MBANow: William Kooper on Working with State & Local Associations

The Mortgage Bankers Association released a new MBANow video featuring William Kooper, MBAVice President of State Government Affairs and Industry Relations, who discusses the importance of working relationships and advocacy with state and local associations.  

The video can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVLOpxBu4IA&feature=em-uploademail.          

Kooper noted MBA works with 42 state associations around the country, as well as numerous local and regional groups, all independent of MBA.  

“We have a phrase and sort of slogan in the community called ‘We Make Each Other Stronger,'” Kooper said. “What we mean by that is that just like the industry relies on MBA here in DC to represent out interests in Washington among policy makers on Capitol Hill and any administration, our industry relies on our state and local groups to represent the industry’s interests in state capitals and, increasingly, in county seats and municipal governments around the country. That’s a big role.”  

For example, Kooper said MBA tracks nearly 8,000 different pieces of legislation in its State & Legislative Database. “Not all of these bills are flattering to the industry, so it’s a big role, but it’s also a unique value proposition and opportunity for our state partners,” he said. “We try to help them with that.”  

Kooper said the MBA State Relations Initiative is a strategy for realizing the power of the state groups. The MBA Board of Directors created that program in 2013. “It has three ways of partnering around shared interests,” he said. “The first is advocacy; the second is communications; and the third is business development.”  

Other videos in the MBANow series can be viewed at the MBANow website: https://www.mba.org/get-involved/stay-connected/mba-now.