GENERAL SESSION: Solving for the Future in Philly

2025 MBA Chair; President, Lennar Mortgage

Laura Escobar is the 2024 MBA Chair-Elect and President of Lennar Mortgage. A 30-year mortgage industry veteran, Escobar has held leadership positions with both bank-owned and independent mortgage companies overseeing all aspects of mortgage banking, including production, operations, compliance, accounting, and training. Her personal ground level experience in every facet of mortgage lending has enabled her to manage and fully integrate all of these departments within Lennar Mortgage. Escobar is highly engaged in the industry, serves on MBA’s Board of Directors, and was co-chair of MBA’s IMB Executive Council from 2020–2022. She is also a director of the MBA Opens Doors Foundation, which she has supported by successfully fundraising for the foundation’s work and leading Lennar in company campaigns. Beyond her industry work, she is also a licensed mental health counselor and devotes much of her time to working with underprivileged women.

Chief Executive Officer, Freedom Mortgage Corporation

Stanley C. Middleman serves as the President and CEO of Freedom Mortgage Corporation, one of the largest and fastest-growing independent mortgage companies in the country. He is a nationally recognized business strategist, investor, and philanthropist with over 30 years of experience in the mortgage banking industry. Since founding Freedom Mortgage in 1990, Mr. Middleman has grown the company into one of the nation’s largest non-bank mortgage lenders/servicers and a top VA and FHA (government-insured) lender. This year, for the third time in a row, Freedom Mortgage was honored with the 2023 Top Workplaces USA Award as well as a Top Workplace Award in Central Indiana, New Jersey, and the Philadelphia region. Freedom Mortgage also joined the Inc. 5000 Honor Roll (since 2021) for the ninth time as one of the fastest-growing companies in the country. In 2022, Freedom Mortgage was name as a Best-in-Class Employer by Gallagher and in 2021, the company was named one of Newsweek’s Most Loved Workplaces. Freedom Mortgage’s mission is to foster homeownership for all consumers across America.

President & Chief Executive Officer, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)

Madeline Bell is the President and CEO of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), which is one of the top-ranked children’s hospitals in the United States and was ranked No. 1 on Forbes’ 2022 list of America’s Best Large Employers. A bold and visionary leader, Ms. Bell champions change with empathy and integrity, inspiring the nearly 24,000 employees and other workforce members in the hospital’s $3.8-billion-a-year health system and research institute to create breakthroughs that have worldwide impact. Ms. Bell began her career as a pediatric nurse at CHOP in 1983, later leaving the organization to move into hospital administration. She returned to CHOP in 1995, and has since held a number of leadership positions, advancing from Vice President to Senior Vice President to Executive Vice President to Chief Operating Officer. In 2015, she assumed the title of President and CEO. Ms. Bell has made numerous contributions to CHOP, including the development of one of the largest pediatric ambulatory care networks in the country; the expansion of the 4-million-square-foot Philadelphia Campus; the creation of the 250,000-square-foot Middleman Family Pavilion, an inpatient hospital on CHOP’s King of Prussia Campus; and the development of the Center for Advanced Behavioral Healthcare in West Philadelphia. She has also led the development of many nationally recognized clinical care programs and has secured many philanthropic gifts to help further the organization’s mission. Ms. Bell serves on the boards of Comcast-NBCUniversal, the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, the Schuylkill River Development Corporation, and Solutions for Patient Safety, as well as on the executive committee of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. She is the former Chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Board of Directors and is a fellow of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia and a member of The Economic Club of New York. She is also an adviser to numerous international hospitals and frequently lectures on the topics of children’s healthcare and women in leadership. Ms. Bell has received many awards and accolades, including The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Industry Icon Award and the Philadelphia Business Journal’s Most Admired CEO Award. Most recently, she was named one of Modern Healthcare’s “100 Most Influential People in Healthcare” and one of its “50 Most Influential Clinical Executives” and was included on Forbes’ “50 Over 50: Vision” list, Philadelphia Business Journal’s “Power 100 2022” list, and Philadelphia Magazine’s list of “The 100 Most Influential People in Philadelphia.” Ms. Bell is the host of Breaking Through with Madeline Bell, a podcast that features interviews with CHOP patients, doctors and scientists, as well as with philanthropists and innovators who support CHOP’s mission. She holds a bachelor of science in Nursing from Villanova University and a master of science in Organizational Dynamics from the University of Pennsylvania. For more information, visit chop.edu/madeline.

President and Executive Director, Project HOME

Sister Mary Scullion has been involved in service work and advocacy for homeless and mentally ill persons since 1978. In 1989, Sister Mary and Joan Dawson McConnon co-founded Project HOME, a nationally recognized organization that provides supportive housing, employment, education, and health care to enable chronically homeless and low-income persons to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty. Under their leadership, Project HOME has grown from an emergency winter shelter to 900 units of housing, three social enterprises, the Honickman Learning Center Comcast Technology Lab which is a catalyst for education and employment; and the Steven Klein Wellness Center. Sister Mary has received numerous honorary doctorates for her leadership, most recently from Georgetown and the University of Pennsylvania. She was selected by Time Magazine as one of the “World’s Most Influential People in 2009”. In addition, Sister Mary and Joan received the Laetare Medal from Notre Dame University in 2011, the most prestigious honor given to American Catholics.