GENERAL SESSION: Government Policy Update

Robert D. Broeksmit, CMB

President & Chief Executive Officer, Mortgage Bankers Association

Robert (Bob) Broeksmit is President and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Bob is a senior finance executive and corporate officer with a 35-year career in the mortgage sector. He has directed all aspects of lending activities, including marketing, sales, operations, secondary marketing, loan servicing, and default management. He has also served as a mortgage underwriting expert testifying on many large, high-profile cases. Prior to joining MBA in 2018, Bob served as President and Chief Operating Officer with Treliant, heading the firm’s mortgage litigation support practice and serving diverse financial services clientele including large banks, independent mortgage lenders, community banks, credit unions, and service providers to the mortgage industry. As a Washington-based financial services consultancy, Treliant’s mortgage practice included strategic advisory for executive management and corporate boards; litigation defense, including file reviews, litigation strategy, expert reports, and expert testimony; CFPB examination preparation and implementation of mortgage regulations promulgated by the CFPB and other regulators; and operational aspects of mortgage banking, ranging from origination to servicing and loss mitigation. Before Treliant, Bob held senior leadership positions in the mortgage business, including fourteen years with Chevy Chase Bank (including after its purchase by Capital One), where he was Executive Vice President and President of its B.F. Saul Mortgage Company subsidiary. Bob also was a Vice President at Prudential Home Mortgage for seven years. He has overseen annual originations of $9 billion, a balance sheet of $10 billion in residential mortgages, and a servicing portfolio of $20 billion. He also held positions at Great Western Mortgage, Krupp Residential Mortgage, and The Money Store. Bob has served as the Chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Residential Board of Governors and as a member of its Board of Directors. Firms under his leadership have garnered multiple awards for servicing operations excellence, including Freddie Mac’s Tier One and Hall of Fame designations. He is a Certified Mortgage Banker (CMB) and a graduate of Yale University.

John Bell

Executive Director, Loan Guaranty Service, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

John E. Bell III began serving as Executive Director, Loan Guaranty Service, on June 21, 2022. He is responsible for delivering VA Home Loan Benefits to his fellow Veterans. Mr. Bell has extensive mortgage industry experience having served in leadership roles with nationwide lenders for over 20 years before starting his career with VA in 2010. Mr. Bell’s top priorities are ensuring that VA home loan benefits are the product of choice for Veterans and that Loan Guaranty is the VA program of choice for his 900 talented staff. As Deputy Director, Mr. Bell was instrumental in VA Loan Guaranty Service’s fast response during the COVID-19 pandemic through frequent communications and the issuance of guidance which ensured that home loan benefits continued to be delivered to Veterans without delay and reassured industry partners at this critical time. As Assistant Director, Mr. Bell leveraged his industry experience to initiate Loan Guaranty’s transformation to better align with the fast-paced mortgage industry. Several key projects included automating Certificate of Eligibility (COE) functionality, implementing national workload for full file loan reviews and COEs, and national workload for program specific phone calls. Mr. Bell began his career in mortgage finance while attending Lambuth University in Jackson, TN. Mr. Bell served in the US Navy during Operation Restore Hope and the Gulf War.

Ingrid Ripley

Executive Director, Single-Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program, USDA Rural Development

Ingrid Ripley is the Executive Director for Single-Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program (SFHGLP) for the USDA Rural Housing Service and directs a guaranteed portfolio of $114B. Ripley has over 38 years experience in performance management, strategic planning, loan administration, risk management and primary/secondary financial service markets operations for both public and private sectors. She is recognized for her expertise executing multi-million-dollar multifaceted contracts delivering transformative technology lending platforms, and extensive experience leading reorganizations and initiatives for USDA. Ripley has led multiple Small Business Administration (SBA) high-risk mission-critical contract transitions of innovative loan origination platforms.

Elizabeth Spring

Senior Servicing Program Manager, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)

Beth has more than 12 years of experience in housing policy, specializing in mortgage servicing, credit risk and credit policy. Currently, Beth serves as Sr. Servicing Program Manager in the office of Mortgage Markets at the CFPB. She works to develop policies and strategies that address market needs for consumer financial products and services. Beth’s prior work includes federal regulation and oversight at the Federal Housing Finance Agency, ensuring the regulated entities fulfill their mission by operating in a safe and sound manner to serve as a reliable source of liquidity and funding for the housing finance market throughout the economic cycle. Prior to FHFA, Beth worked at the US Department of Treasury in the Office of Financial Stability on the Making Home Affordable Program (MHA) and served as a key advisor in the development and implementation of the federally funded, national loss mitigation and foreclosure prevention programs.