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Mike Calhoun, President, Center for Responsible Lending
Michael Calhoun is President of the Center for Responsible Lending, which is the policy affiliate of Self-Help, the nation’s largest community development lender that has provided over $6.4 billion in financing for first time homeowner loans and small business loans. The Center for Responsible Lending is a nonpartisan, nonprofit research and policy institute focusing on consumer lending issues. Mr. Calhoun has been an active participant in consumer financial legislation and regulation, and he has more than thirty years experience in consumer lending. He has authored numerous papers on the subject and has testified often before Congress and many state legislatures. Prior to joining CRL, he led several lending divisions at Self-Help, including the secondary mortgage market program. He is a former member and chair of the Federal Reserve Consumer Advisory Committee. Mr. Calhoun received his B.A. degree in economics from Duke University, and his J.D. degree from the University of North Carolina.
Tom Feltner, Research Director, Center for Responsible Lending
Tom Feltner is Center for Responsible Lending’s director of research, based in the Durham, North Carolina office. Feltner leads the organization’s applied research program and connects research findings with CRL’s state and federal policy agenda. He is currently conducting research on payday lending, student lending, and debt buyer practices.
Before joining CRL in January 2017, Feltner was director of financial services at Consumer Federation of America, a Washington, DC based research and policy organization. At CFA, Feltner conducted research on payday lending, military financial protections and auto insurance pricing practices in low-wealth communities and communities of color. Previously, Feltner was Vice President of Woodstock Institute, a Chicago-based financial services reform organization where he led consumer credit research, advocacy and program evaluation. Feltner currently serves as vice chair of the board of directors for the Durham-based financial justice organization Reinvestment Partners. He is a previous member of the consumer advisory councils for JP Morgan Chase, Capital One and American Express and a former member of the Illinois Residential Mortgage Advisory Board.
Lisa Rice, President and CEO, National Fair Housing Alliance
In her capacity as Executive Vice President with the National Fair Housing Alliance, Ms. Rice oversees the communications, resource development, public policy and enforcement initiatives of the agency. She is responsible for helping to achieve the organization’s goal of addressing the crisis of segregation in America and the ultimate goal of realizing a truly open society where all people live in places that foster opportunities and access to quality schools, healthcare, jobs, credit, foods, healthy environments and safe communities.
Ms. Rice has helped to write legislation to curtail predatory lending, halt discriminatory housing practices and expand fair access to credit. She has provided extensive training and consulting to broad audiences including consumers, lending institutions and governmental agencies. She has also lead teams that have brought and resolved precedent-setting fair housing and fair lending cases.
She is a member of the Mortgage Bankers Association Consumer Affairs Advisory Council, JPMorgan Chase Consumer Advisory Council, Freddie Mac Affordable Housing Advisory Council, Urban Institute Mortgage Servicing Collaborative, and the America's Homeowner Alliance Advisory Board.
The Hon. Pamela Hughes Patenaude, Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Hon. Patenaude was nominated by President Trump and confirmed by the United States Senate as the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on September 14, 2017.
Ms. Patenaude brings to HUD more than 30 years of experience in the areas of housing, economic development, real estate, and public policy. Prior to joining HUD, she served as the President of the J. Ronald Terwilliger Foundation for Housing America’s Families, a national nonprofit education and research organization dedicated to illuminating America’s affordable housing crisis. Before co-founding the Terwilliger Foundation, she was the Director of Housing Policy for the Bipartisan Policy Center where she led a 21-person commission to present a new direction for national housing policy. Ms. Patenaude served as Executive Vice President of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and Founding Executive Director of the ULI Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Patenaude served as Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development (CPD) at HUD, where she administered more than $8 billion in housing and community development funds. She also played a significant role in the Department’s efforts to rebuild the Gulf Coast region following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, providing direct oversight of $17 billion in disaster recovery funds. Prior to her work at CPD, Ms. Patenaude served HUD as the Assistant Deputy Secretary for Field Policy and Management.
A New Hampshire native, Ms. Patenaude worked as State Director and Deputy Chief of Staff for U.S. Senator Bob Smith, and the Director of the New Hampshire Small Business Development Center. She began her career in housing and community development at the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority.
Ms. Patenaude holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Saint Anselm College and a Master of Science degree in Community Economic Development from Southern New Hampshire University. She has been honored as Housing Wire magazine’s “2013 Woman of Influence” and received the Saint Anselm College Alumni Award of Merit in 2006.
Peter Smith, Senior Researcher, Center for Responsible Lending
Peter Smith is a senior researcher leading on overdraft practices, as well as works on mortgages, student loans and bank payday loan issues. Pete has been with CRL since 2005, authoring numerous reports and briefs, and creating body of often-cited research literature.
He was born and raised in Maryland, and attended the University of Maryland's Honors Program, where he graduated with a BS in Mathematics. Based CRL's Oakland (CA) office, Pete received his Masters of City Planning program at the University of California at Berkeley in May 2017.
