SPECIAL SESSION: Market Outlook
Don’t miss our latest forecast on the various forces impacting our industry. MBA’s Chief Economist and his team provide perspective on the state of the economy, mortgage and housing markets, and company performance, and shed light on what we can expect for 2025 and beyond. Sponsored by ServiceLink.
Speakers
Welcome
Owen Lee is the 2025 MBA Vice Chair and Chief Executive Officer at Success Mortgage Partners, Inc., (SMP). He co-founded the company with his father, Vincent, in 2002. Under his leadership, SMP has closed billions of dollars of mortgage loans yearly since 2016, is licensed in 42 states, and has more than 600 employees. Lee is also a Managing Member of Title Partners, LLC, a full-service title insurance and escrow services agency. An active leader in the mortgage and financial services sectors, Lee serves on MBA’s Board of Directors, is Co-Chair of its Independent Mortgage Bankers Executive Council, and is currently the 2023-2024 Chairman of MORPAC, MBA’s political action committee, where he has been a successful political fundraiser, helping to advance the association’s top legislative priorities. Lee is also a member of the Board of Directors of The Mortgage Collaborative’s Technology Fund, a venture capital investment group specializing in the mortgage technology space. He also sits on the Board of Directors of TrAIned, a mortgage technology firm in Pittsburgh. Lee currently holds memberships and affiliations with the State Bar of Michigan, State Bar of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Michigan Mortgage Lenders Association, Lenders One, The Mortgage Collaborative, and the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association. He also sits on the Board of Directors of Camp Sweeney, the largest summer camp in the world for children with Type 1 Diabetes. Lee earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Villanova University and a Juris Doctorate from Michigan State University School of Law.
Introductions
Jim Gladden is Senior Vice President – Strategy supporting the Origination Services Division at ServiceLink. With 30+ years of industry knowledge and experience that Jim brings to this role, he partners with ServiceLink’s operational and sales teams to retain and attract new revenue opportunities, through enhanced product, process and technology solutions to facilitate client specific growth, strategy and development. Since 1987, Jim has served in senior management positions supporting sales and business development with his prior roles as a National Accounts sales representative and Origination Sales Manager during his tenure at Lender’s Service (LSI), ATM Corporation and ServiceLink. Jim holds a BA in Business Administration from Grove City College, PA.
Speakers
Michael Fratantoni is MBA's Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of Research and Business Development. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing MBA's industry surveys and benchmarking studies, economic and mortgage originations forecasts, and policy development research for both single-family and commercial/multifamily markets. Additionally, Fratantoni is a member of the Board of Directors of the CONVERGENCE Collaborative, and the Smith Enterprise Risk Consortium’s (SERC’s) Advisory Council. Prior to joining MBA, Fratantoni worked in risk management and senior economist roles at Washington Mutual and Fannie Mae. He received a Ph.D. in economics from Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. in economics from The College of William and Mary, and has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Washington, and Johns Hopkins, George Washington, and Georgetown Universities.
Joel Kan serves as Vice President, Deputy Chief Economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association. In this role, he is responsible for MBA's macroeconomic and housing market forecasts and oversees the production of MBA's industry surveys, including the Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, Builder Applications Survey, and Mortgage Credit Availability Index - three of the association's high-profile surveys. Mr. Kan presents regularly on the economy and housing market at MBA and industry events, and is interviewed and quoted frequently in national, local and industry media outlets. Prior to joining the MBA, he worked in Ernst & Young's Quantitative Economics and Statistics (QUEST) group. He holds a B.Sc. in Economics and Statistics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Marina Walsh, CMB, is Vice President of Industry Analysis in MBA's Research and Economics Department, specializing in industry performance benchmarking for residential lenders and servicers. She leads the management and direction for the Mortgage Bankers Performance Reports, the Peer Group Survey and Roundtable Program, the Servicing Operations Study, the Warehouse Lender Study, and other studies that measure lender performance. She is MBA's spokesperson for all servicing-related studies including the National Delinquency Survey and the Loan Monitoring Survey. Prior to joining MBA, Walsh was a manager in Ernst and Young's Real Estate Advisory Services Group. She has previously been named to HousingWire's "Women of Influence" list. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a Master of Public Administration degree from Columbia University.
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