2014 Women of Influence by HousingWire

HousingWire profiles this year’s Influential Women in Housing

Standing, left to right: Danielle Samalin, Michelle Maiwurm, Mitria Wilson Sitting, left to right: Victoria Rostow, Mary Kinney

36 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ NOVEMBER 2014

NOVEMBER 2014 ❱ HOUSINGWIRE 37

Pg.

TABLE of CONTENTS 39

A NNE M A R I A A LLEN | SUSA N A LLEN

PAT T Y A RV I E L O | DE B OR A AY DE L O T T E

A M Y B OH U T I N S K Y | K R I S T I N A C M OR E Y

JODY C OL LU P | K I M B E R LY DAV I S-R I F F E

A N N A DE S I M ON E | M A RC Y J. F OR D

I LYC E G L I N K | L AU R I E H AW K E S

DE B B I E HOF F M A N | M A RY K . K I N N E Y

JO A N N K RU S E | K AT H RY N L E S T E R

PA M E L A L I E B M A N | T E R R I M E R L I N O

M IC H E L L E M A I W U R M | E R IC A M E Y E R

M I R I A M M O OR E | C A ROL E M OR T E N S E N

B E T H O ’ B R I E N | M ON IQU E R IC C OB E L L I

V IC T OR I A RO S T OW | DA N I E L L E S A M A L I N

M A RC I S E P U LV E DA | T W I L A T RU E

A N G E L A E . WAT S ON | M I T R I A W I L S ON

38 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ NOVEMBER 2014

Annemaria Allen

Susan Allen

CEO/President

Vice President, Product Management/Mortgage Analytics

THE COMPLIA NC E GR OUP

COREL O GIC

NNEMARIA ALLEN has devoted her career to improving mortgage lending compliance, a topic that is more important than ever in today’s regulated landscape. Allen founded The Compliance Group, located in San Marcos, California, in 2000, and serves as its CEO and president. Previously, Allen served as chief compliance officer for an industry leader on high-LTV products and Title I loans. In addition, Allen’s past experience includes working for several multibillion-dollar mortgage lending companies, Wall Street investment firms and national banks, in leading roles such as chief compliance officer, equity research analyst in the top 15 stocks in the United States, appraising, underwriting, processing and funding. Allen is a graduate of the American Bankers Association compliance program at the University of Oklahoma and has received extensive training through the MBA, ABA and Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac seminars. Allen is a California MBA board member and past chair of the mortgage quality assurance and compliance sub-committee, a member and past trainer of mortgage regulators through the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators. She is also a member and alpha test group participant for mortgage licensing application standardization through the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and has worked to modify the NMLS system. Allen has participated in developing the anti-predatory lending course and compliance certification program with the MBA. Allen is a frequent speaker and presenter on panels and conferences relating to regulatory developments in mortgage lending, multi-state licensing, compliance and quality assurance, and writes and contributes to numerous articles in industry publications.

S VICE PRESIDENT of product management and mortgage analytics at CoreLogic, Susan Allen is responsible for the company’s analytics product suite, which is used by all of the nation’s top-25 mortgage lenders. In her current position, she leads a product suite maintained by more than 200 product managers, modelers, technologists, and data managers. By identifying promising new solutions, managing all products through their lifecycle and engaging resellers, banking regulators, investors, and other influential stakeholders, Allen has delivered yearover-year growth of 30% in mature markets. She has also saved lenders over $60 million in the last 12 months through the use of streamlined analytics, and expanded the CoreLogic consortium database to include over 100 million records to help lenders better detect mortgage fraud and property valuation risk. This year, Allen and her team received their fourth patent for innovations in risk management, and launched an innovative condo solution. She is the author or co-author of an additional five patent applications. Since joining CoreLogic in 2009, Allen has been responsible for managing property valuation and fraud solutions, developing risk management products and consulting with clients. She has created some of the company’s fastest-growing solutions, including GeoAVM Precision, the OnSite suite of reports and LoanSafe Appraisal Manager. In 2012, CoreLogic honored Allen with the Kennedy Excellence Award. She was nominated for exceptional business navigation through significant changes in industry regulations. Prior to joining CoreLogic, Allen was chief collateral officer for JP Morgan Chase and held a similar collateral risk position with GMAC.

ALLEN HAS WORKED FOR SEVERAL MULTIBILLION-

ALLEN HAS DELIVERED YEAR-OVER-YEAR GROWTH

DOLLAR MORTGAGE LENDING COMPANIES,

OF 30% IN MATURE MARKETS.

INVESTMENT FIRMS AND NATIONAL BANKS.

NOVEMBER 2014 ❱ HOUSINGWIRE 39

Patty Arvielo

Debora Aydelotte

President

NE W A MERIC A N F UNDING

A LTISOUR C E ORIGIN ATION SER VIC E S

ATTY ARVIELO’S first exposure to the mortgage industry came when she was a young girl, accompanying her mother to clean real estate offices at night. Arvielo now serves as president of New American Funding, the company she co-founded with husband Rick in 2003, where she books nearly $3 million in home loans each month on her own, while managing operations and sales for NAF’s headquarters, branches and over 1,200 employees. Arvielo serves on the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) Corporate Board of Governors and inspired seven of her management-level employees to obtain local chapter and board positions. Arvielo has spearheaded a Latino focus committee within her own organization and serves on the MBA committees on risk management and diversity and inclusion. She frequently visits Washington, D.C., to lobby on behalf of the mortgage industry. Additionally, Arvielo serves on the Freddie Mac Community Lender Advisory Board, where she provides input on strategies, initiatives and executions. Arvielo’s community involvement includes serving on the board of Big Brothers Big Sisters Orange County, and she has brought a new mentorship program in-house to New American Funding. “She has a gift for aligning talent and skill sets with opportunity,” a spokesperson for NAF said. “She challenges her teams to take on new projects with confidence and determination.” Arvielo has worked to transform New American Funding into a national mortgage lender and servicer that funds more than $500 million in home loans each month. Under her guidance, in a short amount of time, the company has brought the entire loan process in-house — from origination to funding.

