MBA Announces 2024 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Residential Leadership Award Winners

DENVER–The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) announced at its 2024 Annual Convention & Expo that six companies have been recognized as 2024 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Residential Leadership Award recipients. The annual awards recognize MBA members for their leadership efforts in DEI in two award categories: organizational DEI and market outreach strategies.  

“Now in its ninth year, MBA’s Residential DEI Leadership Awards continue to highlight the top DEI programs in the real estate finance industry,” said Laura Escobar, 2025 MBA Chair and President of Lennar Mortgage. “This year’s DEI Leadership Award winners have shown a sincere and tireless commitment to cultivating a more equitable environment at their respective organizations and in the communities they serve.” 

This year’s submissions were reviewed by a panel of judges consisting of members of MBA members and MBA staff. The companies were segmented into three groups, based on their overall number of employees, then were scored by: 

• quality of their overall submission; 
• identification of a target audience and annual goals;  
• demonstration of a tangible benefit to participants; and  
• overall enterprise and replicability of the program.  

Innovative program approaches and potential success in broadening the culture of the organization through the values of DEI were also considered. 

The six 2024 DEI Residential Leadership Award winners are: 

Organizational DEI Award: Veterans United Home Loans, Elevations Credit Union, and McCalla Raymer Leibert Pierce llc (MLRP) 

The Organizational DEI Award celebrates company initiatives that were specifically developed and designed to increase DEI within the leadership and employee base of member companies, thereby leading to a mortgage banking industry that may better reflect and understand its customers. 

For companies with more than 1,000 employees, Veterans United Home Loans (VU) is being recognized for its dedication to advancing inclusion and diversity in the banking and financial services industry and in its communities. A winner of the 2018 DEI Award, VU continues to raise the bar in creating successful DEI programs for the organization. Through its premier program, the Needs + Culture United Initiative, VU remains focused on growing and retaining employees of underrepresented groups, raising awareness and education about inclusion, and promoting a culture of belonging across all facets of VU. Additionally, VU improved its Employee Resource Groups (ERG) programs and continues to increase its diversity efforts among senior leadership. 

For companies with fewer than 1,000 employees, Elevations Credit Union is being acknowledged for its tireless commitment to improving organization-wide messaging, leadership actions, and workplace inclusion. Elevations CU boasts its premier DEI program, the 2024+ DE&I Integration Initiative, which focuses on the four key areas of strategic communications, shared ownership, continuous growth and exposure, and measurement. Additionally, with its intentional efforts to create a diverse workforce, Elevations CU has partnered with the Blind Institute of Technology (Blind IT) to promote disability inclusion within its ranks through awareness campaigns, recruitment efforts, and their Chief People Officers’ participation as a member on Blind IT’s Board of Directors. 

For the non-lender category, McCalla Raymer Leibert Pierce LLC (MLRP) is being recognized for its DEI program that focuses on employee empowerment, equity, and retaining diverse talent. Since implementing the program, MLRP has seen increased minority representation in overall staff from 74% to 78% and in leadership positions from 48% to 62%. Additionally, MLRP has doubled its employee resource group (ERG) offerings focusing on women, Black/African American colleagues, LGBTQ+, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, and Health & Wellness. 

Market Outreach Strategies Award: Discover Bank (Discover Home Loans), Southern Bancorp Bank, and VRM Mortgage Services  

The Market Outreach Strategies Award recognizes company initiatives specifically developed and designed to increase outreach, marketing, and products to attract customers from the industry’s fastest-growing market segments. 

For companies with more than 1,000 employees, Discover Home Loans is being recognized for its dedication to uplifting communities at the hyperlocal level and its commitment to promoting financial literacy among communities of color. Discover’s Pathway to Financial Success Program boasts a number of resources to advance financial literacy resources in classrooms, benefiting students across diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. Since its inception in 2017, the Pathway to Financial Success has impacted more than 6 million students across 13,000 schools in the United States. Notably, more than 60% of these schools are Title 1 institutions, underscoring the program’s commitment to reaching those most in need of financial education support. 

For companies with fewer than 1,000 employees, Southern Bancorp Bank is being awarded for the development of its Harnessing Opportunities for Mortgage Equity (H.O.M.E.) Initiative. The initiative provides low-to-moderate income (LMI) borrowers and borrowers from communities of color with long-term, fixed-rate mortgages assisted by down payment assistance programs, supported by mission-driven depositors who want their funds to support more than the bank’s bottom line. Since the founding of the initiative, more than 1,000 underserved borrowers have been assisted in attaining affordable housing.  

For the non-lender category, VRM Mortgage Services is being honored for its Council for Inclusion in Financial Services (CIFS) initiative – an effort dedicated to increasing awareness within the financial services industry about the social and economic benefits of multiculturalism in employment and supplier utilization. Through its Career Expo under the CIFS initiative, VRM have successfully welcomed new talent into an aging industry, enabling companies to diversify their workforce and recruit fresh talent. As a result, the representation of underrepresented groups within the industry has increased by 25% over the past three years. 

MBA’s Commercial and Multifamily DEI Leadership Award will be announced in February 2024 at the 2024 CREF/Multifamily Housing Convention & Expo. Please visit this website for updates.