APPLIED COMPLIANCE TRACK: Chatbot Chatter – Managing Fair Housing and ECOA Risks in AI Driven Lending

Gabriel Acosta

Regulatory Specialist, Mortgage Bankers Association

Gabriel Acosta is the Regulatory Specialist in the Residential Public Policy and Industry Relations department at the Mortgage Bankers Association. Acosta works with the team to analyze agency actions and legislation in areas related to origination, servicing, and data protection. He also works with member committees to provide guidance to members on the changing regulatory landscape. Before the Mortgage Bankers Association, Acosta worked in Congress on criminal justice and immigration issues. He is a graduate from the Georgetown University Law Center and was a student at Georgetown’s Federal Legislation Clinic.

Angel R. Hernandez

Director, Financial Services, Guidehouse

Angel Hernandez is Director of Public Sector Financial Services at Guidehouse, a role he assumed in May 2025, in which he is responsible for public sector service delivery, with a focus on driving process and system modernization. He previously served as Chief Strategy Officer at Stavvy. In this digital mortgage fintech, he led engagement with strategic industry partners, including investors and government agencies, and supported the company’s M&A activities. Earlier in his career, he served as Vice President of Capital Markets Policy at the Housing Policy Council, focusing on systemic issues affecting mortgage securitization, the secondary market, safety and soundness, and the adoption of technology and innovation in housing finance. He also served as Director of Mortgage-Backed Securities Program Policy and Strategic Planning at Ginnie Mae, where he was responsible for the agency’s policy framework, updates to the securitization platform, legislative and regulatory engagement, and key strategic initiatives, including Ginnie Mae’s COVID-19 response and Digital Mortgage program.

Diane Jenkins, CMB

Attorney, Asurity

Diane H. Jenkins is the Director of the National Mortgage Practice Group of Asurity Technologies and a Partner at Sandler Law Group. With more than 25 years of experience in mortgage banking law, she focuses her practice on state and federal regulatory compliance for mortgage lenders nationwide. Jenkins provides strategic guidance on complex compliance matters, loan documentation challenges, and jurisdiction-specific regulatory requirements. She routinely reviews and drafts customized loan documents to align with changing regulatory requirements and the practical demands of mortgage operations, and is also the author of Pratt’s State Regulation of Second Mortgages and Home Equity Loans, and is admitted to practice law in Texas and Georgia.

Yana Rusovski

Of Counsel, Spencer Fane LLP

Yana Rusovski, of counsel at Spencer Fane LLP, focuses her legal practice on the real estate, finance, and government sectors, with particular emphasis on regulatory compliance, preventative counseling, and defense against enforcement actions. She has extensive experience with the Fair Housing Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, among others, and frequently engages with federal regulators. Rusovski spent more than a decade at HUD, where she led and managed investigations and compliance reviews of privately owned multifamily housing providers, financial institutions, and hundreds of recipients of federal funding. She is widely recognized as an industry leader in negotiating HUD conciliation agreements.

David Shirk, CMCP

Managing Member, Shirk Law PLLC

David Shirk is the managing member of Shirk Law PLLC. He represents financial institutions, retail and wholesale mortgage bankers, lead generators, and software vendors. David advises innovating clients on state and federal regulatory compliance, licensing, originator compensation, and responding to exams or Bureau investigations. Prior to joining LotsteinLegal in 2011, which changed its name to Shirk Law in 2020, David spent 20 years in executive roles at mortgage companies. Including as functional architect of two loan origination systems at three top ten lenders. David is admitted to the bar in ten states. He holds a J.D. and an MBA.