GENERAL SESSION: Powder or Ice? Reading the Market Conditions Ahead

Chief Economist, Senior Vice President, Research and Business Development, Mortgage Bankers Association

Mike Fratantoni, Ph.D. 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 MISMO and serves on the CSP’s Industry Advisory Group and the membership committee of MERS. Prior to joining MBA, Fratantoni worked in the industry in risk management and senior economist roles at Washington Mutual and Fannie Mae.

Lender Division President, First American

Having spent the past twelve years at First American Financial, Todd McGowan is President of the Lender Division, the primary provider of solutions for mortgage lenders, servicers, and investors. In this position, McGowan leads the First American Mortgage Solutions, Docutech, FirstFunding, and ServiceMac brands responsible for the continued evolution of the group’s lender facing verticals to include first and second mortgage, servicing and default related title and settlement services, post-closing and document generation solutions, and warehouse lending. Prior to joining First American, McGowan served as senior vice president, head of consumer direct operations, for Coppell, Texas-based Nationstar Mortgage where he played an instrumental role in tripling year-over-year production while reducing material defects by more than sixty percent. Before that, McGowan served as senior process engineer at CitiMortgage and evolved his role to lead operations in its correspondent lending division. McGowan served as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army and is a decorated combat veteran who received the Bronze Star Medal for his service in Operation Iraqi Freedom. When he first transitioned from his military career into Corporate America, he oversaw the largest manufacturing plant of a Fortune 250 company where he focused on quality, operational efficiency, productivity, and employee relations. Dr. McGowan is a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt from the American Society for Quality. He received a bachelor of science degree in behavioral sciences from the United States Military Academy at West Point; a master of arts degree in organizational leadership from Regent University; a master of business administration degree in decision sciences and a doctor of philosophy in information science, both from the University of North Texas. McGowan serves on the MISMO Board of Directors and the Housing Policy Council’s Executive Council.

President and Chief Operating Officer, Better Mortgage

Chad Smith is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Better (NASDAQ: BETR), a leading digital mortgage company on a mission to make homeownership faster, cheaper, and just plain better for all Americans. Since its founding in 2015, Better has originated over $100 billion in home loans, more than $38 billion in insurance, and over $3 billion in real estate transactions, all entirely online. A seasoned veteran in the direct-to-consumer mortgage industry, Chad holds over 25 years of experience building lead routing strategies and partnerships for distributed retail, recapture, and MSR ownership. Prior to Better, Chad served as the Chief Executive Officer of Mission Loans, a customer and partner-centric mortgage company. He has held leadership roles at lenders including Executive Vice President of Consumer Direct and Portfolio Retention at Caliber Home Loans, a full service national mortgage originator, President of Direct Lending at loanDepot, one of the nation’s largest non-bank retail mortgage lenders, and Senior Vice President of Production at LendingTree Loans. LendingTree Loans was eventually acquired by Discover Home Loans, where Chad oversaw mortgage production for Discover's entrance into the mortgage business.