OPENING GENERAL SESSION: Songs of America
Through strife and triumph, music is as integral to the American experience as the elected leaders and formal politics that shape it. Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Jon Meacham and Grammy Award-winning entertainer, author, and actor Tim McGraw team up to present a moving and insightful journey through history. Meacham explores the stories behind the song and McGraw performs and reflects on the lyrics, performers, and instrumentals that have helped to carry us through the darkest and brightest days. The session begins with opening remarks on the state of the industry from MBA leaders and the awarding of the Lowrie-Woodward Distinguished Service Award. Sponsored by Freedom Mortgage Corporation.
Speakers
Welcome
Robert D. Broeksmit, CMB, is MBA’s President and Chief Executive Officer. He is a senior finance executive and corporate officer with over 30 years of experience in the mortgage sector. He has directed all aspects of lending activities, including marketing, sales, operations, secondary marketing, loan servicing, and default management. He has also served as a mortgage underwriting expert testifying on many large, high-profile cases. Prior to joining MBA, Broeksmit served as President and Chief Operating Officer with Treliant, heading the firm’s mortgage litigation support practice. He previously held senior leadership positions in the mortgage business, including 14 years with Chevy Chase Bank (including after its purchase by Capital One) and 7 years as Vice President at Prudential Home Mortgage. He has overseen annual originations of $9 billion, a balance sheet of $10 billion in residential mortgage, and a servicing portfolio of $20 billion. He is past Chairman of MBA’s Residential Board of Governors and a member of its Board of Directors.
Mark Jones is the 2024 MBA Chairman and President of Union Home Mortgage. Mark co-founded Amerifirst Home Mortgage in 1983, a company he grew from an individual location in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to over 80 full-service locations and 900 personnel nationwide. In January 2023, Amerifirst merged with Union Home Mortgage to form a top 40 national mortgage lender, where Mark now serves as President. Prior to the merger, Amerifirst was the No. 1 USDA lender and the No. 3 FHA lender in Michigan, and the No. 13 FHA lender in Florida. Amerifirst was also a Ginnie Mae issuer and serviced in-house a $6 billion loan portfolio. Amerifirst ranked as a Best and Brightest Company to Work for in the Nation for five consecutive years (2016-2020) and was named one of the top 50 Best Mortgage Companies to Work For in 2021. In 2016 Mark received the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for Michigan and Northwest Ohio. In addition to his service as MBA’s Chairman-Elect, Mark currently serves as Chairman of MBA’s DEI Advisory Committee. He previously served as co-chair of MBA’s Independent Mortgage Bankers Executive Council. Mark also serves as board member and Public Policy Committee Chair at Southwest Michigan First and serves as Chair of Southwest Michigan First PAC.
Stanley C. Middleman serves as the President and CEO of Freedom Mortgage Corporation, one of the largest and fastest-growing independent mortgage companies in the country. He is a nationally recognized business strategist, investor, and philanthropist with over 30 years of experience in the mortgage banking industry. Since founding Freedom Mortgage in 1990, Mr. Middleman has grown the company into one of the nation’s largest non-bank mortgage lenders/servicers and a top VA and FHA (government-insured) lender. This year, for the third time in a row, Freedom Mortgage was honored with the 2023 Top Workplaces USA Award as well as a Top Workplace Award in Central Indiana, New Jersey, and the Philadelphia region. Freedom Mortgage also joined the Inc. 5000 Honor Roll (since 2021) for the ninth time as one of the fastest-growing companies in the country. In 2022, Freedom Mortgage was name as a Best-in-Class Employer by Gallagher and in 2021, the company was named one of Newsweek’s Most Loved Workplaces. Freedom Mortgage’s mission is to foster homeownership for all consumers across America.
Matt Rocco is the MBA 2023 Chairman and President of Colliers Mortgage. Matt is a Board Member of MBA's Commercial Real Estate/Multifamily Finance Board of Governors (COMBOG), Residential Board of Governors (RESBOG) and MBA Opens Doors Foundation. At Colliers Mortgage, he works with the team to build its business across the country and expand upon Colliers comprehensive capital markets services and solutions. Prior to joining Colliers Mortgage, Matt was Chairman and CEO of Grandbridge Real Estate Capital, a subsidiary of Truist Bank. Matt’s leadership responsibilities included Grandbridge’s overall corporate strategy and governance as well as the company’s integration and operations within Truist. Prior to Grandbridge, he was engaged in investment banking, bond issuance, underwriting, and real estate asset management. He is also a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), NAIOP, Urban Land Institute (ULI), Mortgage Action Alliance (MAA), National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC), Pension Real Estate Association (PREA), and CCIM.
