BREAKOUT SESSION: Modernized Credit Scores and Securitization

Associate Vice President, Secondary & Capital Markets, Mortgage Bankers Association

Sasha Hewlett is Associate Vice President of Secondary and Capital Markets on the Residential Policy Team at MBA. In this role she engages with agency officials, regulators, legislative staff, and industry stakeholders to advance MBA’s mission and member interests. Sasha actively monitors the activities of the FHFA, the GSEs, Ginnie Mae, the SEC, and related legislative and regulatory developments, providing expert analysis on their impact to MBA members and the broader housing finance system. She manages the development of Secondary and Capital Markets related policy positions, regulatory strategy, work product, and advocacy efforts for MBA members. Sasha also leads the MBA’s Secondary and Capital Markets Committee, REIT Executive Council, GSE Task Force, and serves as a SME to other key governance bodies and network groups across the organization. Prior to joining MBA, she spent a majority of the last 12 years in various roles at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Sasha earned her BS in Finance from Virginia Tech.

Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Economist, VantageScore

Prior to his current role, Dr. Bandebo served as VantageScore’s Chief Product Officer, leading the data science and technology teams. In this role, he spearheaded the development of the VantageScore 4plus and VantageScore 5.0 credit score models. Prior to VantageScore, he was the Chief Product Officer at the location data company Unacast, where he helped develop a product-driven focus during a period of exciting growth. At Clarivate (a former Thomson Reuters division), he led the product and strategy functions for MarkMonitor, leading the company’s divestiture and transition to Investcorp. Earlier in his career, Dr. Bandebo led the Analytics and Advisory teams at First Data (now a Fiserv company) where he shared insights on the consumer, financial services, retail and small business sectors as Chief Economist.

Executive Vice President, Capital Markets, Guild Mortgage Company

Mr. Battany is the Executive Vice President of Capital Markets for Guild Mortgage Company. He oversees the firm’s capital market activities, including pricing, hedging, and secondary market execution. He’s also responsible for Guild’s credit policy, shipping, and product development functions. Mr. Battany manages investor relationships with GSEs, government agencies, and private investors. Prior to joining Guild, Mr. Battany was Chief Product Strategist for Penny Mac from 2012 to 2015, where he was responsible for managing the product development group, as well as its relationships with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, VA, USDA, Ginnie Mae, and mortgage insurance companies. From 1990 to 2012, Mr. Battany was with Fannie Mae, based in Pasadena, California where he served as Director of Single-Family Business and was responsible for managing the firm's relationships with west coast based lenders. Mr. Battany began his career in 1986 with First Interstate Bank of California, where he traded and hedged the bank's mortgage production. Mr. Battany is a member of the MBA’s Residential Board of Governors and is a member of the MBA’s Affordable Housing Advisory Committee. He was the previous chairman of the MBA’s Secondary and Capital Markets Committee, the MBA’s Residential Production Committee, and Co-Chair of the MBA’s Affordable Housing Advisory Committee. Mr. Battany is presently the Co-Chair of the National Housing Conference’s Black Homeownership Collaborative’s Credit and Lending Workstream Committee. He was previously a board member of the California MBA, Habitat for Humanity, and Rebuilding Together. Mr. Battany graduated from the University of Colorado's school of Business Administration with a BS degree in Finance.

Vice President, Head of Scores Analytics, FICO

Ethan Dornhelm is Head of Scores Analytics at FICO and leads the research and analytic development of FICO® Scores globally. Ethan is responsible for maintaining the predictive power of the core FICO® Score product line as well as research and development of new scoring products, analytic methodologies, and alternative data sources. Most recently, his team launched the newest FICO® Score 10 Suite, as well as the alternative data-driven solutions FICO® Score XD 2 and the UltraFICO® Score. Ethan’s team also develops the analytic features available to millions of consumers via FICO’s B2C solutions -- myFICO.com and FICO® Score Open Access.

Head of Originations, Newrez LLC

Bob Johnson oversees Originations production and operations as Head of Originations at Newrez. Mr. Johnson has worked in the mortgage industry for more than 20 years and brings an extensive background in capital markets, the secondary mortgage market, interest rate risk management, and operational risk management. Prior to Newrez, Mr. Johnson co-founded First Light Capital, LLC where he worked for four years as Managing Partner of a real estate fund. Mr. Johnson also held positions at American Home Mortgage for seven years, including EVP Capital Markets and VP Hedging, Trading, Sales. He started his mortgage career at ComNet Mortgage Services, working his way up to VP Secondary Marketing over his seven-year tenure. Mr. Johnson is a graduate of the University of Richmond with a B.A., Economics, and Communications.