Melissa Stegman, Senior Policy Counsel, Center for Responsible Lending
Melissa Stegman is a senior policy counsel on CRL’s federal policy team, based in the Washington, DC office. Prior to joining CRL in 2016, Melissa was an attorney with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of General Counsel. She worked in the Office of Fair Housing Enforcement on a variety of fair lending and civil rights matters. Melissa received BA degrees in Anthropology and International Studies from the University of North Carolina and her law degree from North Carolina Central University.
Dr. Julianne Malveaux
Economist, author and commentator, Dr. Julianne Malveaux has been described by Dr. Cornel West as “the most iconoclastic public intellectual in the country”. Her insights on key public policy issues consistently remind the nation of the disparate economic impacts of race, culture, and gender.
Whether as a faculty member at noted institutions such as the University of California at Berkeley, or as a commentator on major television and cable networks, she is proudly progressive and pushes the proverbial envelope to remove remaining barriers and forge inclusion in all of life’s dimensions. Dr. Malveaux received her doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Boston College. She is also known for being as provocative as she is knowledgeable. For example, her 2016 book, Are We Better Off: Race, Obama and Public Policy, is a probing analysis of the Obama years and American values.
A native San Franciscan, she is the President and owner of Economic Education, a nonprofit headquartered in Washington, D.C., and a board member of the Economic Policy Institute.
Hilary O. Shelton, Senior Vice President for Policy and Advocacy / Director to the NAACP’s Washington Bureau
The Washington Bureau is the Federal legislative and national public policy division of the over 500,000- member, 2,200-membership unit, national civil rights organization. In this capacity, Hilary is responsible for advocating the federal public policy issue agenda of the oldest, largest, and most widely recognized civil rights organization in the United States to the U.S. Government. Hilary's government affairs portfolio includes crucial issues such as affirmative action, equal employment protection, access to quality education, stopping gun violence, ending racial profiling, abolition of the death penalty, access to comprehensive healthcare, voting rights protection, federal sentencing reform and a host of civil and human rights enforcement, expansion and protection issues. Hilary serves on a number of national boards of directors, national and federal advisory organizations and federal policy advocacy coalitions. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, to a family of six brothers and sisters, Hilary holds degrees in political science, communications, and legal studies from Howard University in Washington, D.C., the University of Missouri in St. Louis, and Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, respectively. Hilary presently lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife Paula Young Shelton and their three sons, masters Caleb Wesley, Aaron Joshua, and Noah Otis Young Shelton.
Seema Agnani, Executive Director, National CAPACD
Seema Agnani is the Executive Director of the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (National CAPACD), a coalition of more than 100 community-based organizations in 21 states and the Pacific Islands. Collectively, the coalition improves the lives of over two-million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who live in poverty by providing voice, tool, and shared knowledge to drive change. Seema has nearly 20 years of experience working in the community development and immigrant rights sectors, focused primarily on the challenges of providing housing, economic opportunity, and support systems for new immigrants.
She is a founder and former Executive Director of Chhaya CDC, a member of National CAPACD that works with New Yorkers of South Asian origin to advocate for and build economically stable, sustainable, and thriving communities. Chhaya CDC reaches thousands of new immigrants each year through its organizing, education, and service work. She was formerly the Coordinating Consultant to the Fund for New Citizens at The New York Community Trust, where she managed a donor collaborative of more than 20 foundations supporting immigrant rights work in New York City.
Seema also served as the Director of Training and Technical Assistance at Citizens Committee for NYC, developing the core training curriculum and implementation of a capacity building program to support volunteer-run organizations addressing poverty and hunger. She began her work in New York City with Asian Americans for Equality where she stayed for eight years, initially as a project manager developing affordable housing, and later in other roles including fundraising, communications, and coordinating the Lower Manhattan Health Care Coalition. Her parents emigrated from India in the mid-sixties to Chicago where she was raised and earned a Masters in Urban Planning and Public Policy.
Rev. Willie Gable Jr., Progressive Baptist Church, New Orleans
Dr. Willie Gable, Jr., a native of New Orleans, received his Doctorate of Ministry from United Theological Seminary (Dayton, OH), Masters of Divinity from Union Baptist Theological Seminary (New Orleans, LA), Masters of Public Health from the University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA) and Bachelors of Science from Tennessee State University (Nashville, TN).
Committed to a life of ministry and community service, Dr. Gable is the pastor of Progressive Baptist Church, only it’s third pastor in 123 years. He is also the founder and Executive Director of the Dr. M. W. McCaleb Educational Fund, Inc., a non-profit organization that offers housing, rental assistance, and tutoring to low-income individuals and families.
