ONLINE LENDING POLICY INSTITUTE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chief Credit Officer at Cross River Bank
- General Manager of Strategic Partnerships
Adam is the Chief Credit Officer at Cross River Bank, where he is responsible for the Bank's Marketplace Lending program. In addition, he is responsible for the management of the Bank's credit administration, as well as the loan servicing department. Adam is a member of the Bank's executive team and oversees all aspects of underwriting, loan review analysis, risk management and compliance, to ensure the quality of the Bank's lending portfolio and products. Adam joined Cross River at its inception in 2008, having held positions at Fitch Ratings as an Associate Director, and as Director of Underwriting at First Meridian Mortgage. Adam holds an MBA from Touro College, and a Bachelor of Science from Yeshiva University, both in New York City.
Job Titles:
- Vice President / Lending Club
- Vice President for Public Policy and Regulatory Strategy at LendingClub
Armen Meyer is Vice President for Public Policy and Regulatory Strategy at LendingClub, the U.S.'s largest marketplace lender. Based in San Francisco, he works with the company's business units and external stakeholders on regulatory, policy and strategy matters related to the facilitation of over $1 billion in personal loans per month.
Before joining LendingClub, he was a Managing Director in PwC's Financial Services Advisory group. For over five years there, he advised financial services clients on regulatory and technology challenges.
Previously, Armen served as Chief of Staff of New York State's Banking Department (now called the Department of Financial Services). Earlier, he was as a policy and political advisor to state governors, legislators and candidates for elected office, and clerked for a federal judge.
Armen received his J.D. from Harvard Law School and his M.P.A. from the Kennedy School of Government. He graduated valedictorian from Fordham College at Lincoln Center in mathematics.
In his spare time, he advises early stage companies, has served on Fordham College at Lincoln Center's Advisory Board, and enjoys foreign travel.
Job Titles:
- Commander in Chief
- Founder of Credorax Inc
Benjamin (Benny) Nachman is a seasoned fintech entrepreneur, with legal and technology background. Mr. Nachman was an associate at Safra, Schwartz & Co., a Tel-Aviv Firm representing start-up companies and venture capital funds, in complex investment deals. Mr. Nachman was also a partner at Reifenberg, Eckstein, Nachman Law Firm, focusing on high-tech and fintech transactions.
He later served as business development at Bizchord Ltd., for one year, before it was acquired by a NASDAQ company.
Mr. Nachman is the founder of Credorax Inc., a global processing and acquiring bank, where he led the company to obtain over 25 banking licenses worldwide. Credorax processes for thousands of merchants worldwide, multi Billion dollars volume. Mr. Nachman served as the Chief Executive Officer of Credorax between 2007 and 2016 and still serves on the boards of a few banks of the Credorax group.
In 2017, Mr. Nachman founded Jassby, Inc. a fintech company aimed at being a financial hub for families with kids and teens and to enable connecting grandparents, parents and children so that the parents can allot funds for a child to spend with various retailers, sellers and charitable organizations, all in a marketplace controlled and operated by Jassby.
Brian S. Korn is a partner and co-chair of the financial services group. He is also a member of the firm's capital markets practice group and chair of the digital finance and marketplace lending practice. His practice focuses on corporate finance transactions, including initial public offerings (IPOs), early-stage and start-up venture financings, and mature corporate and high-yield debt finance. He also advises clients on SEC compliance, broker-dealer compliance, corporate swap transactions, blockchain technology and initial coin offerings. Under his leadership, the firm was nominated as "Professional Services Firm of the Year" at the 2018 LendIt Industry Awards and "Law Firm of the Year" at the 2017 LendIt Industry Awards. Brian chairs the prestigious Practising Law Institute's Marketplace Lending and Crowdfunding conference, the leading legal conference of its kind serving the digital finance industry.
Prior to joining Manatt, Brian co-led the crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending practice at a major international law firm. Brian has also previously served as head of Equity Capital Markets and Syndicate Compliance at Barclays Capital and as senior vice president and assistant general counsel at Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. He has extensive experience representing issuers and underwriters in investment banking and capital markets transactions, including transactions involving equity, debt, hybrid/convertible and preferred securities, derivatives and foreign exchange. He has executed several IPOs and other equity value monetization transactions, such as spin-offs, split-offs and carveout transactions. He also has extensive experience in sponsor-leveraged buyouts and bank/bond acquisition financing.
