People in the News Dec. 9, 2020
Borden Hoskins Joins MBA as AVP of Legislative Affairs
The Mortgage Bankers Association announced Borden Hoskins joined the association as Associate Vice President of Legislative Affairs. He will be responsible for advocating MBA’s legislative and policy priorities on Capitol Hill, with a primary focus on Republican members of the House of Representatives.
Hoskins joins MBA from Capitol Hill, where he has spent most of his professional career. Most recently, Hoskins worked as Legislative Assistant on all economic policy issues (including real estate finance) for former Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz. Prior to that post, he served one year as Legislative Director for former Rep. Denver Riggleman, R-Va., and in a variety of key positions on the Republican staff of the House Financial Services Committee from 2015 to 2018.
“Having worked earlier in his career as a mortgage loan originator, Borden has a strong understanding of the real estate finance industry, which will help MBA advance its influence on Capitol Hill,” said Robert D. Broeksmit, CMB, MBA President and CEO. “Our members will also be well served by his deep familiarity with the legislative and public policy process.”
“Borden brings a wealth of experience and relationships to this position, having worked extensively on housing and financial services issues in a variety of staff roles within the Congress,” said Bill Killmer, MBA Chief Lobbyist and Senior Vice President of Legislative and Political Affairs. “We welcome Borden to our already strong team to help us advance MBA’s legislative priorities for its members and the industry.”
Hoskins graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from The University of the South (Sewanee, Tenn.) in 2006.
Longtime Industry Executive, Advisor Gene Spencer Passes Away
Gene Spencer, who spent 28 years at Fannie Mae and 10 years with the Homeownership Preservation Foundation and who served in a number of advisory capacities with the Mortgage Bankers Association and other industry organizations, passed away on Nov. 30 in Gloucester Point, Va.
Mr. Spencer was 67. He had been suffering from pancreatic cancer.
Mr. Spencer was a widely recognized housing finance advisor who worked with MBA, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Quicken Loans, Ocwen, CLR and others.
“I had the opportunity to work with Gene for many years when we were both at Fannie Mae, and then again when he became involved in homeownership counseling and preservation work,” said MBA Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni, “Every time I spoke with him he was always upbeat. He had a unique ability to thoughtfully convey information in a particularly effective manner. He also was unfailingly kind and thoughtful. Gene was always a great ambassador for our industry.”
Gene Alonzo Spencer was born Jan. 2, 1953 in Emporia, Va. He earned a full football scholarship to The College of William and Mary, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1975. He later earned his executive masters degree in leadership from the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business in 2010.
In 1985 Mr. Spencer joined Fannie Mae as a Director. He created and led Fannie Mae’s ACCESS program for emerging securities firm and created the Fannie Mae MBS Investor Helpline and the first online MBS information delivery system. In 1993 he was promoted to Vice President of Mortgage Securities Investor Marketing, where he developed and led execution of capital markets strategies that built Fannie Mae MBS into a global brand with $2.5 trillion outstanding. In 1998 he became Fannie Mae’s Vice President of Investor Relations and remained in that capacity until 2006.
In 2009 Mr. Spencer joined the Homeownership Preservation Foundation, serving first as Senior Vice President of Stakeholder Engagement, Policy and Research. He managed financial industry relations, public strategies policy and research to reinforce organization value and viability. In June 2018 Mr. Spencer was made CEO of the Foundation, serving in that capacity until this past January. Until recently Mr. Spencer served as an Independent Housing Finance Advisor until ill health forced him to step down.
In 2014 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau appointed Mr. Spencer to its Consumer Advisory Board. He served on the Board until September 2017, including as Chair of its Mortgages Committee.
“Gene was a great man – always supportive of his colleagues , a proud family man and a ‘go-to’ teammate,” said David Beranbaum, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing Counseling with HUD. “Gene never wavered in his support for the organizations efforts to ensure that every American had an affordable and safe place to call home. He served as a strong and consistent voice on Capitol Hill and to financial markets for social justice and decency. Gene’s legacy will extend well beyond his presence among us, and I feel privileged to have known him as a colleague and a friend.”
Berenbaum added that during Mr. Spencer’s career, “he created pathways to homeownership for low to moderate income working families and was a trailblazer for diverse market segments through innovative approaches to housing finance.”
Barry Zigas, Senior Fellow with Consumer Federation of America, worked with Mr. Spencer when they were both officers at Fannie Mae, and later as a client through Zigas and Associates LLC’s work with HPF’s annual counseling industry convenings.
“Gene combined a great depth of technical know-how with a warm, collaborative approach to complex challenges,” Zigas said. “His warmth, congeniality and wonderful sense of humor infused his professional relationships and made him a valued and sought-after colleague. He will be missed by everyone who worked with him. His contributions to growing and sustaining the housing counseling profession are a fitting memorial. And he was always a great guy to share fishing stories with!”
Mr. Spencer is survived by his spouse and partner since 2004, Martha M. Houle; his brother, Turner M. Spencer; and nieces Trina Spencer and Ava Chafin Wolfe.
Cherry Creek Mortgage Restructures Ownership; Names Rick Seehausen COO
Cherry Creek Mortgage, Denver, announced a change in ownership and a reorganization of its corporate structure. Under the restructuring, the company is 100 percent owned by the family of its co-founder, Jeffrey May. Previously, the company was owned by the families of May and its other co-founder, the late U.S. Sen. Bill Armstrong. Terms of the change in ownership were not disclosed.