EBORA AYDELOTTE is president of Altisource Origination Services, part of Altisource Portfolio Solutions, SA. She is a leading advocate of process integration as a means to achieve both efficiency and compliance and is responsible for integrating the operational and strategic development of the origination services platforms at Altisource, including advisory services, forensic reviews, counterparty risk and correspondent investor platform development. Aydelotte is Six Sigma certified and has more than 20 years of experience in risk management, originations platform management and business line development. Prior to joining Altisource, she led teams at Wells Fargo, HomeSide Lending, Mellon Bank and Fleet Mortgage. Aydelotte also co-founded a correspondent lending business and risk management consulting firm. She is often sought after for her perspective on outsourcing by the U.S. media and has bylined articles on industry topics such as margin compression and layered risk. Aydelotte frequently leads or participates in industry panel discussions at the national and regional levels. Aydelotte participated in this year’s United Kingdom’s Council of Mortgage Lenders session in London. She also moderated a session at the 2014 MBA Risk Management and QA Forum in Phoenix, and facilitated an educational session during the Summer Lenders One Mortgage Cooperative conference. Aydelotte has built a national and international network of mortgage industry colleagues, strengthening her insight and interest in macro-economic theory and its effects on the housing market. She has a bachelor of business management and communications degree from Alverno College and is currently pursuing a master in finance-economic policy degree from the University of London.

ARVIELO BOOKS NEARLY $3 MILLION IN HOME

AYDELOTTE HAS BUILT A NATIONAL AND

LOANS EACH MONTH, WHILE MANAGING

INTERNATIONAL NETWORK OF MORTGAGE

OPERATIONS, SALES AND 1,200 EMPLOYEES.

INDUSTRY COLLEAGUES.

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Amy Bohutinsky

Kristina Cmorey

Chief Marketing Officer

Senior Vice President, Capital Markets

ZILL OW

DIGITA L RISK

MY BOHUTINSKY has been the powerhouse behind Zillow’s brand since the company’s inception in 2005, and she’s the only marketing executive to make our list. At Zillow she has built the marketing and communications teams from the ground up and taken the company from an unknown startup to the market leader and a household name. Today, Zillow has nearly 90 million unique users visiting Zillow’s mobile applications and websites, representing 36% year-over-year growth. In the past three years, Zillow has acquired eight companies, and Bohutinsky oversees the branding and marketing strategy for all of them. Zillow recently announced its intent to acquire Trulia in a $3.5 billion all-stock sale, which adds more complexity to Bohutinsky’s role. “Amy has always been on the cutting edge of marketing, taking risks and never hesitating to try new things,” a spokesperson with Zillow said. “With essentially no marketing budget when Zillow launched, Amy was tasked with building a brand using only PR and word of mouth.” Bohutinsky’s strategy emphasizes direct communication with consumers, including making a strong emotional connection with Zillow’s audience. Her influence is reflected in everything from recent television ads to on-going conversations she and her team have with millions of Zillow users via social media. This was especially evident in Zillow’s event with President Obama in 2013, whereby Zillow facilitated and broadcast a direct conversation with Zillow users and the president. Outside of Zillow, Bohutinsky advises numerous startups and entrepreneurs. She is a mentor with Seattle TechStars, a startup accelerator, which she became involved with last year. She also regularly hosts and speaks with groups advocating for more women in tech and leadership positions. Bohutinsky also serves on the board of directors of Avvo.

RISTINA CMOREY is senior vice president of client services at Digital Risk, where she has secured over $100 million in new business contracts, grown one line of business by over $30 million and helped develop vital company tools, including Digital Risk’s proprietary loan underwriting system. During the past year Cmorey has been instrumental in growing the business for the company’s $40 million forensic scope client, from nurturing the relationship with the client to reducing client costs from a project oversight standpoint. Cmorey plays a vital role in the company’s business development, contract negotiation process, product development and implementation. In her first two years at Digital Risk, Cmorey established capital markets advisory and operations divisions, formed and grew multiple lines of business, transformed the company into a paperless environment, and developed FP&A tools and procedures to ensure optimal organizational profit and loss management. By 2013, Cmorey had grown the capital markets advisory division to a $50 million business, making it a market leader in RMBS loss mitigation, and the highest profiting line of business across the company. She also developed remediation tools that later became the industry standard. Prior to Digital Risk, Cmorey was director of operations at a title insurance company, growing the business from an Orlando-based law firm to a multi-state national provider, increasing client base and revenue by more than 10 times. At another mortgage company, she developed processes and procedures that eliminated repurchase risk on over $50 million worth in post-mortem loans. She also founded and operated her own mortgage business for several years.

WITH ESSENTIALLY NO MARKETING BUDGET,

BY 2013, CMOREY HAD GROWN THE

BOHUTINSKY WAS TASKED WITH BUILDING A

CAPITAL MARKET ADVISORY DIVISION TO A

BRAND USING ONLY PR AND WORD OF MOUTH.

$50 MILLION BUSINESS.

NOVEMBER 2014 ❱ HOUSINGWIRE 41

Jody Collup

Kimberly Davis-Riffe

Vice President of Marketing

Partner

GL OBA L DMS

K PMG

ODY COLLUP, vice president of marketing at Global DMS, has developed a marketing strategy that evangelizes the importance of utilizing valuations as a critical component of the underwriting and risk management process. Collup is regularly involved in technology panel sessions and roundtables, and is an active thought leader in the mortgage media, constantly monitoring changing marketplace conditions, data and trends in residential lending compliance and sharing that information with trade associations, analysts and research entities throughout the industry Collup spearheaded a panel session at the annual Mortgage Bankers Technology Conference in March of this year on the topic of creating a business climate of success for women in technology. The ongoing campaign is designed to drive the progression and number of women involved in mortgage technology. After the mortgage meltdown and financial crisis in 2008, Collup led a marketing team at Calyx Software Inc. to maintain a healthy revenue stream, unifying the functional business areas of sales and marketing after the acquisition of another software provider. As a result, both brands were aligned and subsequently positioned the acquiring company to pursue additional revenue streams. After a successful stint at Calyx Software, Collup was recruited to join Global DMS, which is focused on automating the appraisal process for residential and commercial property valuations. Collup recently started to help manage and grow a group called “LemonDrop,” which is designed specifically to promote networking among female mortgage professionals.

