GENERAL SESSION: Fireside Chat with House Financial Services Chairman French Hill (R-AR)

Bill Killmer

Senior Vice President, Legislative and Political Affairs, Mortgage Bankers Association

Bill Killmer is Senior Vice President for Legislative and Political Affairs at the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). A veteran of over three decades in the housing arena, Bill joined MBA in 2010 and is responsible for managing the real estate finance industry's federal legislative, grassroots, and political fundraising activities, in close coordination with the MBA member leadership and its public policy, economics, public affairs, and lobbying teams. He oversees MBA's direct outreach to Congress, and is a regular guest speaker on the intersection of politics, policy, and industry issues. Under Killmer's leadership, grassroots participation through MBA's Mortgage Action Alliance has doubled, while donations to MORPAC, the industry's political action committee, have more than tripled, enhancing the association's ability to develop and execute effective advocacy strategies on the industry's behalf. Killmer came to MBA after nearly 20 years in the policy space at the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), where he last served as Executive Vice President for Advocacy, managing all aspects of the group's public policy outreach. During his tenure at both organizations, he has been named as a Washington trade association "Top Lobbyist" by publications such as The Hill and CEO Update. He previously served as a Senior Legislative Officer for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs at the U.S. Department of Labor during the George H.W. Bush administration. Killmer holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration (BBA), with a concentration in Finance, from Baylor University.

Representative French Hill (R-AR)

Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, U.S. House of Representatives

Congressman French Hill has represented Arkansas’s Second Congressional District since January 2015. He currently serves as Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee in the 119th Congress. In the 118th Congress, Chairman Hill served as the Committee’s Vice Chairman and as Chairman of the new subcommittee tasked with overseeing all areas related to digital assets and financial technology. From 1982 until 1984, Chairman Hill served on the staff of then-U.S. Senator John Tower (R-TX), as well as on the staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs. He then went on to serve for President George H.W. Bush as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Corporate Finance from 1989 to 1991. In 1991, at the age of 34, President Bush appointed Chairman Hill to be Executive Secretary to the President’s Economic Policy Council (EPC), where he coordinated all White House economic policy. Prior to his congressional service, Chairman Hill worked in investments and banking for three decades. Most notably, he was founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Delta Trust & Banking Corporation from 1999 until 2014, when Delta Trust was sold to Simmons Bank.