Brian has made multiple appearances on Fox Business Television, Bloomberg, CCTV America and National Public Radio commenting on the JOBS Act, including its impact on crowdfunding, peer-to-peer lending, IPOs and market trading dynamics. Brian was recently selected to serve on the advisory board of the Lexis Practice Advisor (LPA), an online product providing legal and market insights and practical guidance for attorneys. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder
- President
- President & Co - Founder of FindCRA
Brian Waters is the President & Co-Founder of findCRA, a RegTech company providing online services and consulting to assist banks in streamlining compliance requirements under the federal Community Reinvestment Act. He brings twenty years of experience in compliance management to his role at findCRA where he leads operations, sales and marketing. During his time in banking, Brian oversaw regulatory compliance in the areas of fair lending, HMDA, CRA, lending, deposits and BSA/AML for a multi-billion dollar bank operating nationally. He is a Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager (CRCM), Certified Controls Specialist (CCS), ABA National Compliance School graduate, and contributing author to the national ABA Bank Compliance magazine. He resides in Louisville, KY.
Colin Darke - Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Legal Officer
Job Titles:
- Chief Compliance Officer
- General Counsel
- Secretary
- General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Rocket Loans
- Member of the Board of Governors
Colin Darke is the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Rocket Loans, a national marketplace lending company specializing in online personal loans. Prior to joining Rocket Loans, he was Vice President and Associate General Counsel at Flagstar Bank, where he provided legal support to the company's community banking activities. Colin was also in private practice for several years, where he focused on creditors' rights and banking law.
Along with his work for Rocket Loans, Colin serves as a member of the Board of Governors for the online Lending Policy Institute, a nonprofit public policy organization promoting responsible innovation in online lending, an advisor for Kuber Inc. and a member of the Board of Detroit Artist Market.
Colin received a Master's Degree in Banking and Financial Law from Boston University School of Law, where he was awarded the A. John Serino Outstanding Graduate Banking Student Prize, a scholarship "awarded to the student who displays outstanding overall performance, in terms of academic achievement, and dedication to the highest standards of scholarship and service." Additionally, Colin earned his Juris Doctor from Michigan State University College of Law, graduating cum laude.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Professor
Cornelius Hurley has over 35 years of diversified legal, entrepreneurial, and academic experience in the financial sector. His teaching and research interests focus upon the interactions between finance and the real economy. He serves an independent director of Computershare Trust Company, N.A., an element of one of the global leaders in the transfer agent business, and of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, one of the three so-called "GSEs."
Hurley established the Boston office of The Secura Group, Washington, DC a national financial services consulting firm of which he was a partner. Formerly, he was general counsel of Shawmut Corporation, a regional bank holding company. As assistant general counsel of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, he was responsible for the Fed's role in regulating international banking activities. Prof. Hurley also serves as reporter to the American Bar Association's Task Force on Financial Markets Regulatory Reform.
Hurley was appointed by Boston University's provost to serve as the first director of the University's Center for Finance, Law & Policy. The Center is an interdisciplinary initiative drawing upon the deep and varied academic talent of the University to focus upon finance and financial policy issues. He was the director for the Morin Center for Banking and Financial Law and the Graduate Program in Banking and Financial Law from 2005 to 2011.
He is the author of numerous articles and commentaries that have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Financial Times, American Banker, The Boston Globe and other publications. During the current economic crisis, he has provided ongoing analysis on national and local television and radio outlets.
Job Titles:
- Head of Cadwalader 's State Attorneys General Practice
Douglas Gansler is head of Cadwalader's State Attorneys General Practice. A former Attorney General of Maryland and president of the National Association of Attorneys General, Doug draws on more than 30 years of public advocacy and leadership in advising businesses and individuals facing federal and state investigations and enforcement actions, as well as civil and criminal matters involving state Attorneys General, the Department of Justice and other government agencies.
