Former NHL Player Runs Mich Mortgage Company

Bill McCreary co-founded Premiere Mortgage

March 9, 2005

By PAULA PARISOT

Bill McCreary, co-founder of Brighton, Mich.-based Premiere Mortgage, spent most of his childhood traveling around Canada and the states to watch his father play in the NHL only to find that he too had the ambition to become a hockey player.

In 1979, after playing for Colgate University, McCreary signed a three-year contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Following his stint with the Maple Leafs he spent five more years playing professionally for various other teams in the U.S.

After retiring from hockey in 1988, McCreary moved to the Brighton area and worked in the finance industry until founding Premiere in 1997, along with his sister and brother-in-law, Beverlee and Rick Smith.

Even his nephew, Ricky Smith, a loan officer at Premiere, is currently playing professional hockey with the Motor City Mechanics in the United Hockey League.

It is yet to be seen if his passion for the mortgage industry will be shared with any of his three children, his youngest, Caitlin is just a freshman in high school but Danielle has worked at Premiere during her summer breaks from Bowling Green.

McCreary said Premiere is a small to mid-sized direct lender that offers a full-range of loan programs and has fifteen employees. He added that while most of the company volume originates from Michigan, they are licensed in 48 states.