At one point, Wingspan Portfolio Advisors was a job-making machine. More recently, employees in two states were advised of impending layoffs — though some could return.
Staffing at the Dallas-based company skyrocketed from fewer than 40 employees in October 2009 to 2,000 by September 2013.
It was the highest-ranking mortgage-related company in the Inc. 500 in 2013, and it ranked fourth this year. Wingspan was the second-fastest growing mortgage-related firm in the Inc. Hire Power Award for 2013.
Helping it increase headcount was its February 2013 acquisition of a servicing operation from JPMorgan Chase & Co. — a deal that gave it more than 400 Melbourne, Fla., employees.
Just this past July, Wingspan held a job fair for openings at the Melbourne facility and committed to interview the first 250 qualified job applications.
Another 400 Chase employees were brought on to Wingspan’s payrolls in September 2013 when it acquired acquire a large-scale customer service operation in Monroe, La.
In July of this year, Wingspan held a job fair at its Dallas office with plans to interview 250 people.
Now, Wingspan is cutting back on staffing at the Melbourne and Monroe locations.
In Melbourne, a number of employees were impacted — though the company didn’t respond to a request for an exact number.
However, as of Wednesday, a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification — which is required whenever more than 50 employees will be laid off — had not been reported for Wingspan by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.
“It is in the nature of our work with large financial institutions to wrap up specific contracts for services and to have brief periods of time before new contracts begin,” a written statement from the company said.
But the servicer indicated that it is still committed to the Melbourne location for key growth.
Layoffs also hit Wingspan’s Monroe office. No numbers were provided for that location either.
As was indicated for the Melbourne facility, Wingspan said it is still “committed to the Monroe location for key growth.”
“Wingspan continues to focus on servicing our existing clients and new clients,” the statement said.