Doug has been recognized by Legal 500 in the areas of Corporate Investigations and White Collar Criminal Defense, and Cyber Law (Data Protection and Privacy). In addition to serving as Attorney General of Maryland, he was Montgomery County's State's Attorney (1998-2006) and an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia (1992-98).
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Finance in Shanghai
- Professor
Ilaf Elard is an assistant professor of finance in Shanghai where he teaches international finance, macroeconomics as well as money, banking and blockchain.
Prior to Shanghai, he was a visiting assistant professor of economics at Brown University in Rhode Island, USA, and a visiting researcher at the Bank of England in London. Elard's current research focuses on international macro-finance, financial instability, and the economic impact of new financial technologies (Fintech).
He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Oxford.
Edward Blatnik serves as Deputy Counsel in the Office of Innovation within the Office of the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. From 2012 to 2018 he served as Senior Counsel in the Office of Law & Policy within the Legal Division of the CFPB. After graduating from Columbia Law School in 1999, Ed clerked for the Honorable Leonard B. Sand on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and then for the Honorable Sonia Sotomayor on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He then went to work for Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, where, among other things, he was heavily involved in all phases of the World Trade Center insurance litigation. In 2006, Ed joined Morrison & Foerster, where he concentrated on representing large financial service providers in complex commercial litigation - including the "interchange" class action litigation. Prior to law school, he earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Virginia and taught philosophy at several colleges and universities.
Job Titles:
- Staff Director / California State Senate Banking and Financial Institutions Committee
- Staff Director to the California State Senate Banking
Eileen Newhall serves as Staff Director to the California State Senate Banking and Financial Institutions Committee. In that role, she analyzes and drafts financial services legislation, staffs legislation for the Chair of her committee, plans informational hearings, and responds to questions from legislators, legislative staff, members of the public, and the press about matters before the Committee. Working closely with the current and past-chairs of her Committee, Eileen has taken a leading role in advising the Legislature on secured and unsecured lending and emerging financial products and services. She has staffed or significantly influenced close to four dozen chaptered bills on those subjects. Before joining the Senate Banking Committee in March 2005, Eileen served as a principal consultant with the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee. She has also worked as a revenue analyst at the California Department of Finance and a research associate at the Public Policy Institute of California. Eileen has a Bachelor's degree from Brown University, and a Master's degree from the University of Hawaii.
Job Titles:
- Finance Professor / Duke University
Professor Puri teaches an elective she created on "Raising Capital and Financial Technologies" for the MBA students at Fuqua. She has also taught a Ph.D class on Empirical Corporate Finance and has taught Advanced Corporate Finance, and Venture Capital Financing at Fuqua and Stanford Business School. She has mentored a number of Ph.D students who have been placed at the leading schools and institutions including Board of Governors, Columbia, Cornell, McKinsey, MIT, Purdue, and Yale University.
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Senior Advisor
- CEO / Barefoot Innovation Group, LLC
Jo Ann Barefoot is CEO of Barefoot Innovation Group, Cofounder of Hummingbird Regtech, Senior Advisor to the Omidyar Network, and host of the podcast show Barefoot Innovation. A noted advocate of "regulation innovation," Jo Ann is Senior Fellow Emerita at the Harvard Kennedy School Center for Business & Government and is writing a book on financial innovation and regulation. She has been Deputy Comptroller of the Currency, partner at KPMG, Co-Chairman of Treliant Risk Advisors, and staff member at the U.S. Senate Banking Committee. She's an angel investor, serves on the board of Oportun, and advises financial companies and governments worldwide. She serves on the fintech advisory committee for FINRA, is an Executive Board Member of the International RegTech Association (IRTA), and a member of the Milken Institute U.S. FinTech Advisory Committee. Jo Ann chairs the boards of the Center for Financial Services Innovation and FinRegLab and previously served on the CFPB's Consumer Advisory Board. Jo Ann has published nearly 200 articles and is a popular keynote speaker, addressing thousands of people annually throughout the world.
