The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) advisory council on affordable homeownership, formed in 2019, will have 30 members for 2023. The council provides strategic and practical guidance to the association’s affordable housing effort, the CONVERGENCE Initiative.
“Creating affordable housing opportunities and closing the racial homeownership gap are long-standing goals for MBA,” MBA Senior Vice President for Affordable Housing Initiatives Steve O’Connor said in a release. “The Affordable Homeownership Advisory Council provides us with crucial insight on how we can create a more affordable and equitable housing market for all households.”
Members of the 2023 Affordable Homeownership Advisory Council are Charles Lowery, New American Funding; Julie Steinhagen, The Huntington National Bank; Efe Aghimien, SWBC Mortgage; Lesley Alli, HomePoint; Meghan Bartholomew, Radian; David Battany, Guild Mortgage Co.; Cerita Battles, JP Morgan Chase; Chuck Bishop, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage; Melissa Blout, Associated Bank; Geoff Cooper, Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp.; Rose Marie David, HomeBridge Financial Services; Bryan Deaton, Enact Mortgage Insurance; Courtenay R. Dunn, ICE Mortgage Technology, Inc.; Jennifer Hedgepeth, DHI Financial Services; Kelly Hollinger, Home Street Bank; Deborah Momsen-Hudson, First Citizens Bank; Tawn Kelley, Taylor Morrison Home Funding; Kasey Kier, Bell Bank Mortgage; Bill Lowman, American Pacific Mortgage; Lenny McNeil, U.S. Bank; Mike Patterson, Freedom Mortgage; Jay Plum, Fifth Third Bank; Sharon Rivers, Mortgage Investors Group; Debra W. Still, Pulte Financial Services; Michelle Swindell, Bank of America; Michael Innis-Thompson, TD Bank; Eileen Tu, Rocket Mortgage; Miguel Vega, First Community Mortgage, Inc.; Allan Voltz, Arch Mortgage Insurance Group; and Loretta Williamson, Truist.
Lowery and Steinhagen will be the co-chairs of the council, with Jorden Gonzales-Richard, MBA program and policy specialist for the affordable housing initiative, managing. The council provides important recommendations, feedback, and ideas on where MBA should focus time and resources to best advance affordable homeownership and close the racial homeownership gap, the association stated.
“It is my honor to serve as co-chair of the Affordable Homeownership Advisory Council,” Lowery said. “I look forward to working with my industry colleagues to determine solutions that will ease the ongoing affordability challenges facing our country.”
Steinhagen added: “The council represents a vast group of experts who are committed to creating affordable housing opportunities, as well as developing sustainable homeownership options for those seeking to enter the housing market.”