Judith Ricks Joins MBA as Associate Vice President, Commercial Real Estate Research

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) announced that Judith Ricks has joined the association as Associate Vice President, Commercial Real Estate Research. In this role, Ricks will develop and oversee MBA’s extensive research and analysis that covers commercial real estate finance (CREF) markets.

“Judith is a thoughtful and talented economist who has had an impressive 10-plus year career in conducting economic research and analysis that has informed consumers and external stakeholders and been applied for regulatory rulemaking,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “I am looking forward to the collaboration, insight, and energy she will bring to MBA’s extremely talented research team.”

Ricks, who has extensive mortgage and real estate finance knowledge and experience, will develop and maintain MBA’s CREF-related industry analysis, benchmarking, peer business roundtables, and support activities related to association meetings and conferences, public policy initiatives, and education.

Before joining MBA, Ricks held ascending roles at Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, most recently as Deputy Assistant Director. She also previously served as adjunct professor of applied econometric methods at George Washington University. Ricks has written more than a dozen published academic and policy reports, including Mortgage Subsidies, Homeownership, and Marriage: Evidence from the VA Loan Program, Regional Science and Urban Economics 87 (2021); and Homeowner Behavior, Health Status, and Medicaid Payment Eligibility: Evidence from the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 37(4) (2018). She is also a certified facilitator of research mentorship training through the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research.

Ricks earned her Ph.D. in Economics from Syracuse University and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Vanderbilt University.