CLOSING SUPER SESSION: Breakfast and Policy Q&A (Closed to Media)

Associate Vice President, Secondary & Capital Markets, Mortgage Bankers Association

Sasha Hewlett is Associate Vice President of Secondary and Capital Markets on the Residential Policy Team at MBA. In this role she engages with agency officials, regulators, legislative staff, and industry stakeholders to advance MBA’s mission and member interests. Sasha actively monitors the activities of the FHFA, the GSEs, Ginnie Mae, the SEC, and related legislative and regulatory developments, providing expert analysis on their impact to MBA members and the broader housing finance system. She manages the development of Secondary and Capital Markets related policy positions, regulatory strategy, work product, and advocacy efforts for MBA members. Sasha also leads the MBA’s Secondary and Capital Markets Committee, REIT Executive Council, GSE Task Force, and serves as a SME to other key governance bodies and network groups across the organization. Prior to joining MBA, she spent a majority of the last 12 years in various roles at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Sasha earned her BS in Finance from Virginia Tech.

AVP, Government Housing Finance, Mortgage Bankers Association

Brendan Kelleher is the Associate Vice President of Housing Finance Policy at the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), where he leads the execution of MBA’s residential government housing policy and regulatory advocacy priorities. In this role, Brendan develops and strengthens important agency and industry relationships and is the lead staff representative for the Residential Board of Governors. Prior to this role, Brendan served as Director of Loan Administration Policy, where he led MBA’s legislative and regulatory advocacy efforts related to residential loan administration - servicing - policy. In this capacity, Brendan collaborated with federal housing regulators, investors, and guarantors to enhance, streamline, and align industry servicing standards. Prior to joining MBA, Brendan served as Director of Public Policy at Rocket Companies, overseeing external relations and mortgage policy advocacy, with a particular emphasis on mortgage servicing. Brendan earned his Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Michigan State University College of Law in 2014.

Vice President of Legislative Affairs, Mortgage Bankers Association

Rachel Kelley is the Vice President of Legislative Affairs at the Mortgage Bankers Association, focusing her lobbying efforts on the Republicans in the House of Representatives. She was previously Assistant Vice President of Political Affairs at the MBA since 2021. Kelley was formerly in political fundraising working for CLT Host 2020, Inc, the RNC (Republican National Committee), and NRSC (National Republican Senatorial Committee). Prior to fulltime political fundraising, Kelley managed the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) PAC and helped represent ICSC on the Hill and worked on the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) PAC. Before NAHB Kelley was a junior lobbyist at a boutique lobby firm specializing in education appropriation grants for community colleges, technology companies and organizations and business development. She began her in Washington, DC career working for her home state Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and maintains ties with her state through her membership in the Alabama State Society and her diehard support of her Alma mater The University of Alabama.

Manager, Loan Production Policy, Mortgage Bankers Association

Darnell Peterson has been a Regulatory Associate with MBA since September of 2019. Currently, he supervises MBA’s Government Loan Servicing Subcommittee and the Loan Administration Committee providing regulatory policy updates concerning residential housing loss mitigation. Previous to joining MBA, he developed a background in government affairs and policy analysis as a government affairs research and policy analyst intern at Forbes Tate Partners and the Exelon Corporation. Darnell also has held positions in the financial services industry with his time at Bank of America. He has a Masters in Public Policy from Drexel University and a BA in Political Science from Delaware State University.