contributors
Get to know the experts and insiders behind this issue.
GEORGE FITZGERALD
is SVP of product
management for the
servicing solutions and
technology division
of Lender Processing
Services (LPS). He has
26 years��� experience in
the mortgage banking
industry. For 19 of those
years, he���s been with LPS,
where he���s held a number
of senior management
roles, including SVP of
sales support, VP of
professional services, and
senior business analyst
for mortgage product
development. He earned
his bachelor���s degree in
political science from the
University of San Francisco
and is an active member
of the Mortgage Bankers
Association.
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THOMAS J. FRITZLEN,
JR. is president of Martin,
Leigh, Laws & Fritzlen,
P.C., a Midwest litigation
and creditors��� rights firm
serving Missouri, Kansas,
and southern Illinois. He
serves on the inaugural
Advisory Board to the Legal
League 100, is a managing
member of the Default
Attorney Group (DAG),
and frequently speaks
at educational training
seminars for servicers and
lenders and at national
industry events. He���s been
recognized as a MissouriKansas ���Super Lawyer��� for
each of the last five years
and has 25 years of trial
and appellate experience in
general civil and complex
litigation cases.
ROBERT KLEIN is founder
and chairman of Safeguard
Properties. Since founding
Safeguard in 1990, he has
grown it into the largest
mortgage field service
company in the country,
providing services in all 50
states, the Virgin Islands,
and Puerto Rico. He has
been an industry advocate
to advance best practices
and has led key initiatives to
build relationships between
government officials and
the mortgage industry and
to find workable solutions
to improve neighborhoods
and communities. He
currently serves as chair
of the National Vacant
Properties Registration
Committee of the Mortgage
Bankers Association.
SANDRA LANE has
extensive experience
covering the default
servicing industry. She
contributed regularly to
DS News��� predecessor,
REO Magazine, from 2004
to 2006, covering local
market trends, the effects
of macroeconomic shifts
on market conditions, and
���big-picture��� analyses of
industry-driving indicators.
But her understanding
of the mortgage and real
estate business extends
even beyond those precrisis days. She is a former
real estate broker and
grew up in what she calls
���a real estate family.��� A
journalism graduate of the
University of North Texas,
she has written for various
newspapers, trade journals,
and major corporations.
STUART A. LAVEN,
JR. is a partner with the
business reorganization
practice group at Benesch
Friedlander LLP, where
he focuses his practice
on business financial
restructuring and Chapter
11 bankruptcy in New York
and Ohio. In commercial
real estate, he represents
portfolio lenders, debt
buyers, and others in
Chapter 11 proceedings
and non-bankruptcy
property dispositions,
including receiverships,
private debt sales, and
refinancings. Certified
in business bankruptcy
by the American Board
of Certification, he is a
frequent author and lecturer
on legal issues facing
commercial real estate
mortgage servicers and
special assets teams.
