OPENING GENERAL SESSION: Global Insurance Crisis – a Conversation with the California Department of Insurance

Partner, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

Brian McGrath counsels companies on a wide range of complex commercial legal issues. The co-chair of the firm's Consumer Financial Services Practice Group, he has helped clients navigate litigation involving financial services, intellectual property, antitrust, and white collar criminal investigations throughout his career. An outside-of-the-box thinker, Brian partners with his clients to provide them with simple, tailored solutions for their legal problems. In recent years, Brian has leveraged his broad experience to focus on serving clients in the financial services industry. He works with a number of financial institutions—including mortgage loan servicers—regarding lender liability and consumer protection statues. He also handles complaints concerning the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), as well as regulatory issues involving Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) enforcement actions

Deputy Commissioner, California Department of Insurance

Julia Svetlana Juarez leads the California Department of Insurance Community Relations and Outreach Branch. Since appointment in 2019, the Department has more than 1,200 townhalls, presentations and events, meeting with hundreds of thousands of consumers throughout the state who have been adversely affected by the state’s insurance crisis due to unprecedented wildfires, floods, earthquakes and the pandemic. With over 25 years of public and private sector outreach, education, and management experience, Juarez oversees constituent outreach with federal, state, and local elected district offices and leads the Department’s expanded efforts to assist wildfire survivors, local governments, small businesses, and consumers in accessing the Department’s many services.

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.

Vice President, Managing Regulatory Counsel, Mortgage Bankers Association

Justin Wiseman is Vice President and Managing Regulatory Counsel in the Public Policy and Industry Relations department at the Mortgage Bankers Association. Justin manages MBA’s Regulatory Policy team that covers legal issues, trends in litigation, regulatory compliance matters, and servicing as well as provides strategic direction to advance MBA member priorities on regulatory and legal matters. This team also analyzes pending rules and legislation, provides comments on behalf of MBA members on pending rules or regulations and helps develops MBA’s posture towards innovation and innovation policy. Prior to this, he staffed MBA’s Loan Administration committee, providing policy development insights and working with stakeholders to advocate on behalf of the industry.