BREAKOUT SESSION: Best Practices in Insurance Exception Request

Managing Director - Insurance and Loan Servicing, Newmark

Misty joined Lument, fka RED Capital Group/ORIX Real Estate in August 2008 as Vice President, promoted to Director of Loan Servicing in 2010, and later promoted to Managing Director of Loan Servicing in 2013. In this position, she oversees the Tax Administration and Insurance Compliance groups which includes both production and servicing functions as related to tax and insurance processing. Prior to joining Lument, Ms. Leeth was employed as Insurance Services Manager and Risk Analyst for Capmark Financial Group where she worked with and managed insurance matters for a tax credit syndication limited partner on multifamily assets. Prior to that, she served as a paralegal for Paramount Financial Group and as a Commercial Specialist for State Farm Insurance Companies. Ms. Leeth holds a paralegal certificate from Ohio University, an Ohio Property and Casualty insurance license, and graduated with her Bachelor’s Degree of Business Administration at Mount Vernon Nazarene University.

Assistant Escrow Manager, CBRE Loan Services, Inc.

Managing Director, Insurance Operations Executive & Head of the Corporate Flood Program, JP Morgan Chase

Kathleen Dufraine serves as Managing Director of the Insurance Center of Excellence and Head of the Corporate Flood Program at JPMorgan Chase. With over 35 years of experience as a credentialed and licensed insurance professional, Kathleen uses her expertise to build high performing teams to ensure compliance, transform business processes, and provide insurance consultative support to the lending and servicing leaders. Kathleen is an industry leader in advocating for reform of the Flood Disaster Protection Act and speaks often on this topic. In the past, she worked with the Mortgage Bankers Association in lobbying Congress for the creation of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA), created the ACORD 28 Property Certificate and co-authored the “Blanket Insurance” and “Due Diligence for Fo

VP, Director of Insurance, Northmarq

Senior Managing Director, Resilience Insurance Analytics

Laura Smith joined Newmark in 2017 and currently serves as Senior Managing Director, Head of Servicing, in the company’s Lower Gwynedd, Pennsylvania office. Laura has a diverse industry background with over 28 years of experience in Servicing Operations, Offshore and Outsource platform development, Marketing, Project Management, Process Improvements, and a strong involvement in the industry through the Mortgage Bankers Association. Laura has experience with many portfolio types including Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, Life Company, CMBS, Construction, Bridge and HUD. Laura works closely with many investors providing input and suggestions on insurance requirement revisions. In her current role, she is responsible for managing various servicing groups including Investor Services, Portfolio Management, Insurance, Insurance Claims, Tax, Escrow Analysis, New Loan Boarding, UCC’s, and Limited Sub Servicing for a $71B portfolio encompassing 3,700 loans. In her capacity at Newmark, Laura also supports the originations team reviewing insurance waivers, insurable value exceptions, and provides guidance surrounding insurance issues and exceptions. Additionally, Laura has industry experience speaking as a moderator or panelist in Mortgage Bankers Events from 2017 – 2022. In this role, she has co-authored several industry white papers – Natural Disasters and Catastrophe Insurance, Insurance Waiver Guide, and The Impact of the Hardening Insurance Market. Throughout her career, Laura has been responsible for managing a wide variety of the servicing teams including offshore teams – Insurance, Tax, Escrow Analysis, PPA’s, Escrow Disbursements, Workflow, UCC, New Loan Boarding, Servicing Data Center, Data Warehouse, and Accounts Payable Groups. Laura also co-developed and a proprietary Insurance Compliance Tracking tool. Laura holds a B.S. in Marketing from Penn State University, a Masters of Education from Arcadia University, and a Masters of Business Administration from LaSalle University.