GENERAL SESSION: Government Loan Servicing Update

2023 MBA Chairman-Elect; Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, Amerifirst Home Mortgage

Mark Jones co-founded Amerifirst Home Mortgage with Dave Gahm in 1983, and the company has grown from an individual location in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to over 80 full-service locations and 900 personnel nationwide. Jones is an advocate for affordable homeownership with a mission to make a meaningful difference in the lives of others. Amerifirst is the No. 1 USDA lender and the No. 3 FHA lender in Michigan, and the No. 13 FHA lender in Florida. Amerifirst is a Ginnie Mae issuer and manages a $6B servicing portfolio. In August 2020, Amerifirst established a new bilingual mortgage services division to meet the growing homeownership needs of the Hispanic community. Jones’ leadership has helped Amerifirst earn recognition as one of the “Fastest Growing Private Companies in America” by Inc. 5000 for six consecutive years. Committed to operating by a strong set of core values, it has ranked as a Best & Brightest Company to Work for in the Nation for the past five years (2016-2020) and was named one of the top 50 Best Mortgage Companies to Work For in 2021. In 2016 Jones received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for Michigan and Northwest Ohio. Mark serves on the Board of Directors of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and currently serves as Chairman of MBA’s DEI Advisory Committee. He previously served as co-chair of MBA’s Independent Mortgage Bankers Executive Council. Jones also serves on the board as Public Policy Committee Chair at Southwest Michigan First and serves as Chair of Southwest Michigan First PAC. Mark holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Management from Virginia Commonwealth University, where he competed on the Varsity Swimming & Diving team. In 1979, Jones won the 1979 Virginia Intercollegiate State Championship in 1 meter springboard diving and was a two-time NCAA Regional Qualifier. Jones lives in greater Kalamazoo with his wife, close to three adult children and one grandchild.

Executive Director, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

John E. Bell III began serving as Executive Director, Loan Guaranty Service, on June 21, 2022. He is responsible for delivering VA Home Loan Benefits to his fellow Veterans. Mr. Bell has extensive mortgage industry experience having served in leadership roles with nationwide lenders for over 20 years before starting his career with VA in 2010. Mr. Bell’s top priorities are ensuring that VA home loan benefits are the product of choice for Veterans and that Loan Guaranty is the VA program of choice for his 900 talented staff.

Assistant Secretary for Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Julia Gordon was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as FHA Commissioner in May 2022 after being nominated by President Biden. She brings to HUD more than 30 years of experience in housing finance, policy, and advocacy in both the public and private sectors. She has been a strong advocate and hands-on practitioner working to achieve equal justice, fairness and equity in housing, and consumer protections. As Assistant Secretary for Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner, she is responsible for HUD’s policies, programs, and operations supporting the nation’s homebuyers, homeowners, renters, and communities. Throughout her storied career, she has been a passionate advocate and leader for housing equality and neighborhood investment and has been instrumental in grassroots efforts to shape mortgage and housing finance laws, regulations, and programs to protect homeownership and family wealth.

President, Ginnie Mae

Alanna McCargo was sworn in as Ginnie Mae's 18th President in December 2021. She began her work with the Biden-Harris Administration as a Presidential Appointee in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as Senior Advisor for Housing Finance for Secretary Marcia L. Fudge. Ms. McCargo's career in housing finance spans decades and has focused on how America's housing finance system can equitably and affordably serve the capital and credit needs of all households. Prior to joining the Biden-Harris Administration, Alanna was Vice President of the Housing Finance Policy Center at the Urban Institute, a social and economic policy research firm where she led and developed evidence-based research and analysis on the U.S Housing Finance system. She helped to advance the national policy conversation around reducing racial homeownership and wealth gaps and removing barriers to accessing credit and capital. Alanna also served as Executive Director of the Mortgage Servicing Collaborative, a cross-sector initiative that identified and developed policy recommendations for mortgage servicing and securitization reforms to enable stability for the housing finance system through all economic cycles.

Executive Director, Single-Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program, USDA Rural Development

Ingrid Ripley is the Executive Director for Single-Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program (SFHGLP) for the USDA Rural Housing Service and directs a guaranteed portfolio of $120B. Ripley has over 36 years experience in performance management, strategic planning, loan administration, risk management and primary/secondary financial service markets operations for both public and private sectors. She is recognized for her expertise executing multi-million-dollar multifaceted contracts delivering transformative technology lending platforms, and extensive experience leading reorganizations and initiatives for USDA. Ripley has led multiple Small Business Administration (SBA) high-risk mission-critical contract transitions of innovative loan origination platforms and she has been recognized by SBA as an innovative leader for cost savings via 2013 Recipient of SBA Way Ike Award - Cutting Edge Award for Project Leader. While at Ginnie Mae, her accomplishments include establishing marketing and educational campaigns, developing comprehensive training for internal and external stakeholders, and developing Agency materials in the Spanish language, in which Ingrid is fluent.