48th Annual WMBA

Real Estate Finance

Conference

November 2-3, 2022

 
 

Speaker Bios




Keynote Speaker 1
8:45am - 9:45am
Brent Widman, Partner/Team Leader
Southwestern Consulting

Brent is a partner, team leader, sales coach, consultant and sales keynote speaker with Southwestern Consulting, a division of The Southwestern Company – a corporation that has been a leader in sales training for over 160 years! As a sales coach, speaker and team leader he dedicates his time to helping business owners, managers, and producers by getting the results not only from themselves, but from those people around them. At Southwestern, we are more than just teachers of sales expertise, we are also practitioners first, coaches second. Which means we aren’t just asking people to do it, we are actively doing it ourselves. His main goal is to help you achieve the goals you want to achieve by holding you accountable, using the tools from Southwestern, leading topic-specific books, motivation and inspiration. I’ve coached, trained and spoken to people all over the country. There’s nothing better than watching someone get out of their own way and achieve the things they’ve always wanted to. You can sum up my attitude about work in one phrase: Relentless Pursuit of Perfection! "If there’s one thing I’m passionate about it’s helping sales people get to where they want to be in life. No one said it would be easy, it’s not supposed to be."


Keynote Speaker 2
10:00am - 11:00am
Kirk G. Willison, VP, Government & Industry Relations
Arch Mortgage Insurance Company

Kirk Willison leads public policy analysis and advocacy for the nation’s leading mortgage insurance company, including outreach to legislators, regulators, industry trade groups, consumer organizations and think tanks. He created and produces both the Arch MI PolicyCast, a video podcast series featuring leading figures in housing, and the Capital Commentary, a biweekly housing policy newsletter. He is also a frequent speaker before industry groups.

Keynote Speaker 3
11:00am - 12:00pm
Christopher Farrell, Supervisory Special Agent
Federal Bureau of Investigation

Supervisory Special Agent Christopher Farrell leads FBI Milwaukee’s White Collar Crime squad in mitigating public corruption, civil rights, financial crime, and health care fraud threats throughout the Milwaukee region. He is also the program coordinator for these programs throughout Wisconsin. He leads a team of Special Agents, Forensic Accountants, Task Force Officers, and Professional Support employees in identifying, targeting, and advancing investigations to successful federal prosecution. SSA Farrell previously served as a supervisor of the Violent Crime Squad in Louisville, as a supervisor in the Counterterrorism Division in Washington, D.C., and as an investigative agent in the Pittsburgh Division, Clarksburg, West Virginia Resident Agency. He previously served as a police officer in Wisconsin and Minnesota prior to joining the FBI. SSA Farrell has over 20 years of local and federal law enforcement experience. He holds a Master of Public Policy and a Bachelor of Criminology from the University of Minnesota.


Keynote Speaker 4
12:00pm - 1:30pm
Rob Chrisman, Director of Capital Markets
RPM Mortgage/Daily Mortgage News

Rob began his career in mortgage banking – primarily capital markets – 36 years ago in 1985 with First California Mortgage, assisting in Secondary Marketing until 1988, when he joined Tuttle & Co., a leading mortgage pipeline risk management firm. In November of 2006 Rob left TRMS to become the Director of Capital Markets for RPM Mortgage, a retail residential lender you all know, leaving there in late 2008 to focus on, not only publishing a widely read daily market commentary on current mortgage events, but also on his family. He is on the board of directors of Inheritance Funding Corporation, a financial services company which advances capital to heirs, of Doorway Home Loans, of AXIS Appraisal Management, and of the California MBA. He is also a member of the Secure Settlements Advisory Board, an associate of the STRATMOR Group, and of the Mortgage Bankers Association of the Carolinas and its membership committee. Rob has provided expert witness services for mortgage and real estate-related cases, has lectured to groups around the country. Rob holds a BS from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and an MBA from UC Berkeley.
Non-QM Roundtable Discussion
1:30pm - 2:45pm
Laura Kay Sheely
Arch Mortgage Funding

Speaker and sales leadership expert Laura Kay Sheely has over two decades of experience as a mortgage industry executive, educator and sales strategies coach. As an instructor, Laura Kay teaches the fundamentals of the secondary market, leads discussions on non-agency market trends and helps executives understand how to incorporate alternative products into their lineup while remaining high in credit quality. As head of sales for Arch Mortgage Funding, Inc. (AMF), she combines her experience in mortgage originations, operations, underwriting, sales leadership and secondary marketing to help lenders realize the value and process of making key changes to their product strategy.

 
Non-QM Roundtable Discussion
1:30pm - 2:45pm
Lou Esposito
Deep Haven Mortgage

Lou is a 20+ year industry veteran with the ability to drive big-picture business strategies while advancing our daily service delivery to the correspondent channel. He has a proven track record for applying creativity and know-how in support of Deephaven’s correspondent sales and growth goals. Lou’s communication skills and personable management style help create strong relationships between his clients and our internal stakeholders. At the same time, he adds significant value to our risk management strategies and capital markets relationships. Prior to joining Deephaven, Lou held senior sales management positions at Fannie Mae, United Guaranty, Lender Processing Services, and GMAC-RFC.
 
  Past President's Panel
3:00pm - 4:00pm

 

COMING SOON


 





 

Our Sponsors

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Platinum

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Friends of WMBA

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Afternoon Beverage Sponsor




Exhibitors