Job Titles:
- Senior Director, Scores and Analytics / FICO
Ms. Gaskin oversees the FICO Scores regulatory practice and is responsible for the strategic direction of FICO's analytic solutions and partnerships serving the mortgage industry. In her role, Ms. Gaskin works globally in partnership with financial institutions and regulatory agencies to support making better decision to drive growth, profitability and customer satisfaction.
She is driven by the positive impact that FICO makes on the lives of consumers by working collaboratively with the financial services industry.
With more than 25 years in financial services, she has led analytic and product development efforts to address some of the most critical topics impacting financial services which has led to several patents being awarded for new analytic methodologies.
Prior to joining FICO, Ms. Gaskin served as President and CEO of Auto Club Trust FSB, and Executive Vice President with Michigan National Bank.
John provides a wide range of regulatory and compliance solutions for financial services, fintech and cryptocurrency firms. He was most recently General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Circle Internet Financial, Inc., a global crypto finance company that is seeking to help change the global economy.
Mr. Beccia previously served as Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for Boston Private Financial Holdings, Inc., a publicly traded bank holding company. He was also Assistant General Counsel for Investors Bank & Trust Company and Chief Regulatory Counsel and Research Director for The Financial Services Roundtable where he was responsible for all regulatory affairs and assisted with legislative efforts for the trade association.
Mr. Beccia has served as Chairman of the In-House Counsel Subcommittee of the American Bar Association's (ABA) Banking Law Committee and is currently an Adjunct Professor of Boston University School of Law. Mr. Beccia has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Providence College, a J.D. from Roger Williams University School of Law, and a LLM in Banking and Financial Law from Boston University School of Law.
John Kromer, one of the nation's leading consumer financial services lawyers, provides bank, nonbank, fintech and private equity clients with proactive and practical counsel to enable them to meet business objectives and manage risk in a rapidly changing business, legal, and regulatory environment.
Mr. Kromer, a Partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Buckley LLP, helps clients navigate the complex maze of federal and state laws and regulations. He regularly counsels clients on compliance with regulations issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), as well as examination and enforcement actions by the Bureau, federal banking agencies, state regulators, and other enforcement agencies. He advises on the laws governing licensing and chartering, usury, advertising, disclosures, privacy, lending and servicing practices, and laws prohibiting unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices (UDAAP).
Mr. Kromer advises financial services firms on new product and business line development, including structuring and negotiating commercial relationships, joint ventures, and outsourcing arrangements. He also assists financial and strategic purchasers of financial services firms and assets on regulatory matters, including due diligence of companies, assets and portfolios, and transactional structuring in light of federal and state licensing and regulatory requirements.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- President
- President and Chief Executive Officer of Needham Bank
Joseph P. Campanelli is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Needham Bank. He began his banking career at Hartford National Bank and elevated his role to positions of increased responsibility through its successor banks until leaving Fleet Bank to join Sovereign Bank in 1997, progressing to become CEO and Director. Mr. Campanelli played an active role in the branch acquisition and integration that took place when Sovereign Bank acquired the branches that Fleet Financial Group divested after its merger with Bank Boston Corp., which at the time was the largest branch and business divestiture in U.S. banking history. He also served as Chairman, CEO, and Director of Flagstar Bank from 2009-2012. Prior to his employment by Sovereign, Mr. Campanelli spent nearly 20 years serving in a variety of senior and executive positions, overseeing commercial and community activities and problem asset resolution, with both Fleet Financial Group and Shawmut Bank. In his over 30 years of experience, Mr. Campanelli has a history of successfully managing through a variety of economic conditions, with a track record of leading transformational change.
A Wellesley resident, he serves as Chairman and Trustee of Tufts Medical Center and as Trustee of the Boys and Girls Club of Boston. He is the former Chairman and a current Trustee of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, Advisory Board Member of First Help Financial, former Trustee of Babson College and of Suffield Academy, and former Executive Committee Member of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. Campanelli graduated from Babson College earning a BSBA with High Distinctions and from Suffolk University where he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Commerce.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Office and Vice Chairman / Lead Bank
- Chief Executive Office and Vice Chairman of Lead Bank
Josh Rowland is the Chief Executive Office and Vice Chairman of Lead Bank, a Missouri-chartered community bank. Lead Bank was named the Best Small Business of the Year for 2018 by the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. Josh was named a "Top 10 Most Innovative CEOs for 2018" by INV Fintech as well as ICBA 2018 Community Banker of the Year for the Central region. He is a featured speaker at national conferences; most recently Josh served as co-master of ceremonies and panelist at the inaugural 2019 Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Conference in Kansas City.