Introductions
Michael Middleman serves as Managing Director of Freedom Mortgage, one of the largest and fastest-growing independent mortgage companies in the country. Freedom Mortgage is a top mortgage lender and servicer and specializes in FHA and VA lending. Middleman joined the company as a Vice President in January of 2014. He began by leading a series of special projects that were focused on the enhancement and growth of the organization’s customer retention program (as part of Freedom Mortgage’s Direct-to-Consumer Lending Division). Over the course of his tenure, he has successfully led significant growth in the organization. His responsibilities now include the oversight of the majority of operating areas across the company, including the Direct-to-Consumer and Wholesale Lending Divisions, Information Technology, Marketing, and Human Resources. Recently, Middleman was recognized by HousingWire with the prestigious Vanguard Award, that highlights executives who fuel the growth of their organizations. In 2021, Middleman was recognized by HousingWire as a Rising Star, and National Mortgage Professional honored him as one of the 40 most influential mortgage professionals under 40. Additionally, the Mortgage Professional Association identified Mr. Middleman as a Rising Star. Prior to joining Freedom Mortgage, Middleman spent six years in the field of public accounting, including three years at Ernst and Young. There, he managed a team within the Group that was focused on the valuation and transaction services of securitized products. He obtained his Certification in Public Accounting (CPA, now inactive). Mr. Middleman holds a BS from Hofstra University, where he majored in both Finance and Accounting. He also holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania.
Featured Speakers
Tim McGraw has sold more than 90 million records worldwide and dominated the charts with 46 worldwide No. 1 singles and 19 worldwide No. 1 albums. He’s won 3 Grammy Awards, 21 Academy of Country Music Awards, 14 Country Music Association Awards. His iconic career achievements include being named BDS Radio’s Most Played Artist of the Decade for all music genres and having the Most Played Song of the Decade for all music genres. He is the most played country artist at radio since his debut in 1992, with two singles spending 10 weeks or more at No. 1. Known for his high energy concerts, he is one of the top touring artists of all time including the record-setting “Soul2Soul” tours with his wife, Faith Hill. An acclaimed actor, McGraw starred in and narrated the hit movie “The Shack” and co-wrote and performed the closing credit song for the Oscar winning documentary "Free Solo." His other movie credits include blockbuster hits “Friday Night Lights” and “The Blind Side. McGraw starred beside Sam Elliott and his wife Faith Hill in the Yellowstone prequel and three-time Emmy nominated 1883. McGraw has co-authored two New York Times Best Selling books, Songs of America: Patriotism, Protest and the Music that Made a Nation with Jon Meacham and fitness book Grit and Grace: Train the Mind, Train the Body, Own Your Life. As part of the host committee, McGraw welcomed the largest outdoor crowd in Nashville history to his performance at the 2019 NFL Draft. He also appeared in the NFL Tailgate Party for Super Bowl LII and the College Football Playoffs 2020. His newest single, “Standing Room Only,” launched with the most first-week streams of any track in McGraw’s career.
Presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham is one of America's most prominent public intellectuals. A contributor to TIME and The New York Times Book Review, Meacham is a highly sought-after commentator, regularly appearing on MSNBC, CNN, and other news outlets. A skilled orator with a depth of knowledge about politics, religion, and current affairs, Meacham has the unique ability to bring history to life and offer historical context to current events and issues impacting our daily lives - whether we realize it or not - to audiences of all backgrounds and levels of understanding. A contributing editor at TIME, Meacham also writes “The Long View” column in The New York Times Book Review in which he “looks back at books that speak to our current historical and cultural moment.” He served as Newsweek's managing editor from 1998 to 2006 and as editor from 2006 to 2010. In 2020, Meacham released two podcasts with the History Channel: Hope Through History and It Was Said. Narrated and written by Meacham, season two of the critically acclaimed Hope Through History podcast explores some of the most historic and trying times in American History, how the nation dealt with the impact of these moments, and how we came through these moments a more unified nation. It Was Said, tells the stories of those crucial words, taking listeners back to inflection points ranging from the McCarthy era to our present time through the real-time rhetoric that shaped and suffused America as the country struggled through storm and strife. It Was Said captures the nation we've been, and points ahead to the nation we hope to become. Meacham is the author of multiple New York Times bestsellers including, Songs of America, which is a celebration of the music that helped shape a nation. Co-written by musician Tim McGraw, Songs of America was praised as “a glorious celebration of our diversity” by Quincy Jones and an “unusually well-written and moving story” by Ken Burns. Another #1 New York Times bestseller, The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels, examines the present moment in American politics and life by looking back at critical times in U.S. history when hope overcame division and fear. In 2020, he released, His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope - an intimate and revealing portrait of civil rights icon and longtime U.S. congressman John Lewis and quickly gained bestseller status. Meacham's Presidential biography of George H. W. Bush, Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush, debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestsellers list. According to the Times, “Destiny and Power reflect the qualities of both subject and biographer: judicious, balanced, deliberative, with a deep appreciation of history and the personalities who shape it.” He is a co-author of Impeachment: An American History, which reveals the complicated motives behind the three impeachments in U.S. history. A #1 New York Times bestseller, Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power was hailed as "masterful and intimate" by Fortune magazine. Meacham's other national bestsellers include Franklin and Winston, American Gospel, and American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2009.
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