IMBERLY DAVIS-RIFFE co-partners KPMG’s national mortgage and consumer lending group, a division within the firm’s financial risk management advisory practice comprised of more than 320 subject-matter professionals. KPMG is a global firm that includes more than 145,000 professionals in 152 countries. With more than 20 years of experience focused solely in the consumer lending space, Davis-Riffe’s core focus is providing financial, operational and regulatory compliance assistance to large and middle-market mortgage and consumer lending originators, servicers, securitizers and the government-sponsored enterprises. More specifically, she focuses on business process redesign, operational risk and control assessments, risk governance, monitoring, reporting and remediation. Davis-Riffe developed KPMG’s Mortgage Transformation Platform to provide clients greater adaptability to market conditions and regulatory requirements, as well as enhanced risk and compliance management, data cleanliness, control monitoring, and cost savings through automation, use of shared services, and outsourcing. “I have considered Kimberly my mentor for my entire career — through two different consulting firms — and continue to look to her for guidance,” her nominator wrote. She is also the leading author of KPMG’s publications on mortgage originations and servicing operations considerations, including brochures, addressing topics including the pressure today’s origination industry is experiencing to evaluate, enhance and transform its business practices as a result of regulatory compliance and investor concerns. Davis-Riffe has been a panel moderator and participant at the MBA’s 100th Annual Convention in 2013 and developed the Mortgage Symposium in coordination with SNR Denton and Digital Risk.

COLLUP IS AN ACTIVE THOUGHT LEADER IN THE

DAVIS-RIFFE IS THE LEADING AUTHOR OF KPMG’S

MORTGAGE MEDIA, MONITORING MARKETPLACE

PUBLICATIONS ON MORTGAGE ORIGINATIONS AND

CONDITIONS, DATA AND TRENDS.

SERVICING OPERATIONS CONSIDERATIONS.

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Anna DeSimone

Marcy Ford

President

Partner/Executive Vice President

BANK ERS ADVISORY

TR OT T & TR OT T

NNA DESIMONE founded Bankers Advisory in 1986 to provide quality control, fair lending and regulatory compliance audit services to firms nationally. In January 2014, Bankers Advisory was acquired by the nation’s ninth largest public accounting firm, CliftonLarsonAllen LLP. DeSimone has developed resources for both consumers and mortgage industry professionals, including consumer education curricula. Her 35-person firm includes 10 attorneys who update the consumer finance rules for every state, as well as the federal CFPB, Dodd-Frank, HUD, and FHFA rules. She is a prolific writer and presenter, producing six educational videos on the Qualified Mortgage and authoring two comprehensive guidebooks on the 2014 mortgage rules and responsible lending in the last year. Over the past 10 years, she has authored a total of 15 policy manual templates for AllRegs and more than 100 articles. DeSimone is also a nationally recognized author of books, feature articles and the weekly newsletter, Compliance Monitor. Her career-building approach has mentored her 10 full-time staff attorneys to publish materials and deliver compliance training on over 24 federal regulations. An inveterate innovator, she developed the smartphone application “QM Corner” as an educational support tool to support responsible lending and regulatory compliance. In the past three months she completed a nine-month R&D project called “Enterprise Mortgage Compliance,” a quality control software program that encompasses pre/post-funding, state/federal compliance, fair lending and loan servicing. The robust program includes thousands of risk-rated exception items and produces reports, metrics and analytical tools.

ARCY J. FORD, partner and executive committee chair of Trott & Trott, P.C., has spent the last 20 years not only cultivating her own career, but the careers of those around her. She is responsible for leading and serving as a trusted advisor of the firm’s 60-person bankruptcy department and overseeing the legal component of the firm’s mediation unit. Since 2012, Ford has served USFN —America’s Mortgage Banking Attorneys — as its president and chair of the board of directors. USFN is comprised of more than 100 member law firms and 35 associate member companies from 50 states. Ford is responsible for leading the trade association’s board of directors to advance the real estate finance industry and best practice models through education, legislation, political and government reform. A frequent author in trade publications, Ford contributes a quarterly column for the USFN Report and leads several speaking engagements at national conferences throughout the year. Ford works with banks, servicers and investor/insurer groups on critical mortgage servicing issues to reach achievable and lasting solutions. She has also been very active as a member of the NACTT’s mortgage committees, representing the views and concerns of the law firms involved in representing lenders in BK matters. Additionally, Marcy serves on the National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees’ Mortgage Liaison and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau committees. Formerly, she served on the board of the Detroit Consumer Bankruptcy Association and was appointed to the Default Advisory Group for Freddie Mac.

DESIMONE’S CAREER-BUILDING APPROACH HAS

FORD IS WORKING TO ADVANCE THE REAL ESTATE

MENTORED HER 10 FULL-TIME ATTORNEYS TO

FINANCE INDUSTRY THROUGH EDUCATION,

PUBLISH AND DELIVER COMPLIANCE TRAINING.

LEGISLATION AND GOVERNMENT REFORM.

NOVEMBER 2014 ❱ HOUSINGWIRE 43

Ilyce Glink

Laurie Hawkes

CEO

President, Chief Operating Officer and Member of the Board of Directors

THINK GLINK MEDIA

A MERIC A N RE SIDENTIA L PR OPER TIE S

N THE LAST YEAR, Ilyce Glink has regularly contributed to Yahoo and CBS News, written a widely syndicated real estate newspaper column, hosted a weekly radio program on WSB and WGN, acted as managing editor of the Equifax Personal Finance Blog, hosted her own real estate YouTube video series, launched a new talk show and run two successful companies. Glink’s influence on homebuyers is broad. Her syndicated column, Real Estate Matters, appears in more than 100 newspapers and web sites, her YouTube channel has more than 3.6 million video views and she has almost 1 million copies of her 13 books in print, including the third edition of 100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask. After spending eight years as a personal finance and real estate reporter for WGN-TV in Chicago, Glink has expanded her audience through numerous TV spots, blog posts and speeches. She writes the Home Equity blog at CBS Moneywatch.com and the Real Estate blog at the Equifax Personal Finance Blog. She has been nominated for an Emmy award and won the first Money $mart award from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Content marketing may be in vogue now, but Glink and her team have been perfecting it for the past 15 years. Glink owns and operates Think Glink Publishing LLC, a privately held company providing media consulting services and strategic editorial content. “Ilyce has proven her uncanny ability to predict trends, not just in publishing and journalism but in real estate and economics as well,” her nominator said. “Glink’s fans and followers look to her for expert tips and tricks to buy and sell their homes, but also a unique brand of compassionate and funny truth-telling that keeps them coming back for more.” The original content from Think Glink Publishing includes everything from private label books to Internet video to targeted email campaigns.