Josh received his Bachelor of Arts degree, with distinction, from Stanford University and a PhD. in English Literature from Yale University. Subsequently, Josh graduated Magna Cum Laude from Boston College Law School, and prior to joining Lead Bank in 2008, Josh practiced law as a commercial litigator, focusing on securities defense work at two American Law 100 firms. Josh serves as a member of the boards of the Urban League of Kansas City, MOCSA, the Kansas City Symphony, and the Kansas City Art Institute.
Job Titles:
- Associate General Counsel, Regulatory Affairs
Ken leads the regulatory and legislative affairs functions at Upstart Network, Inc. He brings to the role significant experience in consumer financial services and fair lending compliance.
Prior to joining Upstart in 2019, Ken practiced law in the fair lending compliance group of a Washington, D.C. boutique law firm, where he advised financial institutions on best practices to ensure that similarly situated borrowers were treated similarly throughout the crediting process.
Before that, Ken worked as Vice President of Federal Affairs, at the Center for Responsible Lending. In that role, he provided policy expertise to congressional offices on issues concerning residential mortgage finance, credit and prepaid debit cards, indirect auto lending, and payday lending. Ken also testified before federal legislative and regulatory bodies on access to credit issues.
Ken's background includes experience as a commercial litigator for two international law firms and work as a prosecutor. He is a former law clerk for U.S. District Judge Jerry L. Buchmeyer, in Dallas, Texas.
Ken received his B.A., in government, from the University of Texas at Austin, M.P.P. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, at Princeton University, and J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.
Job Titles:
- President / Structured Finance Association
- President of the Structured Finance Association
Serving as President of the Structured Finance Association, Kristi Leo has more than 20 years of financial services experience, specializing in asset finance, securitization and capital markets. In this capacity, she oversees the development and implementation of SFA's strategic plan and manages day to day execution across the organization's programs and initiatives including policy and advocacy, communication, education and research. Kristi's involvement with the Structured Finance Association included working as a part-time advisor, via Boulder Advisors, since shortly after SFA's founding in 2013 until accepting the role as President in June 2019.
Prior to joining the Structured Finance Association, Kristi was Founder and President of Boulder Advisors, a full-service advisory firm delivering comprehensive strategic and financing solutions to the structured finance industry and broader capital markets. As a trusted advisor to clients ranging from specialty finance companies and banks to institutional investors, she advised on over $2.2 billion in debt and equity capital commitments and investment opportunities for established originators, first-time issuers, early stage companies, private equity firms and hedge firms. She also served as an advisor to the board of directors of multiple specialty finance and financial technology companies.
Spending a significant portion of her career at Deutsche Bank in the Securitized Product Group prior to founding Boulder Advisors, Kristi served as a managing director in various capacities including most recently Co-Head of the U.S. Structured Finance Origination and Banking Group and Head of the Unsecured Consumer Asset Group. In these roles, Kristi led a team of banking professionals responsible for providing issuers and investors with financing, structuring, valuation and advisory services across an array of securitization products.
Kristi earned her Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting with honors distinction from Texas A&M University. Gig ‘em Aggies.
Job Titles:
- Member of the State Bars of New Mexico
- Senior Director, Government Relations & Regulatory Counsel / Affirm, Inc.
Ms. Sanchez-Rivét is the Senior Director for Government Relations & Regulatory Counsel at Affirm, Inc. where she manages government relationships, political affairs, and public policy advocacy with federal and state governmental agencies and other stakeholders. She has fifteen years of experience in the practice of law and over 20 years of experience in government and legislative issues. Ms. Sanchez-Rivét supports Affirm's interactions with state and federal regulatory agencies and provides day-to-day legal advice on a variety of government relations, policy and regulatory matters to the Company.
