42nd Annual WMBA Real Estate Finance Conference

April 14-15, 2016
 

Speaker Bios

 
General Session 1
Real Estate Finance and the Path Ahead
8:45 - 9:15 am

Bill Emerson, CEO, Quicken Loans, Inc.
Live via Skype from Quicken Headquarters

Bill Emerson is Chief Executive Officer of Quicken Loans, Inc., the nation’s largest online home loan lender and second largest retail mortgage lender. He is responsible for the leadership and growth of Quicken Loans.
Bill joined the company in 1993 as a mortgage banker. His passion and commitment for learning and growing, and his zeal for taking care of clients, helped him take on many roles at the company.
 
Bill’s leadership ability afforded him the opportunity to run several business units at Quicken Loans as well as lead mortgage operations for the company, where he was responsible for driving performance within Quicken Loans’ businesses. In February of 2002, Emerson was promoted to Chief Executive Officer.
 
Bill is an active spokesperson on the housing industry and has testified before the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit. He serves as Chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association. In addition, Bill is the former Chairman of MBA’s Diversity Committee and former Vice-Chairman of MBA’s Residential Board of Governors. He serves on the MBA’s Board of Directors.
 
Dedicated to his community, Bill has been the recipient of the ALS Association’s Iron Horse Award and the Salvation Army’s prestigious William Booth Award, the non-profit’s highest honor. He also supports the Alzheimer’s Association Greater Michigan Chapter.
 
Bill earned a bachelor’s degree in business from Penn State, where he was a member of the University’s 1982 National Championship football team.
 
Bill and his wife reside in the Detroit area with their two children.
General Session 2
Welcome Address
9:15 - 10:00 am

Governor Scott Walker (invited)









 
General Session 3
Mortgage Market Outlook
11:00 - 11:45 am

Michael Fratantoni, Chief Economist and SVP of Research and Industry Technology, Mortgage Bankers Association

Michael Fratantoni is MBA’s Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of Research and Industry Technology. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing MBA's industry surveys, benchmarking studies, economic and mortgage originations forecasts, industry technology efforts, and policy development research for both single-family and commercial/multifamily markets. Additionally, Fratantoni is president and member of the Board of Directors of the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization (MISMO). He previously served as MBA’s Vice President for Single-family Research.
 
Fratantoni has had nearly twenty years of industry experience including risk management and senior economist positions at Washington Mutual and Fannie Mae. In these roles, he was responsible for assessing macroeconomic, regional, housing, and mortgage market trends, and providing technical expertise regarding credit pricing and mortgage policy issues.
 
Fratantoni received a Ph.D. in economics from Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. in economics from The College of William and Mary. He has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Washington, and Johns Hopkins, George Washington, and Georgetown Universities and has published papers on housing and mortgage topics in leading economics and real estate finance journals.

 
Lunch / Keynote Speaker
Lessons from Lombardi
12:30 - 1:15 pm

Green Bay Packer Legend Jerry Kramer

Jerry Kramer, born in Jordan, Montana, is a former professional football player, author and sports commentator, best remembered for his 11-year NFL career with the Green Bay Packers as an offensive lineman.
 
As a 6'3", 250 pound right guard, Kramer was an integral part of the famous "Packer Sweep", a signature play in which both guards rapidly pull out from their normal positions and lead block for the running back going around the end. Kramer was an All-Pro five times, and a member of the NFL's 50th anniversary team in 1969, but surprisingly, even after appearing on the list of finalists ten times since becoming eligible, has not been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was rated #1 in NFL Network's Top 10 list of players not in the Hall of Fame (by Sporting News and The Atlantic).

 
 
General Session 4
2:15 - 3:00 pm

Dr. Mark Palim. VP of Applied Economic and Housing Research, Fannie Mae

Dr. Mark Palim is Vice President of Applied Economic and Housing Research at Fannie Mae. He is responsible for overseeing the Economic and Strategic Research Group’s forecasting functions and manages multi-disciplinary partnerships across the company to address specific business issues facing Fannie Mae. Dr. Palim is a key spokesperson on economic and banking trends and a frequent speaker at national mortgage finance and housing industry events.
 
Prior to working at Fannie Mae, Dr. Palim was an economic consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers and for LECG. His practice focused on applying economic and financial theory to a variety of business disputes and policy questions. He worked as a consulting and testifying expert in antitrust cases and disputes in the financial services industry. In addition, Dr. Palim led a team of 75 adjudicators charged with valuing claims for the Department of Justice and the Special Master administering the Federal September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.
 
Dr. Palim was first involved with economic forecasting and mortgage securities in 1988 when he was as a portfolio manager and also reported to the Chief Economist at Mercantile Safe Deposit and Trust Company. Subsequently, he continued his work on macroeconomic and policy issues as a staff economist for the National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU).
 
Dr. Palim has a Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University and a B.A. in international studies from the Johns Hopkins University. In addition to his academic training, Dr. Palim is a Chartered Financial Analyst charter holder (CFA).
 
Dr. Palim is married to an attorney and has four children. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland and grew up in Brussels, Belgium. Dr. Palim is fluent in French.
 

Our Sponsors

 

Title Sponsors

 







President's Club

 
















 

Transportation Sponsor




 

Milwaukee Experience Sponsors

 Event Sponsors

Associated Bank
Bass & Moglowsky, SC
CBC Innovis
ditech Correspondent Lending
EllieMae
Godfrey & Kahn, SC
Knight Barry Title
Landmark Credit Union
Simplifile
Sunset Bank & Savings