AURIE HAWKES is the co-founder of American Residential Properties, which is one of the top-five fastest-growing companies in the housing industry. In the past year, she has taken ARPI public as a REIT, and overseen its first rental-backed securitization, backed by 2,876 single-family homes in the company’s portfolio. Hawkes has been president since the company’s formation in May 2012 and chief operating officer since March 2013. In that time the company has expanded into 13 states, where it acquires, restores, leases and manages single-family homes. From 1995 to 2007, Hawkes worked at U.S. Realty Advisors, a $3 billion real estate private equity firm, becoming a partner in 1997 and serving as president of the firm from 2003 to 2007. In the 15 years prior to joining U.S. Realty, Hawkes was a Wall Street investment banker specializing in real estate and mortgage finance, serving as managing director at CS First Boston Corp., and as a director in the mortgage banking department at Salomon Brothers. “Laurie is, without a doubt, the best spokesperson for the emerging Single Family Rental sector,” her nominator said. “Laurie takes the lead in driving collaborative efforts to bring leaders of the sector together, and has truly been the catalyst to bring together the operators, investment banks, structurers and arrangers, analysts, data providers, and investors in the sector.” During her investment banking career, she structured and negotiated more than $16 billion in real estate acquisitions and securitized mortgage debt transactions for all property types, utilizing many types of financing, including private equity, capital markets, financial institutions and institutional investors.

CONTENT MARKETING MAY BE IN VOGUE NOW, BUT

HAWKES HAS EXPANDED THE COMPANY INTO 13

GLINK AND HER TEAM HAVE BEEN PERFECTING IT

STATES, WHERE IT ACQUIRES, RESTORES, LEASES

FOR THE PAST 15 YEARS.

AND MANAGES SINGLE-FAMILY HOMES.

44 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ NOVEMBER 2014

Debbie Hoffman

Mary Kinney

Chief Legal Officer

Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

DIGITA L RISK

GINNIE M A E

S THE CHIEF legal officer at Digital Risk, Debbie Hoffman has been instrumental in developing the company’s governance, risk, compliance (GRC) solution, a proprietary solution that performs servicer oversight, compliance and surveillance functions required by SIFI’s to remain compliant with new federal regulations. In addition to developing the company’s new business generation solution, Hoffman also optimized the process to execute complex contracts. She recently developed the model for the company’s new compliance program governing Digital Risk’s parent company’s (Mphasis, a subsidiary of HP) business overseas. Hoffman significantly reduced costs by restructuring the model of origination licensing, which reduced the need of individual employee licensing, renewals and continuing education, cutting the company’s licensing cost by over 50%. She also spearheaded an intellectual property strategy for the form of registering a variety of protected trademarks and patents. Hoffman has influenced a generation of law students as a former professor of legal methods at Florida A&M University and Instructor of real estate law at Central Florida University. Hoffman is also the founder and coordinator of the Digital Risk legal internship program. A strong supporter of women in the industry, Hoffman has been an integral part of spearheading the Women at the Forefront of Structured Finance Symposium in 2013, the Orlando Women’s Leadership Luncheon in 2013, and participating as a Mentor in Digital Risk’s Women Who Mean Business Mentoring Luncheon in 2014. She is currently organizing a symposium for women in the mortgage industry to be co-sponsored by leading law firm Hunton & Williams.

S EXECUTIVE vice president and chief operating officer, Mary Kinney has overseen the explosive growth Ginnie Mae has experienced over the last four years, as the company’s book of business grew from $1 trillion in 2010 to over $1.5 trillion in 2014. Since 2009, Ginnie Mae has returned revenues in excess of $1 billion, w it h prog ra m e x p en se s of approx i mately $100 m i l l ion. Kinney has also been a driving force behind operational and infrastructural change efforts, delivering improvements for Ginnie Mae, its business partners and stakeholders. “Kinney’s focus on transforming Ginnie Mae’s culture and improving its infrastructure and operations has resulted in making Ginnie Mae a desirable employer for high performers from the private sector,” a spokesperson for Ginnie Mae said. “Her leadership on transformational change in program offerings and infrastructure has resulted in Ginnie Mae meeting its goal of being a high performing government agency and achieving private-sector like results.” Over the last 12 months, Kinney has focused on employee engagement and productivity, emphasizing a culture of performance and accountability. Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey results show that 90% of Ginnie Mae employees understand how their work relates to the firm’s goals and objectives and 88% believe their work is important. Kinney has emphasized that managers must properly manage their teams by rewarding high performers while also helping low performers improve. Throughout her tenure, Kinney has focused on program modernization through improving features for stakeholders. For example, under Kinney’s leadership, Ginnie Mae recently transformed its issuer application process, moving from a paper-based system that took weeks to complete, to an online process that can be completed much quicker.

HOFFMAN HAS INFLUENCED A GENERATION

KINNEY HAS OVERSEEN EXPLOSIVE GROWTH IN

OF LAW STUDENTS THROUGH WORK AT TWO

THE BOOK OF BUSINESS FROM $1 TRILLION TO $1.5

UNIVERSITIES AND AN INTERNSHIP PROGRAM.

TRILLION IN FOUR YEARS.

NOVEMBER 2014 ❱ HOUSINGWIRE 45

Jo Ann Kruse

Kathryn Lester

President and COO

Managing Director

M AT T M A R TIN RE AL E STATE

C L AY TON CONSULTING SER VIC E S

INCE BECOMING COO and president of Matt Martin Real Estate Management (MMREM) in January of 2014, Jo Ann Kruse has led the company into two of its most profitable

quarters. Kruse has accelerated some of the company’s most important projects since taking the helm — the standardization of the HOA/COA industry and the deployment of a third-party services platform for rental properties. Kruse is shaping the standardization of the HOA/COA industry to provide investors the tools to manage lien risk in an opaque and fragmented segment of the mortgage industry. She is using her experience managing large data problems for other organizations to appropriately structure the business model and stakeholders for Sperlonga Data & Analytics, as well as appoint the most appropriate leader for the task. After creating a united front among MMREM management, Kruse led the deployment of a third-party services platform for the acquisition, rehab, rental, and securitization of rental properties. Her knowledge of the capital markets provided the key insights to transform a bundle of disparate services into a single POC platform for institutional investors investing in the single-family rental asset class. Before joining MMREM, Kruse spent six years at The Impac Cos., where she managed a 70,000 unit, $17 billion MBS servicing portfolio. She also had operational leadership responsibility for originations, where she grew production by 4.5 times in under 12 months. Kruse has revolutionized the way that MMREM manages each account, reorganizing a service line focus into a holistic customer approach.

