DS News - Digital Archives

contributors Get to know the experts and insiders behind this issue. KEITH BUTTON is a publications editor for Ernst & Young in New York and a freelance writer. As a reporter for Hedge Fund Alert, he broke the story on the Bear Stearns hedge fund meltdown in June 2007 that kicked off the credit crisis. In addition to reporting on the hedge fund sector, he writes for publications covering banking technology, mutual fund boards, broker-dealers, chief financial officers, military intelligence technology, and agriculture. He also served as a reporter for the Watertown Daily Times in northern New York for 10 years and has researched and written white papers for various industries. TODD E. CHVAT, Esq., is a senior associate attorney at the Newport Beach office of Wright, Finlay & Zak, LLP, which specializes in providing compliance and litigation services to the mortgage industry in California, Arizona, Nevada, Washington, Utah, and Hawaii. He represents lenders, mortgage servicers, and REO owners in litigation concerning mortgage banking, loan servicing, non-judicial foreclosure, creditors' rights, and other real estate matters. He is licensed to practice in all courts in the state of California, including all U.S. District Courts. LYNN EFFINGER has more than T. ROBERT FINLAY, Esq., is a NICOLE HOLLAND PEARCE has VINCENT SPOTO has more than 25 three decades' experience in financial services and housing. He is currently the business development manager at Assurant Property Advantage. He previously held senior positions related to REO asset management and housing finance for Great Western Bank, Washington Mutual, Citicorp Trust Bank, Transaction Dynamics, and Olympus Asset Management. Over the course of his career, he's helped real estate brokerages, mortgage lenders, and builders throughout California grow their businesses. He's also a motivational speaker and author of the inspirational memoir Believe to Achieve—The Power of Perseverance. founding partner with Wright Finlay & Zak, LLP, and a member of the United Trustees Association (UTA), California Mortgage Bankers Association, Mortgage Bankers Association, and American Legal & Financial Network. He is the current chair of the UTA's legislative committee and served as the association's president in 2011 and 2012. He is licensed to practice in all courts in the state of California, including all U.S. District Courts, and the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Wright, Finlay & Zak specializes in providing compliance and litigation services to the mortgage industry in California, Arizona, Nevada, Washington, Utah, and Hawaii. Photo courtesy of Bloomberg News LAURIE GOODMAN is senior managing director of RMBS strategy at Amherst Securities Group, L.P., and heads up the firm's strategy and business development initiatives. Prior to joining Amherst in 2008, she was managing director and head of global fixed income research at UBS, where she also ran the securitized products research group. In 2009, she was inducted into the prestigious Fixed Income Analysts Society's Hall of Fame. She is a member of the Bipartisan Policy Center's Housing Commission and has published more than 200 articles and co-authored five books on the mortgage industry. She holds a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University. 4 JAMES B. LOCKHART III is vice chairman of WL Ross & Co. LLC. Before he joined the firm in September 2009, he served as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and its predecessor agency, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO). He also served on the Financial Stability Oversight Board, overseeing the Troubled Asset Relief Program. In the public sector, he also held senior positions with the Social Security Administration and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. His private sector experience includes tenures with an investment bank, reinsurer, insurance broker, risk management firm, and a major oil company. written for regional, national, and international publications, such as the Dallas Morning News, Denver Life Home & Design, and Innovative Home magazine, reporting on every aspect of the residential sphere from interior design and architecture to mortgage servicing, defaulting borrowers, and REO. She formerly served as the executive editor for three national home design titles and was the technology writer for DS News magazine. She recently earned a master's degree in journalism from the University of North Texas where she studied media theory and cross-cultural perceptions in Japan-U.S. relations. years' experience in the financial services sector. He's held senior management roles with JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Credit Suisse, and has worked with internal auditors, ratings agencies, and external regulators. Currently a partner and managing director of RRMS Advisors, he provides advisory and consulting services relating to servicer surveillance, risk management, compliance monitoring, default management, and asset disposition. His firm also provides expert witness and discovery litigation support services. He holds an MBA in finance and a second master's degree in accounting from Saint John's University.

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