Prior to Affirm, Ms. Sanchez- Rivét was a Partner at Cuddy & McCarthy, LLP, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she focused generally on business, government affairs and utility regulatory matters in New Mexico and Arizona. Prior to that, she was the Founder and CEO of the New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce. She worked for five years as a staff attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) where she worked primarily on regulatory issues, environmental siting and renewable energy transmission in New Mexico and Arizona.
Ms. Sanchez-Rivét is a regular panelist on the TV show New Mexico In Focus on New Mexico PBS (KNME). Ms. Sanchez-Rivét holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from The University of Arizona (1999) and a Master of Public Administration degree, with a focus in public and nonprofit finance and local government, from The University of Arizona (2001). She earned her Juris Doctorate from the UCLA School of Law (2004).
Ms. Sanchez-Rivét is a member of the State Bars of New Mexico and Arizona. She is also on the Board of the New Mexico Hispanic Bar Association, and a member of the America Bar Association's Section on Environmental, Energy and Resources Law, as well as the New Mexico State Bar's Natural Resources. She is currently Chair of the New Mexico State Bar's Natural Resources, Energy and Environmental Law Section.
Job Titles:
- Associate Director / National Consumer Law Center
- Associate Director of the National Consumer Law Center
Lauren Saunders is Associate Director of the National Consumer Law Center, a nonprofit organization that works for economic justice for low-income and other disadvantaged people in the U.S. through policy analysis and advocacy, publications, litigation, and training. Lauren manages NCLC's Washington, DC office and directs its federal legislative and regulatory work. Lauren is a recognized expert in consumer protection areas including small dollar loans, prepaid cards and payment systems. She is an author of NCLC's treatise Consumer Banking and Payments Law, among other publications. Lauren previously directed the Federal Rights Project of the National Senior Citizens Law Center; was Deputy Director of Litigation at Bet Tzedek Legal Services; and was an associate at Hall & Phillips. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, was an Executive Editor of the Harvard Law Review, and holds a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and a B.A., Phi Beta Kappa, from Stanford University.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Truth
- Deputy to the Chairman / Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Leonard Chanin is Deputy to the Chairman of the FDIC. In that role, he advises the Chairman on consumer protection issues, as well as providing advice on FDiTech's efforts to promote innovative and transformative technologies in the financial services sector.
Mr. Chanin joined the FDIC from Fifth Third Bank, where he served as Deputy General Counsel and Senior Vice President since 2017. There he advised the Bank on federal consumer protection laws. Prior to working at Fifth Third Bank, Mr. Chanin advised financial institutions and other businesses on these laws as counsel/partner at the law firm of Morrison & Foerster.
Mr. Chanin's federal service includes his role as Assistant Director of the Office of Regulation at the CFPB, where he was responsible for implementing federal consumer financial services laws. He spent two decades in the Division of Consumer and Community Affairs at the Federal Reserve Board, most recently as the Division's Deputy Director. During his tenure at the Fed, he provided legal opinions and policy recommendations, drafted and reviewed rules implementing federal consumer financial services laws, and worked with other federal banking agencies.
Mr. Chanin holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science, cum laude, from American University, and a Juris Doctor from Washington University School of Law. He is admitted as an attorney in the bars of Georgia and the District of Columbia.
Mr. Chanin currently serves as Chairman of the Truth in Lending Subcommittee of the American Bar Association's Business Law Section, Consumer Financial Services Committee, and as Secretary of the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers.
Job Titles:
- Commissioner
- Commissioner of the California Department of Business Oversight
Manuel P. Alvarez was appointed Commissioner of the California Department of Business Oversight by Governor Gavin Newsom on March 28, 2019. He was sworn in on May 13, 2019. Mr. Alvarez had been general counsel, chief compliance officer and corporate secretary at Affirm Inc. since 2014. Earlier, he was an enforcement attorney at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from 2011 to 2014, a deputy attorney general at the California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General from 2010 to 2011 and an associate at Dentons LLP from 2007 to 2010. Mr. Alvarez earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Partner / Chapman and Cutler LLP
Marc Franson is a partner in the Banking and Financial Services Department and Practice Group Leader of the Bank Corporate Group. He represents financial institutions, finance companies, retailers, other creditors and brokers on an array of financial services matters including regulatory applications, consumer credit transactions, deposit products, bank mergers and acquisitions, licensing, regulatory issues and compliance, sale of non-deposit products, technology contracting, payment processing, portfolio acquisitions/divestitures, fair lending and privacy matters, Internet banking, stored value products and marketplace (P2P) lending. He also represents clients in conjunction with legislative and trade association activities.