S MANAGING DIRECTOR for Clayton Consulting Services, Kathryn Lester provides independent and objective process and performance consulting to the residential mortgage servicing industry. She manages a team of consultants dedicated to identifying and documenting residential mortgage servicing industry best practices and trends; assessing adherence to rules and regulations, governing agreements, and settlements; developing servicer evaluation methodology and performing on-site assessments; and developing risk programs. Over the past three years, Lester and her team conducted over 100 residential mortgage servicer assessments. In addition to helping servicers and special servicers, Lester’s team also provides advisory services to major mortgage companies, banks, regulators, private equity groups, mortgage insurance companies and GSEs. She also leads cross-functional teams dedicated to the surveillance, oversight, and compliance monitoring of Loss Share Agreements for single-family loans under the FDIC’s Loss Share Program and, most recently, she developed Clayton’s CFPB mortgage servicing readiness assessment program. Lester is frequently called upon to participate in industry round-table discussions and to serve as a moderator and panelist at national conferences and industry focus groups, including the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Mortgage Bankers Association. Prior to joining Clayton in 2002, Lester was the vice president of operations for American Document Service, Inc. and she has held board positions at multiple non-profit organizations, including Girls on the Run of the Rockies, Friends of Warren Village, and CultureHaus, an extension of the Denver Art Museum.

KRUSE HAS TAKEN ON THE STANDARDIZATION OF

LESTER HAS DEVELOPED CLAYTON’S

THE HOA/COA INDUSTRY AND THE DEPLOYMENT OF

CFPB MORTGAGE SERVICING READINESS

A THIRD-PARTY SERVICES PLATFORM.

ASSESSMENT PROGRAM.

46 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ NOVEMBER 2014

Pamela Liebman

Terri Merlino

President and CEO

Chief Credit Officer

THE COR COR A N GR OUP

NE W PENN FIN A NC IA L

AMELA LIEBMAN joined The Corcoran Group 29 years ago and is today the company’s president and CEO. Liebman has led the company on a path of growth and robust profitability through strategic acquisitions, skilled negotiations and the founding of new business group, Corcoran Group Marketing, making Corcoran the first New York City real estate firm to establish its own development division. In 2002, Liebman negotiated the acquisition of Corcoran by NRT, the largest real estate brokerage company in America. This was followed by additional corporate initiatives, including the purchase of Citi-Habitats, New York City’s largest rental brokerage firm. In 2013, Liebman successfully negotiated an agreement which won Corcoran the right to market and sell all New York City new luxury residential condominium properties for Related Companies, including the Hudson Yards project, the largest development in New York City since Rockefeller Center. This agreement will represent a pipeline of nearly $5 billion in new condominium properties. “Pamela’s negotiation skills are legend and the agreement entered into with Related Companies reflects her extraordinary talent and keen foresight that continues to drive the growth and future of the Corcoran business,” a company spokesperson said. Liebman has worked to provide an inclusive working environment at The Corcoran Group, which received the “Equality at Work Award” from the New York State Empire State Pride Agenda, among other accolades. Liebman is a member of the American Cancer Society’s CEOs Against Cancer, a founding board member of Wipe Out Leukemia Forever Foundation and serves on the board of the USS Intrepid Foundation and supports BASF Inner City Scholarship Fund.

ERRI MERLINO joined New Penn Financial in September 2013 as chief credit officer and has been transforming the company’s credit function, formalizing the basic functionality in the group and leading it from the start-up phase to a more mature model. In addition to her role managing credit policy and execution, Merlino has led a project team to launch New Penn’s non-QM product, and partnered with risk management to create a product development and execution team to clearly articulate the company’s credit quality standards and credit appetite. “We are one of the first loan originators to offer non-QM products, largely due to the expertise, professionalism, and drive of Terri Merlino,” said a New Penn Financial spokesperson. Merlino spent 21 years at PHH Mortgage prior to joining New Penn, serving as senior vice president, credit and operational risk. While at PHH, Merlino received the PHH Woman of Excellence Award for her role in the redesign of the Loan Processing Center and the creation of the PHH Women’s Leadership Council. Before joining PHH Mortgage, Merlino was a member of KPMG’s audit practice for nine years. Merlino’s expertise is sought after by the industry as a whole, as she has served on several Fannie Mae committees, including the GSE’s Risk Management Forum. In addition to her professional endeavors, Merlino is actively involved in volunteering her time and talents to charitable organizations. She currently serves as president of the American Cancer Society South Jersey Region Board of Advisors and serves as vice president of the Eastern Division Board of Directors of the American Cancer Society.

LIEBMAN NEGOTIATED AN AGREEMENT TO SELL

MERLINO HAS LED A TEAM TO DEVELOP AND

THE HUDSON YARDS PROJECT, REPRESENTING A

LAUNCH SOME OF THE INDUSTRY’S FIRST

PIPELINE OF NEARLY $5 BILLION.

NON-QM PRODUCTS.

