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14 At Bayview Loan Servicing, Michael Waldron is responsible for the Compliance and Oversight Department's management, leadership, and direction, as well as the company's overall compliance strategy. With more than 20 years' experience spent serving the industry in a wide variety of legal and compliance-related functions, Waldron is known for his ability to navigate the regulatory landscape and build relationships that add value to those with whom he works. is past September, Waldron served as the Lab Director of the Servicing & Compliance Lab at the 2019 Five Star Conference & Expo. DS News recently spoke to Waldron about the current state of servicing and why conversations between different industry participants are so crucial to better serving the needs of homeown- ers. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE TOP ISSUES CURRENTLY FACING THE INDUSTRY? ere's a lot of good work being done in the servicing industry, and sometimes that's lost on folks because of the path that we've been down. One of the biggest challenges that the industry faces is making sure we don't lose sight of the customer experience in our constant push towards efficiency and automation. If done right, that push aligns with enhancing the customer experience by empowering customers with self- servicing opportunities and cleaner and simpler ways to interact with servicers. is is still a people business. SOME OF THE MOST-DISCUSSED CHALLENGES RIGHT NOW ARE THE IMPACTS OF NATURAL DISASTERS AND THE POSSIBILITY OF A RECESSION ON THE HORIZON. HOW CAN SERVICERS PREPARE FOR THOSE POSSIBILITIES IN ORDER TO MITIGATE THE POTENTIAL IMPACTS? Neither one of which can we control, but we can be proactive in our preparation. Look at how far we've come on the natural disaster front; there was a time where I and many other leaders in the space felt like we were rewriting the playbook each time a natural disaster occurred. We are far more FIVE MINUTES WITH GET TO KNOW INDUSTRY EXECUTIVES BEYOND THE BOARDROOM structured now in everything from how we handle outreach to our customers not only after the disaster but in advance to coordination on assistance and relief options. It's about making ourselves available and further educating customers that we are here for them, as an industry. On the recession side, it's not dissimilar. We've been through downturns and even a financial crisis before, and so fully recognizing what worked and what didn't in an effort to come out of that cycle is invaluable for any potential future events. HOW ARE NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS CHANGING THE WAY YOU DO BUSINESS? First and foremost, it is about staying true to your mission statement. It's about not losing sight of what our core mission as an industry is. It's understanding the place for automation, as well as its limitations. It's committing and remaining committed to engaging and retaining talent. It is recognizing that while efficiency and standardization is important, it's only part of what makes a platform sustainable and an industry successful. It's about being thoughtful about assessing new technologies. It's being disciplined about when the technologies are truly at a level where they can be implemented, versus when perhaps you should put the brakes on and allow it to develop to a point where it can be more effectively utilized and applied. is all comes "One of the biggest challenges that the industry faces is that in our constant push towards efficiency and automation, that we make certain we don't lose sight of the customer." Michael S. Waldron Chief Compliance Officer, Bayview Loan Servicing