Opening General Session: Economic Outlook from the New York Fed

2025 MBA Chair; President, Lennar Mortgage

Laura Escobar is the 2025 MBA Chair and President of Lennar Mortgage. A 30-year mortgage industry veteran, Escobar has held leadership positions with both bank-owned and independent mortgage companies overseeing all aspects of mortgage banking, including production, operations, compliance, accounting, and training. Her personal ground level experience in every facet of mortgage lending has enabled her to manage and fully integrate all of these departments within Lennar Mortgage. Escobar is highly engaged in the industry, serves on MBA’s Board of Directors, and was co-chair of MBA’s IMB Executive Council from 2020–2022. She is also a director of the MBA Opens Doors Foundation, which she has supported by successfully fundraising for the foundation’s work and leading Lennar in company campaigns. Beyond her industry work, she is also a licensed mental health counselor and devotes much of her time to working with underprivileged women.

Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Freedom Mortgage Corporation

Mike Patterson serves as senior executive vice president and chief operating officer of Freedom Mortgage, one of the largest and fastest-growing independent mortgage companies in the country. He is responsible for many functional and operational areas, including capital markets, finance, investor relations, and mortgage operations, as well as the strategic growth of the company. Mr. Patterson began his career in the mortgage industry in 2000 at Irwin Mortgage Corporation, based in Fishers, Indiana. In 2006, Mr. Patterson joined Freedom Mortgage through the company’s acquisition of Irwin Mortgage. Mr. Patterson quickly flourished at Freedom Mortgage and was promoted to vice president of finance in 2008. He was promoted again to senior vice president in 2013. In 2014, Mr. Patterson was named executive vice president and, later in that same year, chief of staff. In 2019, Mr. Patterson was promoted to chief operating officer of Freedom Mortgage. Over the course of Mr. Patterson’s career within the mortgage and finance industries, he has established himself as a top-level executive. He takes pride in his ability to bridge the gap between upper and middle management through his extensive industry knowledge. His acute understanding of market trends has been instrumental in the company’s ability to strategically plan for financial agility.

President and Chief Executive Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of New York

John C. Williams is the president and chief executive officer of the New York Fed. In that capacity, he serves as the vice chair and a permanent voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee. Before joining the New York Fed in 2018, Mr. Williams was the president and CEO of the San Francisco Fed, which he first joined in 2002 and subsequently served as research director. He began his career as an economist at the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, and he has also served in roles at the White House Council of Economic Advisers and Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.