POLICY PRIORITIES TRACK: FHA Lending in a Challenging Market

Karen Wipper

Executive Vice President, Chief Underwriter, Dwight Capital LLC

Karen Wipper currently serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Underwriter at Dwight Capital. She is both a MAP and LEAN approved underwriter for all FHA multifamily and healthcare transactions and has overseen over a billion in HUD insured loan volume. Karen has a variety of program experience for both market rate and affordable housing and healthcare including new construction, substantial rehabilitation, purchase, and refinance transactions. She holds a BA from Knox College, a JD from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, and a MBA from Washington University in St. Louis Olin Business School. Karen currently serves as Chair of the MBA FHA Committee is licensed to practice law in Illinois.

Mike Bisanz

Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer - FHA/HUD, Colliers Mortgage

Mike Bisanz serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Colliers Mortgage’s FHA lending platform. In this role, Mike is responsible for all operational aspects of the firm’s FHA lending business. Prior to holding this role, Mike served as the Head of FHA Underwriting. Mike has over 12 years of commercial and mortgage banking experience in Production, Underwriting, Processing, and Asset Management. Prior to joining Dougherty Mortgage (now Colliers Mortgage) in November 2010, Mike worked as an Asset Manager for a property management company, where he was responsible for the company’s portfolio of apartments, condominiums, and townhomes. Mike currently serves as Vice Chair of the MBA's FHA Committee and is an instructor for the MBA's Affordable and 221(d)(4) Training

Leslie Duchene

Managing Director - FHA Chief Underwriter, M&T Realty Capital Corporation

Leslie is a Managing Director and FHA Chief Underwriter for M and T Realty Capital Corporation. In her role, she is responsible for credit/risk oversight, compliance, quality control, budgeting, and team management for the day-to-day underwriting activities and personnel for the FHA division. She is located in Denver, Colorado. Prior to joining MTRCC, Leslie was the Managing Director and FHA Program Manager for CBRE’s FHA Lending Platform where she was responsible for driving production growth, overseeing the FHA multifamily and healthcare underwriting teams, and ensuring connectivity across the FHA platform. During her roughly 14-year career at CBRE, Ms. Duchene helped grow and lead the Platform as Chief Underwriter since 2009. Prior to CBRE, Leslie was the Chief Underwriter for AmeriSphere Mortgage Finance, now known as NorthMarq, overseeing the company’s underwriting and credit risk functions for the FHA division based in Denver, Colorado. Leslie helped start the FHA-insured division for AmeriSphere in October 2006 which was then an affiliate of NorthMarq Capital. Ms. Duchene has nearly 28 years of commercial real estate finance and Title Insurance experience and more than 25 years of specializing in FHA Insured finance for multifamily and healthcare. Her experience includes all facets of FHA financing for multifamily and healthcare including affordable, LIHTC, construction, and substantial/moderate rehabilitation. She has been a HUD invited panelist, has served on Lender Advisory Boards, and works with the MBA on key working groups affecting FHA-insured multifamily and healthcare topics. She was a key author of the MBA Davis Bacon White Paper issued in October 2019. Additionally, Ms. Duchene was a key advocate for the recent HUD policy change for underwriting changes for large loans having received the only waiver to the underwriting parameters for large loans until the new policy was established and providing significant detail and structure to MBA to advocate for support of the change.

Willie Fobbs, III

Director, Office of Multifamily Production, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Willie serves as the Director for the Office of Multifamily Production at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development with the primary responsibility of providing direction and oversight for FHA mortgage insurance loan originations including the implementation of the Multifamily Accelerated Processing (MAP) Guide. In his role, Willie is the senior leader responsible for the office’s policies, programs, and operations supporting the Federal Housing Administration’s platform for lender certification and supporting the expansion of decent, safe, sanitary, and sustainable affordable multifamily housing across the country. Prior to joining HUD, Willie served as the Associate Director of Housing at the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development.

Ethan D. Handelman

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multifamily Housing, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Ethan Handelman is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Multifamily Housing Programs at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. He was appointed in February 2021 by the Biden-Harris Administration. The Office of Multifamily Housing Programs administers the Federal Housing Administration mortgage insurance program for multifamily properties and oversees more than 23,000 assisted properties, including affordable housing for the elderly and persons with disabilities. Approximately 2.6 million families find housing in the Multifamily’ s portfolio of 30,400 properties, which are found in every state and some U.S. territories―urban, suburban, and rural areas. Prior to joining HUD, Ethan was a Senior Policy Analyst at the Federal Housing Finance Agency in the Office of Housing and Community Investment, which oversees the affordable housing mission activities of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks. There he wrote the amendments to the housing goals for the Federal Home Loan Banks, worked on the Duty to Serve program, and other affordable housing policies. Prior to joining FHFA, he spent seven years as Vice President for Policy and Advocacy at the National Housing Conference (NHC), finishing his time as Acting CEO. While at NHC, Ethan directed the policy agenda aimed at ensuring affordable housing for all, led national working groups, spoke, and wrote extensively, and testified before Congress. Ethan also previously led the advisory practice at Recap Real Estate Advisors, assisting public and private-sector clients to understand and shape the affordable housing financial and policy environment. Ethan received his Master of Arts in International Relations from Harvard University and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from University of Michigan. He previously served as president of the board of Housing Unlimited, a nonprofit housing provider in Montgomery County, Maryland.