
Investment & Lending FORUM
SEPTEMBER 1-3
The Investment & Lending Forum brings together senior executives, policymakers, investors, economists, and technology leaders to examine the forces reshaping housing finance and mortgage lending. Through a series of forward-looking discussions, attendees will explore the economic trends influencing the market, strategies for expanding sustainable homeownership, the evolving economics of mortgage lending, capital markets and liquidity, enterprise risk management, and the transformative impact of artificial intelligence.


FORUM SPONSORS
PARTNER
AGENDA
Tuesday, September 1, 2026
More to be announced! Check back for details.
| 9:45 AM - 9:50 AM | Welcome Remarks
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| 9:50 AM - 10:50 AM | INVESTMENT & LENDING FORUM: Housing affordability remains one of the industry's defining challenges. This discussion explores down payment assistance, alternative credit models, first-time homebuyer programs, manufactured housing, and emerging pathways to sustainable homeownership. Panelists will examine how lenders, policymakers, and housing advocates can expand access while managing risk. Rukiya Kelly, Global Head of Corporate Impact and Engagement | FICO Michael Butchko, VP, Business Intelligence, Corporate Impact, and Strategy | NeighborWorks America Deanna Turner, Community Lending - Sr. Mortgage Banker | Renasant Bank Shawn Yerkes, Group President, Financial Services of Genstone Companies | Genstone Michael Blair, COO | Livegage Inc. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM | INVESTMENT & LENDING FORUM: Economic & Housing Market Update: The Forces Shaping Housing Finance From interest rates and inflation to housing supply and consumer demand, the economic landscape continues to shape every facet of the mortgage industry. Join leading economists and market analysts for a data-driven discussion on the key trends influencing housing finance today and what stakeholders should expect in the months ahead. Daren Blomquist, VP of Market Economics | Auction.com Joel Berner, Senior Economist | Realtor.com Molly Boesel, Senior Principal Economist | Cotality John Comeau, Vice President for Research and Policy Analysis | Council of Federal Home Loan Banks | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1:45 PM - 2:45 PM | INVESTMENT & LENDING FORUM: As market conditions evolve, lenders and servicers face changing sources of liquidity and capital. This panel explores warehouse lending, securitization trends, private-label MBS, MSR valuations, single-family rental, and investor appetite across the mortgage ecosystem. Executives will discuss how capital providers are evaluating risk and where opportunities are emerging. Bill Bymel, Founder & CEO | First Lien Capital & First Lien Resolutions Michael Merrit, SVP, Head of Mortgage Default and Customer Care |Consumer Specialty Operations | Citizens Bank Zach Lemaster, CEO | Rent to Retirement BRANDON OBRIANT, EVP | AssetVal | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM | INVESTMENT & LENDING FORUM: Leadership in a Transforming Mortgage Industry The mortgage industry continues to navigate rapid technological change, evolving consumer expectations, regulatory uncertainty, and shifting market dynamics. In this executive leadership panel, C-suite leaders from across the housing finance ecosystem will share how they are guiding their organizations through periods of disruption while positioning for long-term growth. Panelists will discuss leadership strategies for building resilient teams, fostering innovation, managing organizational change, attracting and retaining talent, and preparing for the next generation of mortgage banking. Cheryl Marchant, SVP, Default Operations | Freedom Mortgage Jeremy Ray Davis, President of Mortgage | Southern Bancorp Bank Eric Mitchell, Chief Revenue Officer | NEXA Lending Franco Terango, Chief Executive Officer | Certainty Home Lending | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4:00 PM - 4:05 PM | INVESTMENT & LENDING FORUM: Closing Remarks | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wednesday, September 2, 2026
| 9:30 AM - 9:35 AM | INVESTMENT & LENDING FORUM: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9:35 AM - 10:35 AM | INVESTMENT & LENDING FORUM: Economic uncertainty, natural disasters, fraud risks, and borrower stress continue to challenge the industry. Experts discuss enterprise risk management strategies spanning origination, servicing, portfolio monitoring, loss mitigation, and operational resilience. The session focuses on how organizations can identify emerging risks before they become major disruptions. Candace Russell, VP | CMS Joanne Gonzalez, SVP, Loan Servicing Administration | Servbank Eric Lapin, VP and Head of Strategy & Market Intelligence | Fico Donna Murphy, Senior Advisor | Asurity Advisors Timika Scott, SVP, Default Ops, Asset Disposition, Claims & Default Analysis | U.S. Bank | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10:45 AM - 11:45 AM | INVESTMENT & LENDING FORUM: The New Economics of Mortgage Lending Margins remain under pressure while borrower expectations continue to rise. Industry leaders examine how lenders are balancing growth, cost management, pricing strategy, and operational efficiency in an increasingly competitive market. Discussion includes profitability drivers, production strategies, and the role of technology in improving performance. Matthew Clarke, President and COO | Churchill Mortgage Corporation David Sober, VP - Automation Sales | Indecomm Keith Ustler, Partner | McCalla Raymer Leibert Pierce, LLC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM | INVESTMENT & LENDING FORUM: Mortgage AI FOMO What are others doing? With generative AI dominating every corporate agenda, mortgage leaders face intense pressure to adopt these tools, but distinguishing true operational ROI from marketing hype is a persistent challenge. "Mortgage AI FOMO" (Fear of Missing Out) tackles the anxiety of rapid tech adoption head-on. Phoenix Team executives will cut through the noise to provide a pragmatic roadmap for mortgage originators, subservicers, and asset managers. This session will look at where AI is delivering measurable lifts in efficiency—such as automated data extraction, MISMO alignment, and predictive risk analytics—and where hasty implementation risks costly compliance and security missteps. James Curl, Chief Technology Officer | Xome Tela Mathias, Chief Technology Officer, PhoenixTeam; CEO, Phoenix Burst | Pheonix John Hubbarth, VP, Servicing Governance & Oversight | Rocket Mortgage Bhupinder Singh, SVP, Head of Product & Operations | BSI Financial Services Arvind Sinha, Senior Vice President - Digital Mortgage Solutions | Consolidated Analytics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3:00 PM - 3:05 PM | INVESTMENT & LENDING FORUM: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thursday, September 3, 2026
| 9:45 AM - 9:50 AM | INVESTMENT & LENDING FORUM: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9:50 AM - 10:50 AM | INVESTMENT & LENDING FORUM: The nature of software development in mortgage technology has fundamentally shifted. Welcome to the era of "vibe coding"—where natural language intent, agentic AI assistants, and robust architectural guardrails combine to accelerate development timelines at unprecedented speeds. In this dynamic session, technology leaders from the Phoenix Team will demonstrate how they leverage conversational and agentic AI platforms to instantly transform spoken meeting insights and business requirements into production-ready code, documentation, and automated workflows. Discover how your business and technology teams can seamlessly collaborate to modernize legacy architectures and deploy solutions in a fraction of the traditional timeframe. Get ready to have hands-on-keyboards and Vibe Code in real time. Phoenix will explain how the “Messy Middle”—everything that must happen after the prototype and before production is a real problem that companies are struggling to figure out how to solve. NOTE: This will be an interactive session, please bring a device with access to at least chatGPT or Claude to participate in the activities.
PRESENTED BY:
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| 10:50 AM - 10:55 AM | INVESTMENT & LENDING FORUM: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||


