mPower Lunch: Catalyzing Confidence with Lisa Sun

Sarah E. Garland

Senior Managing Director, Production for Affordable Housing, CBRE Capital Markets

Sarah Garland is the Senior Managing Director of Production for Affordable Housing at CBRE and is responsible for supporting the origination of affordable and workforce housing debt financing. She leads a company initiative to leverage CBRE’s broad originations platform with the deep expertise of the CBRE Affordable Housing and FHA teams in the regulated multifamily finance market. Sarah previously held the position of SVP at PNC Bank where she was responsible for affordable housing debt production, specifically focused on Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and FHA. Prior to PNC, she led Fannie Mae as National Director of Multifamily Affordable Housing where she led the production and management of all multifamily affordable products. Sarah Garland is one of the foremost industry specialists in affordable housing finance. She is former chair of the MBA FHA Committee and Vice-Chair of the MBA Multifamily Steering Committee and has participated in both the Low-Income Housing and Workforce Housing Task Forces.

Marcia M. Davies

mPower Founder and Chief Operating Officer, Mortgage Bankers Association

Marcia M. Davies is MBA’s Chief Operating Officer, responsible for ensuring cross-organizational alignment and facilitating the implementation of strategic initiatives, as well as maintaining oversight of key organizational priorities. She provides leadership, guidance and overall management to the Public Affairs, Marketing, Conferences, Membership, Education, Information Technology and Office Services divisions. She also provides management oversight to, and is a Board member of, MBA’s Opens Doors Foundation. Previously, Marcia worked at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), as Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner and in various roles at Freddie Mac for 21 years. She is the founder of mPower — MBA Promoting Opportunities for Women to Extend their Reach — MBA’s networking platform for women in the real estate finance industry. She is a member of the NAWRB Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Council (NDILC), three-time recipient of Women with Vision award, and was honored by HousingWire as one of its 2015 Women of Influence.

Lisa Sun

Founder and CEO, GRAVITAS, National Best-Selling Author

Lisa Sun is the founder and CEO of GRAVITAS, a company she founded in 2012 with a mission to catalyze confidence. Its origin was inspired by her first professional review where she was told she “lacked gravitas,” and “should go buy a new dress, big jewelry, and great shoes.” With those words in mind, an understanding of the transformative power of clothing, and a determination to create a game-changing company, Sun filed for a global patent to build shapewear directly into dresses. GRAVITAS offers innovative size-inclusive apparel, styling solutions, and content designed to makeover women from the inside-out. Two months after launch, her first collection was featured in O, The Oprah Magazine, PEOPLE, and "TODAY" in the same month. In addition to being a changemaker and entrepreneur, Sun is the national bestselling author of GRAVITAS: The 8 Strengths That Redefine Confidence. In the book, she shares her own journey, as well as the superpowers that anyone can call upon to be confident and successful. Prior to founding GRAVITAS, Sun spent 11 years at McKinsey and Company where she advised leading luxury, fashion and beauty brands and retailers in the US, Asia, Europe and Latin America on strategic and operational issues. She graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University with distinction in Biology and Political Science.