Leading companies in any space know how improtant it is to build internal experts, not just in terms of training people to be top executives, but in promoting those folks to the industry. I know a number of PR firms that have made expert creation a huge part of their bread and butter. It's important to companies that hope to be lenders in their industries.

That's why I am always impressed when I see a company that successfully recruits an executive that is already viewed as an industry expert. They succeed in two ways: (1) they get a full-trained executive ready to lead, and (2) they get an industry expert that raises their credibility with the rest of the industry. It can be expensive to pull this off, but a real boon to the company that can do it.

Recently, Mortgage Cadence, Inc., Greenwood Village, Colo., a leading provider of enterprise lending solutions (ELS) for the financial services industry, accomplished such a fete. I have to admit, as much as I respect this company's leadership, I was surprised.