused. She graduated summa cum laude from George Mason University with a Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design and a minor in business and multimedia. She received her Master of Business Administration from the University of Maryland - Robert H. Smith School of Business. She is a member of AMA.

Riffat Lakhani

Senior Vice PresidentChief Marketing Officer

Salman Ali

Senior Vice PresidentDivision ManagerSouthern Division

Salman Ali is the Division Manager for Corporate Sales and the Southern Division at Guidance Residential. Salman has over 20 years of experience in the banking and financial services industry and has been with Guidance Residential for over 13 years. Salman has a passion for Islamic Financing and enjoys educating others on the subject. Salman is a history enthusiast from Virginia who enjoys collecting and studying historical artifacts. NMLS# 47184

Salman Ali

Senior Vice PresidentDivision ManagerSouthern Division

Abdessamad Melouane

Senior Vice PresidentDivision ManagerNorthern Division

Based in the New York City area, Abdessamad serves as the Division Manager for the Northern Division. Throughout the years, he has established strong relationships with various community leaders, organized numerous educational seminars on Islamic home financing, and has increased overall brand awareness for the company. Abdessamad earned his bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Marrakesh and took various MBA courses in business ethics and finance from Albertus Magnus College. NMLS# 47212

Abdessamad Melouane

Senior Vice PresidentDivision ManagerNorthern Division

Susan Palmer

Vice PresidentCompliance

Susan Palmer is a mortgage compliance professional with over 16 years of experience. Prior to joining Guidance Residential in 2007, she worked as a compliance analyst with First Nationwide Mortgage Corporation and Citimortgage, Inc. She was also engaged as an editorial/research assistant for Andrea Lee Negroni for the Residential Mortgage Lending: Brokers and Pratt's State Regulation of Second Mortgage and Home Equity Loans publications from 2008 through 2012. She received a juris doctor degree from the University of Baltimore School of Law in 2003.

Susan Palmer

Vice PresidentCompliance

Den Moyo

Vice President ControllerAccounting

Den Moyo is the corporate controller for Guidance Financial Group, where he has served since 2013. He is responsible for all financial activities in the company, and oversees the preparation, consolidation and reporting of financial statements for all the company's subsidiaries. Prior to joining Guidance Financial Group, he served as the director of accounting for BerkleyNet.