DS News

59 and needed to be sworn in. e only person that was still there that had a commission was me. ere's a photo of me swearing in Shaun Donovan into his office. Can you imagine that happening today? Later, I'm sure Obama or Biden did a ceremonial swearing-in, but I'm the one that officially swore him in. How did the founding of Gate House come about, and what are you hoping to accomplish with that? Several of us, while we were still at HUD after the election, thought maybe we should get together and form an advisory company. ere were three of us at first, and two of them ended up taking other jobs before we could get off the ground. Both are younger and have families with kids, so they weren't exactly at the right point to be an entrepreneur. But there were two or three other guys, and then we added a fourth one, and there was me, making five. Most of us were in our late 50s or early 60s. We said, look, we've got a little financial cushion. Let's launch another firm. We darn sure think there's going to be a need for it, whether it's servicing companies, technology companies, litigation support, disaster recovery. We launched it in mid-May, and I have to say, we're way ahead of our projections. People are calling us—servicers, law firms, originators, affordable housing developers, technology companies. Now, we're part of a bigger team bidding on these Homeowner Assistance Fund RFPs coming out of each state. We've bid on a handful of states so far in helping to provide solutions for them to help their citizens who've fallen behind on their mortgage payments. You get to the HUD building sometimes, or to the GSEs where we have tremendous expertise, and you never know what issue you didn't plan for will pop up in the middle of the day. But, trust me, that happened almost every day. What we are trying to accomplish is to provide value through our experience, our relationships, our deep knowledge of the market, the process, and the labyrinth that are those entities, in order to strengthen the foundation of this segment of our economy into the future, because we know how important it is and what a critical time it is right now to meet the needs of many, many people. Looking back at your career—where you started and where you've arrived—if you had a piece of advice you could pass back to your younger self, what would that advice be? Don't ever assume anything, especially in a political environment. You never know how people will react to something, especially if you're telling them you need their help. at was a good way to frame up how I would proceed along with my political career and then my career in the private sector. Stay focused on what you want to get done; establish good, clear metrics around what success looks like; and start executing against them, whether it's working with Congress or stakeholders, low-income housing advocates, with HUD. You must be committed to the mission and committed that what you're doing is right. It's amazing what you can get done. David Wharton, Editor-in- Chief at the Five Star Institute, is a graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington, where he received his B.A. in English and minored in journalism. Wharton has over 17 years' experience in journalism and previously worked at omson Reuters, a multinational mass media and information firm, as Associate Content Editor, focusing on producing media content related to tax and accounting principles and government rules and regulations for accounting professionals. Wharton has an extensive and diversified portfolio of freelance material, with published contributions in both online and print media publications. Wharton and his family currently reside in Arlington, Texas. He can be reached at David. Wharton@thefivestar.com. "Don't ever assume anything, especially in a political environment. You never know how people will react to something, especially if you're telling them you need their help."

• Cover