BREAKOUT SESSION: Managing the Headwinds of Rising Defaults

Managing Director, Milliman, Inc.

Brett Ludden is Managing Director of Mortgage Solutions at Milliman, responsible for strategic and transactional matters across the mortgage industry, including M and A, valuation, mortgage servicing rights (MSR) advisory and brokerage, and mortgage data and modeling solutions. With 29 years of experience in financial services, Brett has advised on more than 20 M and A transactions at Milliman and Sterling Point Advisors, led transaction-related analytics and repurchase strategies for Capital One’s $40 billion mortgage portfolio, co-founded a nationwide mortgage lender, servicer, and securitizer, and consulted for Fortune 500 financial institutions. He has also led analytics teams across mortgage credit risk and operations, corporate development, fraud, marketing strategy, and credit policy. Brett holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Virginia.

Director of Alliances and Policy, Andrew Davidson & Co., Inc.

Richard Cooperstein, Ph.D. is the Director of Alliances and Policies at Andrew Davidson and Co., Inc. He brings decades of experience from various risk and policy roles in the mortgage market including senior positions at Freddie Mac, Ocwen, HSBC Securities and Ranieri Partners. He spent the first 10 years of his career in government service at the General Accounting Office and the Office of Management and Budget as a senior economist. Cooperstein has managed risk portfolios at a mortgage insurer, servicer and GSE. He owns a copyright on a mortgage valuation platform and was one of the chief architects of Credit Reform. He is a published author and experienced speaker on applied option pricing and the economics of financial policy.

Senior Executive Vice President and President of Residential Servicing, Freedom Mortgage Corporation

David Sheeler serves as senior executive vice president and president of Residential Servicing at Freedom Mortgage—one of the largest mortgage lenders in the country. Under his leadership, the servicing group has significantly grown over the years and helped hundreds of thousands of customers through loss mitigation. He oversees thousands of employees, encouraging the adoption of the latest technologies to drive efficiencies and foster homeownership. Mr. Sheeler has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry and displays exceptional leadership skills. He’s held various roles within the mortgage industry, including executive vice president of Correspondent Lending and Branch Operations at W.J. Bradley Mortgage Capital, as well as the positions of chief operating officer, chief financial officer, and pricing and trading operations manager in the Correspondent Lending division of JP Morgan Chase. Mr. Sheeler has also worked at Countrywide Financial in Warehouse Lending and has served in various roles at BNP Paribas, including Mergers and Acquisitions, divisional chief financial officer, and director of International Development. He also earned a CPA while working at Deloitte & Touche LLP in their financial services group. In 2023, Mr. Sheeler was recognized as an Inman Power Player for being an influential executive in the real estate industry. In 2022, Mr. Sheeler was honored with the prestigious HousingWire Vanguard Award and, in 2021, he received the HousingWire Insider Award that recognizes an organization’s operational all-stars. He holds an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and earned his MBA from the University of Southern California.