Marc counsels interstate and intrastate lenders on all aspects of a variety of secured and unsecured consumer lending programs including credit card, mortgage, home equity, automobile and other installment credit. He has served as counsel in several major bank acquisitions and portfolio sale transactions, assisted clients with federal and state regulatory matters, licensing applications and proceedings, in the development of compliance programs, compliance training and preparation for and assistance with regulatory compliance examinations. This includes advice on FCRA, community reinvestment, and fair lending programs.
Marc was engaged in a unique credit card transaction involving the joint venture of two major banks and a credit card industry consultant involving the establishment and chartering of a credit card bank, the sale of $2,000,000,000 of credit card receivables, along with a contemporaneous securitization and other financing transactions. He also advises clients' participation in various roles in receivable securitization programs. His representation of clients includes the areas of cash management services, electronic funds transfers, merchant credit card and payment processing, outsourcing, data processing and servicing arrangements.
Prior to joining Chapman and Cutler LLP, Marc was Vice President and General Counsel-Credit Card Services of Household International.
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- Deputy General Counsel
- Senior Vice President
- Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at the Conference of State Bank Supervisors
Margaret Liu is Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS). Margaret serves as a part of the CSBS legal and policy team, providing legal support for CSBS and its affiliated organizations as well as overseeing CSBS efforts representing the policy perspectives of state banking commissioners before Congress. She also serves as the lead CSBS staff member on fintech issues.
Margaret has worked as a consultant on financial services policy issues and in a variety of roles at Fannie Mae, including Vice President of Single Family Mortgage Business, Vice President for Industry Relations, and Vice President for Policy Communications at Fannie Mae.
Margaret is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Chicago Law School.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director / Professional Bank Services
- Managing Director With ProBank Austin
Mitchell is the Managing Director with ProBank Austin, serving on the Board of Directors, and was appointed to the inaugural Board of Governors for the Online Lending Policy Institute (OLPI). Mitchell has over 18 years of experience in the consumer compliance field. After retiring from a successful career as a US Army officer, he served as a commissioned federal compliance examiner with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). As an examiner, Marty was responsible for determining financial institution compliance with consumer protection laws and regulations, as well as conducting CRA and fair lending examinations for large and small banks. He also served on a special project at the FDIC's Washington DC Headquarters. During his tenure with Capital One, he led the design and implementation of their corporate level mortgage compliance program through a period of business closures, multiple acquisitions, and intense regulatory scrutiny.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director / Marketplace Lending Association
- Executive Director of the Marketplace Lending Association
Nathaniel Hoopes is the Executive Director of the Marketplace Lending Association. He has grown the MLA membership from three initial founding members to 30 leading companies in the digital lending and investing ecosystem. He came to the MLA after serving as Vice President and then Executive Director at the Financial Services Forum in Washington D.C., where he worked on public policy issues affecting the nation's largest financial firms. Hoopes has spent a dozen years working at the intersection of financial services and public policy, including five years on Capitol Hill, where he served as Legislative Director for Senator Scott P. Brown (R-MA), helping lead the bipartisan negotiations of major amendments to the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Hoopes also worked to develop the legislation to expand opportunities for small businesses and innovative startups through equity crowdfunding as part of the Jumpstart-our-Business-Start-Ups (JOBS) Act. Prior to joining Senator Brown, he worked as a policy advisor to Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-D CT). Hoopes' prior experience includes two years as a private equity investment analyst at Trilantic Capital Partners, where he focused on growth investments and middle market leveraged buyouts in the industrials, insurance, and consumer products sectors. Hoopes holds a BA from Princeton University (2003) and a Masters in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University (2006).