BREAKOUT SESSION: Developments in FHA, VA, and RHS Housing Programs

Manager, Loan Production Policy, Mortgage Bankers Association

Darnell Peterson has been a Regulatory Associate with MBA since September of 2019. Currently, he supervises MBA’s Government Loan Servicing Subcommittee and the Loan Administration Committee providing regulatory policy updates concerning residential housing loss mitigation. Previous to joining MBA, he developed a background in government affairs and policy analysis as a government affairs research and policy analyst intern at Forbes Tate Partners and the Exelon Corporation. Darnell also has held positions in the financial services industry with his time at Bank of America. He has a Masters in Public Policy from Drexel University and a BA in Political Science from Delaware State University.

Executive Director, Single-Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program, USDA Rural Development

Ingrid Ripley is the Executive Director for Single-Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program (SFHGLP) for the USDA Rural Housing Service and directs a guaranteed portfolio of $114B. Ripley has over 38 years experience in performance management, strategic planning, loan administration, risk management and primary/secondary financial service markets operations for both public and private sectors. She is recognized for her expertise executing multi-million-dollar multifaceted contracts delivering transformative technology lending platforms, and extensive experience leading reorganizations and initiatives for USDA. Ripley has led multiple Small Business Administration (SBA) high-risk mission-critical contract transitions of innovative loan origination platforms.

Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary, Single Family Housing, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Julie Shaffer is the Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary (ADAS) for the Office of Single-Family Housing and has been with HUD for more than 37 years working. As ADAS, she manages all aspects of Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) single family mortgage insurance programs; programmatic and administrative management of the Single Family’s offices nationwide: Office of Single Family Program Development, Office of Single Family Asset Management, and Office of Lender Activities and Program Compliance, as well as the four Homeownership Centers (HOC) located in Atlanta, Denver, Philadelphia and Santa Ana for Title I and Title II program, forward and reverse mortgages. She is responsible for the performance of $1.2 Trillion insurance fund with over $1.2 million annual endorsements. Prior to assuming her current role, Julie was detailed to the position of senior advisor to the FHA Commissioner. She was the Philadelphia Homeownership Center Director. Additionally, she previously served as Quality Assurance Director in Philadelphia, Acting Secretary to the Mortgagee Review Board and worked in Multifamily Housing.

Senior Executive Vice President and President of Residential Servicing, Freedom Mortgage Corporation

David Sheeler serves as senior executive vice president and president of residential servicing at Freedom Mortgage—one of the largest mortgage lenders in the country. Under his leadership, the servicing group has significantly grown over the years and helped hundreds of thousands of customers through loss mitigation. He oversees thousands of employees, encouraging the adoption of the latest technologies to drive efficiencies and foster homeownership. Mr. Sheeler has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry and displays exceptional leadership skills. He has held various roles within the mortgage industry, including executive vice president of correspondent lending and branch operations at W.J. Bradley Mortgage Capital, as well as the positions of chief operating officer, chief financial officer, and pricing and trading operations manager in the correspondent lending division of JP Morgan Chase. Mr. Sheeler has also worked at Countrywide Financial in Warehouse Lending and has served in various roles at BNP Paribas, including mergers and acquisitions, divisional chief financial officer, and director of international development. He also earned a CPA while working at Deloitte & Touche LLP in their financial services group. Last year, Mr. Sheeler was recognized as an Inman Power Player for being an influential executive in the real estate industry. In 2022, Mr. Sheeler was honored with the prestigious HousingWire Vanguard Award and, in 2021, he received the HousingWire Insider Award that recognizes an organization’s operational all-stars. He holds an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and earned his MBA from the University of Southern California.