NOVEMBER 2014 ❱ HOUSINGWIRE 47

Michelle Maiwurm

Erica Meyer

Senior Policy Advisor

CEO & Publisher

OFFIC E OF SEN. M A RK WA RREN

OC TOBER RE SE AR C H

ICHELLE MAIWURM, senior policy advisor at Sen. Mark Warner’s office, has been instrumental in working on GSE reform legislation in the Senate. She was responsible for crafting and writing the legislation that famously became known as “Corker-Warner,” which became the basis for the Johnson-Crapo GSE reform legislation. Maiwurm also built both Senate and external coalitions supporting the Corker-Warner legislation, influenced publications on the process, and conducted negotiations and staffed the senator in negotiations on Corker-Warner. “Nobody in Sen. Warner’s office understands capital markets and the GSEs better than Michelle, or cares about the future of housing finance more,” a spokesperson for the senator’s office said. “She spent many days, nights and weeks meeting with countless stakeholders to make sure that the Senate got GSE reform right.” Before joining Warner’s staff, Maiwurm worked as a lobbyist and fundraiser for BKSH & Associates and Campaign Finance Consultants. Maiwurm has been a key leader on the Senate Banking Committee, leading the efforts on housing finance reform. She has built coalitions inside and outside the Senate and drafted the original Corker-Warner reform framework. Not only did Sens. Corker and Warner work across the political aisle, Maiwurm led bipartisan efforts working closely and collaboratively with her counterpart in Sen. Corker’s office. Maiwurm advises Sen. Warner in work with banking, financial services, housing, and his work on telecommunications and technology issues. Maiwurm continues to have a passion to see housing finance reform legislation passed and will continue to lead efforts in Sen. Warner’s office and the Senate Banking Committee pushing for legislation.

RICA MEYER is the CEO and publisher of October Research LLC, which provides a comprehensive suite of training tools and market intelligence resources to help real estate, mortgage and settlement services professionals remain compliant and add value and distinction to the services they provide. Ultimately, the company’s goal is to empower its clients to increase their productivity and profitability through the competitive advantage of knowledge. October Research is the parent company and publisher of five market intelligence publications and their websites: The Title Report, The Legal Description, Valuation Review, RESPA News and Dodd-Frank Update. The company also includes a seminars division, which produces webinars and The National Settlement Services Summit. The summit is held in June every year in Atlanta, Georgia. During the last year, Meyer has increased the attendance of the annual National Settlement Services Summit to record numbers. While strengthening existing relationships, she continues to forge ahead to establishing new relationships, all geared toward providing those in the housing industry with crucial information needed for regulatory compliance and supporting the growth of independent businesses. “Erica Meyer demonstrates exemplary leadership with tireless ambition, dedication and drive,” her nominator said. “Leading her staff by example, she exhibits enthusiasm and a contagious positive attitude. Her unique mix of down-to-earth communication style with the professionalism achieved from industry experience makes her a charismatic role model.”

MAIWURM HAS BEEN INSTRUMENTAL IN WORKING

MEYER OVERSEES FIVE MARKET INTELLIGENCE

ON GSE REFORM LEGISLATION IN THE SENATE,

PUBLICATIONS AND THEIR WEBSITES THAT

INCLUDING THE CORKER-WARNER BILL.

INCREASE CLIENT PROFITABILITY.

48 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ NOVEMBER 2014

Miriam Moore

Carole Mortensen

Executive Vice President of Default Services

Managing Director — Head of Risk Management

SER VIC ELINK

WATERFA LL A SSE T M A N AGEMENT

HEN FNF’S ServiceLink and the former LPS merged in January 2014 to create ServiceLink, a Black Knight Financial Services Co., Miriam Moore’s leadership played a key role in identifying areas where the two companies could deliver enhanced quality and efficiency to clients. Moore, executive vice president at ServiceLink, used her default experience and industry knowledge to quickly form a best-in-class leadership team after the merger, and put in place the foundation and processes necessary to support major national servicers, elevating the company to the leading national player in the default services arena. “By leveraging the company’s industry-leading technology, Miriam and her team have enhanced overall efficiency, significantly increased productivity, standardized operational processes and improved transaction transparency for its clients,” a company spokesperson said. Moore has introduced complementary product offerings, creating the company’s unique “Start-to-Finish” title and closing program, and leveraged synergies across the company’s default services divisions to create complete, integrated loss-mitigation and REO business solutions. She also implemented a post-sale HUD title conveyance model and expanded ServiceLink’s Loan Modification, Deed in Lieu, and REO-toRental business lines. Moore has championed the expansion of initiatives to save borrowers money, while providing greater transparency into the foreclosure process. During one five-month period, Invoice Verification curtailed more than $27 million in invoice errors. Moore also works to support women in the default industry, co-founding Women Executives in Banking, a professional networking organization comprised of senior level women executives in mortgage servicing.

AROLE MORTENSEN is managing director, head of risk management, for Waterfall Asset Management. She has nearly 20 years’ experience in residential loan originations and structured finance and oversees asset management for several funds totaling over $1.5 billion in unpaid principal balance of performing and non-performing residential forward and reverse mortgage loans. Throughout her career, Mortensen’s experience as a ratings analyst at Moody’s has lent to her understanding of risk in structured finance. She served as a vice president at Credit Suisse, and director at UBS and Societe Generale. At Waterfall, Mortensen spearheads asset management with a team of seven professionals and manages the residential and small balance commercial risk management initiatives of her firm, a hedge fund located in NYC. She is a leader when working with investors and clients as well as several of Waterfall’s affiliated businesses through its small balance REIT, Sutherland REIT. The total portfolio of assets that Mortensen manages across all strategies (with her team) totals over $2B in purchased UPB. Through her experience at UBS and Credit Suisse, Mortensen is managing loan originations for several new residential loan origination platforms. She has been instrumental in recent acquisitions that support Waterfall’s lending activity for its small-balance commercial arm, which recently acquired a small business lending platform. Mortensen initiated the first “Women of Waterfall” event to promote women in the workplace and arranges for key speakers that demonstrate success in a challenging work environment such as a hedge fund. She also organizes several corporate events, and last year, raised several thousand dollars through a holiday gift-giving effort for her entire firm.

MOORE HAS CREATED AND LAUNCHED NEW

MORTENSEN OVERSEES ASSET MANAGEMENT FOR

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES THAT DRIVE PERFORMANCE

SEVERAL FUNDS TOTALING OVER $1.5 BILLION IN

FOR MORTGAGE ORIGINATORS AND SERVICERS.

UNPAID PRINCIPAL BALANCE.

