POLICY PRIORITIES TRACK: Market Impacts of the New Capital Rules

Attorney- Partner, Bradley

Christy Hancock’s practice is dedicated to financial services regulatory compliance and litigation. Her work with mortgage servicing and financial institution clients has given her a broad base of knowledge regarding laws affecting the mortgage servicing business, including bankruptcy and foreclosure best practices, payment application, correspondence requirements, allowable fees, loan modifications, escrow requirements, and property preservation. In recent years, the majority of her practice has focused on advising large financial institutions on bankruptcy-related regulatory matters and large-scale remediation projects. Christy is a thought leader on the CARES Act and related state laws regarding mortgage forbearances, deferrals and other loss mitigation options, as well as foreclosure and eviction moratoriums. She hosts a bi-weekly WebEx for Bradley’s financial services clients on COVID-19 and other mortgage servicing issues. Christy provides daily guidance to clients on laws such as the CARES Act and related state laws, TILA, RESPA, FDCPA and the Dodd-Frank Act, as well as compliance with certain bankruptcy rules and mortgage servicing best practices. She has assisted her financial services clients with a variety of intricate matters, including developing responses to new legislation, conducting internal risk assessments, assisting with and responding to internal and external audits, training company personnel, and revising quality control processes, as well as drafting and updating a variety of mortgage servicing policies and procedures. Christy also routinely responds to the CFPB, the United States Trustee’s Office, various state attorneys general, and state banking department inquiries on behalf of her clients. In addition to her broad compliance practice, Christy also represents financial institutions and mortgage companies in state and federal courts across the country. These suits range from individual consumer claims to class action and commercial disputes. She defends her clients in a variety of matters, including TILA, RESPA, RICO, FDCPA and FCRA disputes, predatory lending claims, mortgage-related fees and servicing issues, escrow account disputes, and UDAP claims. Christy has litigated numerous facets of the mortgage servicing industry, including loan origination, pooling and servicing agreements, title insurance, loan-repurchase disputes, REO-related disputes and mortgage fraud.

Executive Vice President and Head of Mortgage, Fifth Third Bank

James “Jay” Plum serves as Executive Vice President and Head of Real Estate Lending (Mortgage and Home Equity) and Indirect Auto Lending. He oversees the Origination and Servicing activities of those secured products. Before joining Fifth Third in April 2021, Jay served for 12 years in roles of increasing responsibility at Huntington Bancshares, most recently as executive vice president of consumer finance. In that position, he was responsible for the origination functions of mortgage, home equity, personal loans, and for card products. Under his leadership, the mortgage lending grew to be the top mortgage lender in Ohio and home equity grew to be a top ten lender in the US. Jay joined Huntington in 2009 as director of consumer lending after serving five years at Citizens Bank, where he rose to president of home lending, including mortgage and consumer lending. Jay began his career at Bank One in Cincinnati. He also worked for Provident Bank in Cincinnati, where he was manager of consumer lending, mortgage and card services.

SVP, Real Estate Products, Pricing and Secondary Marketing, Regions Financial Corporation / Regions Mortgage

Becky Crain joined Regions Bank in March 2005 and is responsible for Real Estate Products, Secondary Marketing and overall coordination and responsibility for Mortgage Servicing Rights transactions. Becky has been in various roles throughout her career at Regions, including serving as Consumer Lending Financial Manager for 10 years as well as Corporate Financial Planning and Analysis Manager for 2 years. Prior to joining Regions, Becky worked at Hibernia National Bank in Louisiana for 13 years and started her career at KPMG. Originally from Louisiana, Becky has a B.S. in Accounting as well as an MBA from Southeastern Louisiana University. She is a Residential CMB as well as a licensed CPA in Alabama and Louisiana. Becky is also a graduate of the Momentum Leadership Program, Alabama’s premier Women’s Leadership Program.

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Cooper

Kurt Johnson serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Mr. Cooper Group. With 25 years in the mortgage-banking industry, Kurt has extensive experience in Originations, Servicing, Treasury, Portfolio Management and Financial Planning. Kurt has served in various leadership roles across Mr. Cooper Group. After joining the company in 2015 he helped establish a compliance control infrastructure in Originations and supporting change management for the business. He also was heavily involved in the 2018 merger of WMIH Corp. and Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc., ultimately forming Mr. Cooper Group as it operates today. In his time with the company, Kurt also led Servicing transformation efforts overseeing a multi-year initiative to bring technology and process enhancements to the servicing platform. In 2019, Kurt became the company’s Chief Credit Officer responsible for setting all Credit Risk related policy and governance before being promoted to Chief Risk and Compliance Officer in early 2021. In 2023, Kurt took on his current role as Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining the Mr. Cooper team, Kurt spent six years as Executive Vice President at OneWest Bank, leading the organization’s residential, single-family portfolio. During his time, Kurt provided financial oversight of the portfolio including forecasting and management of the business’ balance sheet and establishing strong relationships with external auditors. In the 15 years prior to joining OneWest Bank, Kurt focused his career on the Financial, Planning and Analysis segments with roles at First Interstate Bank and Wells Fargo. He later expanded his experience, joining IndyMac in 2000 as the head of Mergers and Acquisitions before elevating to lead the Portfolio Management Group. During his time with IndyMac, Kurt was responsible for analyzing and decision-making for mortgage-backed security acquisitions and sales as well as managing financial forecasts and projections. Kurt holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Economics from Occidental College and a master’s degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance from Cornell University.

Managing Director, Raymond James & Associates

John Toohig is a Managing Director at Raymond James®, a Board Member and President of Raymond James Mortgage Company, Inc., and Head of the Whole Loan Group. John joined Raymond James® (formerly Morgan Keegan) in September of 2006. As manager of the Whole Loan Group, John’s primary responsibilities include day-to-day trading of whole loan packages, portfolio analysis, transaction management and the structuring of whole loans, participation, and various structured products. John’s product focus encompasses both seasoned and new production: residential mortgages (both QM and Non-QM), commercial mortgages, consumer lending, fintech lending, scratch and dent loans, and non-performing assets. Prior to joining the Whole Loan group at Raymond James, John was a part of the firm’s Taxable Banking platform where he was responsible for corporate debt transactions, trust preferred securities, sale-leaseback transactions and ABS transactions. Beyond his daily trading responsibilities, John is a regular speaker and content creator for various lending-related conferences and publications. He has presented at most of the major lending conferences including MBA National Secondary, SFIG Vegas / ABS West, CUNA Lending and more, and his commentary has also been featured in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, HousingWire and DebtWire.