POLICY PRIORITIES TRACK: Serving Our Veterans

Partner, Bradley

Nicole Jones is partner in the Banking and Financial Services and Litigation practice groups. Her practice focuses on defending claims and advising financial institutions on compliance with state and federal regulations, including the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Nicole also has experience assisting clients in responding to and resolving government investigations by federal and state regulators. Nicole joined the firm after clerking for Judge Rhesa H. Barksdale of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She attended the University of Mississippi School of Law, where she served as an Executive Articles Editor for the Mississippi Law Journal and worked in the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Clinic. Prior to law school, Nicole worked as a congressional aide in Washington, D.C.

Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Freedom Mortgage Corporation

Mike Patterson serves as senior executive vice president and chief operating officer of Freedom Mortgage, one of the largest and fastest-growing independent mortgage companies in the country. He is responsible for many functional and operational areas, including capital markets, finance, investor relations, and mortgage operations, as well as the strategic growth of the company. Mr. Patterson began his career in the mortgage industry in 2000 at Irwin Mortgage Corporation, based in Fishers, Indiana. In 2006, Mr. Patterson joined Freedom Mortgage through the company’s acquisition of Irwin Mortgage. Mr. Patterson quickly flourished at Freedom Mortgage and was promoted to vice president of finance in 2008. He was promoted again to senior vice president in 2013. In 2014, Mr. Patterson was named executive vice president and, later in that same year, chief of staff. In 2019, Mr. Patterson was promoted to chief operating officer of Freedom Mortgage. Over the course of Mr. Patterson’s career within the mortgage and finance industries, he has established himself as a top-level executive. He takes pride in his ability to bridge the gap between upper and middle management through his extensive industry knowledge. His acute understanding of market trends has been instrumental in the company’s ability to strategically plan for financial agility. Recently, Mr. Patterson was honored with HousingWire’s prestigious Vanguard Award that recognizes executives within the housing economy for their outstanding leadership. Last year, Mr. Patterson was named a Power 50 leader by South Jersey Biz magazine. In 2021, HousingWire awarded Mr. Patterson a Finance Leaders Award, which recognizes top finance executives who drive financial performance. In 2015, Mr. Patterson was honored with HousingWire’s Rising Stars Award, recognizing the brightest and most accomplished leaders under 40. Mr. Patterson is a state advisory board member of The Salvation Army of New Jersey. He is an active member of the MBA Residential Loan Committee and Secondary Capital Markets Committee, and also serves on the MBA Residential Board of Governors.

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.

Chief Operations Officer, LoanCare

Mike Blair is the EVP and COO at LoanCare. His one-mission, one-team approach has led to the development of an exemplary operations support team. Mike has more than 30 years of experience in the mortgage industry, with expertise in servicing, default, and loss mitigation. Previously, Mike served as LoanCare’ s Chief Administrative Officer. In this role, his responsibilities included guiding the strategic direction of LoanCare’ s subservicing technologies. Mike has also held executive roles at Cenlar and KeyBank. He has a bachelor’s degree in business, management, marketing, and related support services from St. Joseph’s University, New York.