Dr. Gable has formerly served on many community boards. He currently a member of American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, National Baptist Convention Housing and Economic Development Commission as Chairman, National Conference for Community and Justice, Legacy Foundation, Director Faith Based Initiatives HUD National Baptist Convention USA, Inc., and Gulf Coast Housing Partnership.
He is Third Vice President of the 1st District Missionary Baptist Association and an Instructor with Louisiana Baptist and National Baptist Conventions Congresses of Christian Education.
He is married to Julie Christina Gable and they have to sons Joshua and Jeremiah.
Rob Randhava, Senior Counsel, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and The Leadership Conference Education Fund
Since January 2001, he has represented The Leadership Conference on Capitol Hill and with federal agencies, and he has provided policy, strategic, and communications expertise for a coalition of national public interest organizations. He has experience with a wide range of legislative and regulatory issues with civil rights implications, including consumer finance, immigration, budget & tax policy, housing, national security, LGBT rights, judicial nominations, and voting.
Rob is a founding member of the Asset Building Policy Network, a coalition of civil rights and financial industry organizations that are working together on policies to promote mainstream, responsible financial services in underserved communities. He is also a member of the steering committee of Americans for Financial Reform, the national coalition that pressed Congress to enact the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
Prior to joining The Leadership Conference, he worked as Counsel for Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA). Before that, he was a Special Assistant for Rep. Rod Blagojevich (D-IL). A native of Evanston, Illinois, Rob graduated from Kent State University in 1995 with a B.A. in political science, where he earned summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa honors and participated in varsity track and field. He earned his J.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 1998, and is a member of the D.C. Bar.
Faith Schwartz, Principal, Housing Finance System Strategies
Faith created an advisory services firm in 2016 to support on-going efforts to modernize the housing finance marketplace, bringing mortgage into the 21st century. Her work ranges from advisory committees, board membership, and strategic advisory services. Her clients include publicly traded financial services firms, trade associations, fintech’s, and non-profits. Currently, Faith is also a Senior Advisor to Accenture Credit Services’ leadership team to shape and position their MCaaS offering in financial services. She draws from her many years of leadership in the industry, including as the leader of the HOPE NOW Alliance where she testified regularly on issues impacing the housing crisis to congress and the Federal Reserve Board.
Current board activity includes service as a Director, RiskSpan, Inc., a technology, data and analytics company. She is a member of the FormFree board, a fintech company that focuses on asset, income and employment verifications eliminating paper. Faith was the Founder and Chairman of Hope LoanPort, 2010, the only 501(c)3 industry technology non-profit and recently stepped down as the Chairman in 2017. Faith is a director for the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), and advisory committee member celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act. Faith is also a Trustee to Saint Anselm’s Abbey School, Washington DC.
Faith started her career at Dominion Bankshares Mortgage Company (DBMC) in Capital Markets, pricing, acquiring and securitizing mortgages. Faith held senior positions in all aspects of the mortgage industry. Faith was highlighted by the MBA Magazine as one of the 20 Distinguished Industry Women over the last century and in 2012 as Housing Wire’s Women of Influence. She also received a lifetime achievement award from the Five Star Institute. She holds a BSBA in accounting from Shippensburg State College and an MBA with a finance concentration from the University of Pittsburgh.
Samantha Vargas Poppe, Unidos US
Samantha Vargas Poppe is the associate director of the Policy Analysis Center at UnidosUS (formerly the National Council of La Raza). Headquartered in Washington, D.C., UnidosUS is the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States. Through its network of nearly 300 affiliated community-based organizations, UnidosUS reaches millions of Hispanics each year in 40 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia.
Samantha oversees the component’s work to strategically produce fact-based policy analyses and develop innovative solutions to help shape Congressional and state policy proposals in ways that can improve opportunities for Latinos in the U.S. She leads work across several core policy issues, including the economy, health, and education.
Her entire career has been devoted to improving programs and policies at the federal, state and local levels. Immediately prior to UnidosUS she served as a senior analyst at the U.S. Government Accountability Office and led analyses of federal programs on behalf of the U.S. Congress.
She earned a master’s degree from the George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University.
Kyle Williams, Director of Financial & Housing Policy, National Urban League Washington Bureau
Kyle leads the organization's federal policy efforts to help low income families and communities of color gain access to traditional financial services, products and jobs. His portfolio includes housing, small business, financial capability, retirement, diversity in the financial services industry and tax reform. Kyle works closely with the president & CEO of the National Urban League, members of Congress, financial regulators, advocacy organizations and bank executives to successfully fulfill the mission of the organization.
Prior to the National Urban League, Kyle served as a Legislative Assistant for Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge and as a Federal Policy Advocate in Governor Ted Strickland's Washington DC office. Before embarking on a career in financial policy, Kyle worked in the consumer finance industry as a Senior Loan Officer and as a Mortgage Broker.
Kyle is an attorney licensed to practice law in the State of Ohio. He attended The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, after graduating from Ohio University with honors.