NOVEMBER 2014 ❱ HOUSINGWIRE 49

Beth O’Brien

Monique Riccobelli

President

Senior Vice President

COL ON Y A MERIC A N FIN A NC E

HUNTINGTON N ATION A L BA NK

ETH O’BRIEN joined Colony American Finance as president in March 2014 and is responsible for leading and growing all aspects of the company’s lending operations. She has been instrumental in designing new lending products for small and medium- sized investors to level the playing field in terms of access to cheaper captial. Colony American Finance is one of the first specialty finance lenders dedicated exclusively to investors in single-family rentals, offering both acquisition financing and stbilized cash flow loans on SFR rental portfolios nationwide. Prior to joining Colony American Finance, O’Brien was an executive vice president and managing director of Auction.com, running the residential capital markets division and leading pooled loan sales, financings and originations across the single-family and multifamily sectors. O’Brien was also president of Auctionfinance.com, managing the associated bridge loan lender. She has also served as director at Citi, where her RMBS trading and securitization responsibilities included client coverage of banks, insurance companies, government entities and hedge funds. She was also responsible for disposition strategy, portfolio management and targeted acquisitions in the portfolio. “Beth is one of the rare people who have worked on Wall Street and retained their integrity, accessibility and kindness,” her nominator said. O’Brien received her law degree from Georgetown and a bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania.

ONIQUE RICCOBELLI, senior Vice President and home lending operations director at Huntington National Bank, has used the new Dodd-Frank regulation as an opportunity to improve the customer experience for the bank’s 1 million consumer lending borrowers, increasing the transparency of customers’ mortgage information. Customers now have full access to their mortgage information through new features such as online monthly mortgage statements, and since launching the enhancement, the number of customers accessing their mortgage information online has increased 25%. Riccobelli managed to make this major improvement while keeping the bank’s costs flat, despite the large demands of the new regulation. “This project is just one of many examples of Monique being innovative, increasing operational efficiency and — most importantly — doing the right thing for our customers,” a company spokesperson said. At Huntington, Riccobelli leads the consumer lending servicing function, as well as the home lending fulfillment and call center sales functions. She oversees a team of nearly 300 employees who support the bank’s mortgage loans and home equity loans and lines of credit, which totaled a combined $6.8 billion in 2013. Riccobelli chairs the mortgage advisory board for Black Knight Financial Services, leading a team of fellow mortgage experts who counsel the company on product compliance. In the community, she is a leader in hands-on volunteer events, such as working with the local homeless shelter and coordinating fundraising activities for local schools. Riccobelli is also active in her local arts community, where she plays the violin in various local ensembles, including a fundraising activity with the Columbus Symphony.

O’BRIEN HAS BEEN INSTRUMENTAL IN DESIGNING

RICCOBELLI USED THE NEW REQUIREMENTS TO

NEW LENDING PRODUCTS FOR SMALL AND

IMPROVE THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE FOR THE

MEDIUM-SIZED INVESTORS.

BANK’S 1 MILLION BORROWERS.

50 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ NOVEMBER 2014

Victoria Rostow

Danielle Samalin

Senior Vice President, Policy & Regulatory Affairs

President, Framework

N ATION A L A SSO C IATION OF RE AL E STATE IN VE STMENT TRUST S

HOUSING PA R TNERSHIP NE T WORK

ICTORIA P. ROSTOW has been an advocate for REITs that operate or finance single and multifamily residential properties in the U.S. She is currently senior vice president for policy and regulation for the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT), which represents the $1 trillion publicly traded real estate market. Rostow has worked collaboratively with regulators, policy experts, academics, administration officials and industry colleagues to harness the power of U.S. capital markets. She has guided equity and mortgage REITs focused on housing, a group that represents more than $45 billion in market capitalization, through the new financial regulations. Rostow leads NAREIT’s efforts to ensure that federal, state and foreign regulation of capital markets do not unintentionally raise the costs of raising capital by U.S. REITs. Rostow is especially adept at analyzing complex technical rules that do not directly apply to REITs, but that could increase costs for REITs or impose barriers to their operations. She secured landmark clarifications of CFTC rules favorable to REITs and, with a broad industry coalition, a federal bank regulatory interest rate swap proposal that will preserve the ability of equity REITs to hedge interest rate risk efficiently and effectively. She is currently guiding NAREIT’s members in several related efforts aimed at expanding private sector involvement in U.S. housing finance, including Treasury’s PLS effort. During the Clinton Administration, Rostow served as a deputy assistant secretary for banking and domestic finance at the U.S. Treasury Department, where she led congressional efforts that culminated in the landmark 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and produced more than $25 billion of housing-related initiatives, such as the New Markets Tax Credit.

ANIELLE SAMALIN is vice president of homeownership initiatives at the Housing Partnership Network. As an advocate for innovative housing counseling systems, Samalin’s position puts her in the driver’s seat to influence the experience of thousands of mortgage lenders and borrowers. Last year, Samalin created Framework, an online homebuyer education program, and has since recruited more than 60 industry partners, such as Wells Fargo and Bank of America, who are providing the online curriculum to lending customers. In addition, around 5,000 homebuyers across 40 states have used Framework to educate themselves on the process of homeownership, and the program will soon be available in Spanish. Framework is designed to prepare new and existing homebuyers for successful and sustainable homeownership. The platform exceeds National Industry Standards for both homebuyer and digital education, and appeals to millennial homebuyers in particular. Samalin participates in the National Industry Standards Advisory Committee and the Cornerstone Partnership Standards Committee. She also helped create the Coalition of HUD Housing Counseling Intermediaries, a national network of HUD-approved housing counseling nonprofit organizations. Looking forward, Samalin plans to continue to expand HPN’s connections with industry partners, including national, regional and federal home-loan banks, and to provide Framework to more potential homebuyers, as well as advance policy to embed housing counseling into the home-buying process.

ROSTOW HAS GUIDED EQUITY AND MORTGAGE

SAMALIN CREATED FRAMEWORK AND RECRUITED

REITS FOCUSED ON HOUSING, REPRESENTING $45

MORE THAN 60 INDUSTRY PARTNERS TO PROVIDE

BILLION IN MARKET CAPITALIZATION.

THE ONLINE CURRICULUM TO CUSTOMERS.

