POLICY PRIORITIES TRACK: RESPA at 50: Necessary Reforms to Modernize the Statute

Aaron Chastain, AMP

Partner, Bradley

Aaron Chastain is a partner in the Birmingham office of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP and a member of the firm’s Banking and Financial Services Practice Group. He represents a number of financial services companies, including mortgage originators and servicers, student lenders, money transmitters, and banks. Although his background is in litigation, he has developed a significant level of experience with state and federal laws governing financial services companies and often assists his clients with compliance and licensing issues.

Alisha Sears

Director, Regulatory Counsel, Mortgage Bankers Association

Alisha Sears is Director and Regulatory Counsel in the Residential Policy and Strategic Industry Engagement Department at the Mortgage Bankers Association. Alisha covers legal issues, trends in litigation, and regulatory compliance matters. Alisha also staffs the Legal Issues and Regulatory Compliance Committee and the Regulatory Compliance Subcommittee. Prior to joining the MBA, Alisha was with the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS). Alisha received her Juris Doctor from the University of Maryland and her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan. She is a member of the Maryland State Bar Association, the American Bar Association’s Banking Law Committee, and Women in Housing and Finance.

Holly Spencer Bunting

Partner, Mayer Brown LLP

Holly Bunting is a partner in Mayer Brown’s Washington DC office and a member of the Financial Services Regulatory & Enforcement group. Holly represents companies in the mortgage lending, title insurance and real estate industries on regulatory compliance matters and defends clients subject to government audits, investigations and enforcement proceedings. She provides counsel on federal and state consumer credit and protection laws, and focuses particular attention on assisting companies in complying with the anti-kickback requirements of RESPA, including counseling clients on the creation and operation of affiliated business arrangements, reviewing proposed and existing business relationships, and drafting agreements and disclosures.

Suzanne Garwood

Managing Director, Associate General Counsel, Chase

Suzanne Garwood is Managing Director and Associate General Counsel in JPMorgan Chase’s home lending legal division, where she assists with the bank’s compliance related to home lending originations. Suzanne also is active in the firm’s ESG efforts, concentrating her efforts on climate change. Prior to joining Chase, Suzanne was outside counsel at two Washington DC-based law firms. While in private practice, Suzanne advised her clients with respect to compliance with consumer protection laws and advocated for her clients before the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Congress.

Brian S. Levy, Esq.

Of Counsel, Katten & Temple, LLP

Brian Levy, Of Counsel with Katten & Temple, LLP in Chicago, provides practical, creative and industry leading guidance for mortgage lenders and related providers. Brian has unique vision and experience enabling him to offer actionable counsel on matters such as RESPA (MSAs, AfBAs, etc.), LO compensation, mortgage repurchase defense, loan sale agreements, marketing, transactions and business structuring and enforcement issues. Brian is the author of the provocative and widely read Levy’s Mortgage Musings blog at www.mortgagemusings.com and is a frequent conference speaker, magazine contributor and podcast guest. Brian was General Counsel from 1994-2009 for a mid-sized midwestern bank and its 3 mortgage banking subsidiaries and prior to that worked for 5 years in commercial real estate law.

Michael Sullivan, CMCP

Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Pulte Mortgage LLC

Michael Sullivan is Senior Vice President, General Counsel for Pulte Mortgage LLC in Englewood, Colorado where he is responsible for the legal operations of Pulte Mortgage LLC, as well as the title and insurance businesses owned by PulteGroup, Inc., one of the nation’s largest homebuilders. Michael is a fellow of the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers and a past chairman of the MBA’s Legal Issues Committee, a member of the American Bar Association Consumer Financial Services Committee and the Board of Governors of the Conference on Consumer Finance Law.