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39 April 2025 April 2025 » E X P E R T I N S I G H T S R ick Hill is VP of Industry Technology at the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and acting President of the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organiza- tion (MISMO). He is responsible for managing MBA's technology initiatives within the real estate finance industry, man- aging MBA's Technology Committees, and developing technology content for MBA conferences and events. Before joining MBA, Hill was the Director of Data Strategy at Fannie Mae, where he was responsible for data standards and best practices, data man- agement including the company's data warehouse, and managing the relation- ship with regulatory agencies relating to information requirements. He began his career as a Senior Auditor at Deloitte, after earning his BBA in accounting from The College of William and Mary. He is also a Certified Public Accountant. MortgagePoint had a chance to chat with Rick about his career in the mortgage tech space, artificial intelli- gence, tends in the marketplace, and MISMO's latest initiatives, the Housing Agency Servicing Group and Servicing Transfers Group. Q: How did you first get your start in the mortgage space? Rick Hill: I started my career working as a CPA at Deloitte. One of my first assignments was auditing a lender, and I guess I caught the mortgage bug which eventually led to my employment with Fannie Mae. Q: What led you to your current role as MISMO President? Rick Hill: The long story starts in the early 1990s. Fannie Mae was having difficulty replicating information it was providing to regulators—in essence, we could not provide the same file two days in a row because we did not have the proper controls in place. A senior executive hired a bunch of accountants to get control over the process. That led to my transition from CPA to technology and data. We started building what became Fannie Mae's data warehouse, as well as corporate standards around data. It is what led me to realize that standards, whether they are data, forms, calculations, disclo- sures, or something else, are critical to an efficient mortgage marketplace. Q: How did your time as Director of Data Strategy at Fannie Mae prepare you for your current role with MISMO? Rick Hill: The adage that you learn more from your failures has been true for me. I realized that thinking you were "right" might not be enough, that you needed to be able to influence others. It was a hard thing to learn, because I was so sure I was right on some things, but I failed to make them happen. MISMO serves the entire mortgage ecosystem, from lenders to regulators to investors to the consumer. l learned that you need to be able to collaborate with others in everything you do or MISMO will not be able to successfully serve the industry. Q: What is the importance of a group like MISMO in today's marketplace? Rick Hill: Bluetooth is the standard that allows devices to connect easily with one another. MISMO does the same thing for the mortgage industry. Every residential loan utilizes MISMO standards. Every eNote was created using MISMO standards. As we look to the future, one that will be even more dependent on high quality data to power artificial intelli- gence (AI), the speed at which we can develop standards will be critical. We will need to invest in MISMO in good years and bad so we can continue to drive efficiencies, while supporting the incredible innovation that is happening. Q: What are some current trends you are observing in the mortgage tech space? Rick Hill: eNote adoption is significant– more than 10% of notes registered recently on the MERS Registry were eNotes. eNotes utilize the MISMO SMARTDoc standard. We are very close to the tipping point with these digital transactions. And obviously artificial intelligence. Everyone is trying to determine how to utilize AI in a responsible manner to serve whomever their customer happens to be. I do not see interest in AI abating … its promise is too real to ignore. As an example, AI continues to improve in its language translation ca- pabilities—might it soon be able to con- verse with non-native English speakers Rick Hill VP of Industry Technology Mortgage Bankers Association, and Acting MISMO President