NOVEMBER 2014 ❱ HOUSINGWIRE 51

Marci Sepulveda

Twila True

Managing Partner

Co-founder, CEO and president

AGENT PUBLISHING

TRUE INVE STMENT S LLC

S FOUNDER and managing partner of Agent Publishing, Marci Sepulveda oversees editorial strategy, day-to-day-operations, product development and growth strategy for the company’s audience of more than 100,000 residential real estate professionals. Currently serving an audience that includes residential real estate agents, loan officers, developers and affiliates, Sepulveda directs the company to provide actionable information to help readers connect and learn methods that help improve their businesses, both for themselves and their customers. “Highly energetic and a creative entrepreneur, Marci is focused on implementing her vision for Agent Publishing,” her nominator said. Sepulveda began her career as a new construction real estate salesperson, and quickly ascended the corporate ladder through residential sales and marketing, management and strategy. Having trained in the some of the most successful national development companies, Sepulveda grew into a skilled manager, bringing an understanding of working with consumers to the highest level, a standard that she has maintained throughout her career. While manager for a development successful consultation firm, Garrison Partners, she served real estate developers with analysis, strategic planning and execution. She was influential in planning some of the most successful properties in the Chicago area and has trained, managed and influenced many salespeople. In 1996, she formed her first company, which developed over 100 units for entry-level homebuyers. Co-founded by Sepulveda in 2002, Agent Publishing has operations in major markets, including the Atlanta market, added in January, and Boston, added last month.

WILA TRUE’S life story reads like a movie. Born on the poorest Indian reservation in the U.S., True is now the co-founder, president and CEO of a real estate private equity business that has invested $38.3 million in properties in 16 states. True and her husband have been building True Investment since 2012, using their own capital to buy and lease 717 single-family homes. The company’s leased properties are averaging 93 days from purchase date to being leased, and the portfolio shows a strong, consistent occupancy rate. In the past 15 years, True has put together an impressive private portfolio of real estate in multiple asset classes in Asia and North America, and she has managed the construction and development of residential properties in Thailand, China and the United States. Before starting True Investments, True and her husband founded a multinational consumer products licensing and manufacturing business based in Asia that employed more than 4,000 people. True Innovations became a leader in manufacturing and selling office and home seating to big-box retailers in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and in 2011, it was acquired by a publicly traded company in Hong Kong. True has established a company culture that values and trusts its employees. While she employs strict controls, True enables her managers to execute at a high level. In 2006, True and her husband founded True Children’s Home, a charity that places orphaned children in foster families and facilitates adoption, as well as providing corrective surgery and post-surgical care. True also founded True Sioux Hope Foundation, which provides resources to members of the Oglala Sioux tribe, who reside in True’s childhood community on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation.

SEPULVEDA OVERSEES EDITORIAL STRATEGY AND

TRUE’S REAL ESTATE PRIVATE EQUITY

DAY-TO-DAY OPERATIONS FOR THE COMPANY’S

BUSINESS HAS INVESTED $38.3 MILLION IN

AUDIENCE OF 100,000.

PROPERTIES IN 16 STATES.

52 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ NOVEMBER 2014

Angela Watson

Mitria Wilson

Director

Director of Legislative and Policy Advocacy

C R OSSC HEC K COMPLIA NC E

N ATION A L COMMUNIT Y REIN V E STMENT COA LITION

NGELA E. WATSON’S two-year tenure at CrossCheck Compliance has yielded impressive growth in revenue and profit, as well as innovation and product development. Watson has led the Texas office team’s growth, resulting in tripled revenue and profit. “Angela is a born leader,” a spokesperson for CrossCheck said. “She is continually looking for creative ways to develop strategic business partnerships to advance company growth and address the needs of the market.” Watson led the launch of three new products for the mortgage industry focusing on compliance risk and compliance cost management. She also created a marketing platform for the corporate office, which was subsequently adopted company-wide.Watson’s path to leadership began when in college, where she was a leadership development coordinator, then continued as an outdoor experiential education corporate facilitator. After joining the mortgage industry, she has contributed in multiple team lead and senior roles at Thornburg Mortgage, Bank of America and Fannie Mae. As a servicing consultant at Fannie Mae, Watson consulted with servicers on Fannie Mae Servicing guidelines, with a specific focus on delinquency management, loan servicing and loss mitigation, including the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). She played a key role in the development of servicing repurchases and compensatory fees program at Fannie Mae for a total collections amount of over $62 million. Watson served as CrossCheck’s South U.S. leader for mortgage services sales, business development marketing and business partnerships. Watson also served as an expert witness for a HAMP class-action litigation in 2013, defending one of the largest banks in the country and speaking on behalf of the mortgage servicing industry. Watson is a board member for the Dallas and Fort Worth local Mortgage Bankers Associations, assisting with membership and sponsorship.

S THE DIRECTOR of legislative and policy advocacy at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, Mitria Wilson is an advocate for ensuring that the future housing finance system meets the needs of millennials, minorities and working-class Americans. She was the principal architect of the incentive model that was included in Sens. Johnson and Crapo’s markup of the Senate’s GSE reform bill, as an alternative to the existing affordable housing goal requirement. In addition, she led a coalition of influential consumer advocates and civil rights groups in challenging the absence of meaningful affordable housing requirements in the initial Corker-Warner legislation and pushing the progressive senators in the Senate Banking Committee to oppose the bill based on concerns that it would not meet the needs of traditionally underserved communities. Wilson has also been a frequent panelist on a number of panels addressing the housing finance reform debate. Her actions in building a coalition of consumer advocacy and civil rights groups that were able to reintroduce affordable housing concerns into the GSE reform debate represented one of the two commonly cited reasons for why the legislation ultimately failed. Wilson has developed a strong track record for innovation, including efforts to have financial regulators take a more serious approach to examining whether proposed bank mergers and acquisitions will adequately meet the needs of the communities they propose to serve. Her efforts in that respect led to one of the longest comment extension periods in recent history on Capital One’s proposed merger with ING direct, three public meetings, and a $180 billion commitment by Capital One to meet the financial needs of consumers.

WATSON HAS LED THE TEXAS OFFICE

WILSON WAS THE PRINCIPAL ARCHITECT OF THE

TEAM’S GROWTH, RESULTING IN TRIPLED

INCENTIVE MODEL THAT WAS INCLUDED IN THE

REVENUE AND PROFIT.

MARKUP OF THE GSE REFORM BILL.

NOVEMBER 2014 ❱ HOUSINGWIRE 53