In addition, the company’s owners formed Cherry Creek Holdings Group LLC, the new parent company of Cherry Creek Mortgage and other affiliated businesses. May will serve as chairman and CEO of Cherry Creek Holdings and will continue to serve as president of Cherry Creek Mortgage.
The company also appointed Rick Seehausen to president and COO of Cherry Creek Holdings, where he will oversee all company operations, including IT, human resources, legal, accounting, marketing and compliance divisions. Prior to joining Cherry Creek Mortgage in 2019 as executive vice president, Seehausen was the founder and CEO of LenderLive, a provider of outsourced fulfillment services.
ENACOMM Taps Kenneth Arakelian as SVP & Chief Product Officer
ENACOMM, Tulsa, Okla., hired Kenneth Arakelian to spearhead advancement of the company’s suite of fintech products and services as Senior Vice President and Chief Product Officer.
Arakelian brings more than 20 years of hands-on experience in designing, architecting, bringing to market and supporting business solutions for enterprise customers. Most recently, he headed the Innovations Group at Nuance Communications, where he worked since 2010. Prior to his career at Nuance, Arakelian managed the Contact Center Engineering group at Merrill Lynch.
FHFA Principal Deputy Director Adolfo Marzol Announces Retirement; Chris Bosland to Replace
The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced Principal Deputy Director Adolfo Marzol will retire on December 18. Chris Bosland, FHFA Senior Advisor for Regulation, will succeed Marzol as Principal Deputy Director.
Marzol came out of retirement to work for FHFA, leading development of a risk-based capital rule for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and playing a central role in the agency’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. He previously served as Executive Vice President of Essent U.S. Holdings; as an Executive Vice President with Fannie Mae; and Executive Vice President and CFO with Chase Manhattan Mortgage.
Bosland joined FHFA in 2019. Prior to joining FHFA, he was Deputy Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. He previously was an attorney in private practice and has served as an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and as counsel and chief of staff to a former Director of the Federal Housing Finance Board.
CFPB Adds 5 to Executive Team
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced additions to its executive team:
Matthew R. Bettenhausen serves as Senior Advisor and Counselor to the Director. He has more than17 years of federal service, principally as an Assistant United States Attorney with the Department of Justice in the Northern District of Illinois (Chicago). There he served as Associate Chief of the Criminal Division and Acting Chief of Appeals, among other supervisory positions, and engaged in many complex financial crime investigations and prosecutions.
Chris Chilbert is Chief Information Officer in the Bureau’s Operations Division. He has more than 20 years of federal service. Before joining the Bureau, he served as Assistant Inspector General for Information Technology at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General where he led their adoption of modern management practices and technologies. He is a veteran of the U.S. Navy submarine force.
Janis K. Pappalardo is Associate Director for Research, Markets and Regulations. Prior to joining the Bureau, she served as Assistant Director for Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission. In that capacity, she led the only division in the FTC’s Bureau of Economics devoted to the consumer protection mission. Sjeserved at the FTC for more than three decades and started as an economist conducting and initiating independent analyses on consumer protection matters.
Donna Roy is the Bureau’s Chief Operating Officer. Her management experience of more than 35 years spans working with Fortune 200 Financial Services companies through small, start-up experience as an entrepreneur. She served previously as the Bureau’s Chief Information Officer. Before joining the Bureau, she served for 13 years in several positions of increasing responsibility at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. She has more than 20 years of federal government experience and is a United States Marine Corps veteran.
Deborah Royster is the Assistant Director, Office for Older Americans. Before joining the Bureau, she served as CEO of Seabury Resources for Aging, a nonprofit organization that provides affordable housing, transportation, care management and other support services to older adults and family caregivers in the Washington, D.C. region.
Marcus & Millichap’s Institutional Property Advisors Division Expands in Toronto
Institutional Property Advisors, Toronto, Ont., a division of Marcus & Millichap, announced Scott Chandler, John Stewart and Bill Pitt, a top Canadian commercial real estate investment brokerage team, joined IPA in Toronto.
Previously leaders of Colliers International Canada Capital Markets division, Chandler, Stewart and Pitt will be senior managing directors with IPA. The team brings decades of office, industrial and retail investment sales experience and a far-reaching network of relationships with institutional and private investors.
Over the course of his 30-year career, Chandler has handled more than $15 billion of commercial real estate transactions. His experience includes tenure as president and CEO of the Canadian operations of Cushman & Wakefield Ltd. and director of Scotia Capital’s investment bank.
Stewart has real estate investment banking experience at BMO Capital Markets and has led disposition assignments in every major market across the country. He brings 14 years and more than $7 billion of investment brokerage transaction experience to IPA.
Pitt has more than 30 years of commercial brokerage experience and has brokered $10 billion in transactions across Canada.
Peter Tousignant Joins Eastern Mortgage Capital as AVP
Eastern Mortgage Capital, Burlington, Mass., added Peter Tousignant as an Assistant Vice President, where he will originate FHA loans nationally.
Tousignant joins EMC from a previous role as an originator with a Boston-based commercial mortgage banking firm. He brings a diverse and extensive background in multifamily financing, including roles with a large bank and development firms, plus numerous assignments as an independent consultant.
