Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

John Vong is the president and co-founder of ComplianceEase®, a leading risk management solutions provider. Mr. Vong founded ComplianceEase in 2001 after spending the previous two decades in various mortgage industry ventures. In 1986 he founded Integrated Capital Group, Inc. a mortgage bank headquartered in San Francisco. In 1997 he sold the mortgage bank to the Money Store and subsequently sold the combined entity to First Union Bank in 1998. Working under a highly regulated banking environment caused Mr. Vong to develop an intense interest in managing regulatory compliance risk. This lead to his founding of ComplianceEase, a company dedicated to developing intelligent solutions to manage regulatory risk on a real-time basis. He designed the original ComplianceEase tool from an Excel spreadsheet, which has evolved to today’s enterprise strength solutions detecting in loan-level federal HOEPA, TILA, RESPA, HMDA, and SAFE Act violations, as well as violations of state consumer credit laws and regulations. Mr. Vong is active in industry circles and has participated in speaking engagements with regional and national trade groups and industry organizations. He is also a frequent contributor to trade publications. In 2010 Mr. Vong was named the Technology All-Star for his contributions to the mortgage finance industry by the Mortgage Banking magazine. He has been awarded the Certified Mortgage Banker (CMB) designation, the industry highest, by the Mortgage Bankers Association. As an icon in the mortgage technology space, he is of course one of a few individuals holding both the CMB and Certified Mortgage Technologist (CMT) designations in the nation.

Chris Peirson received a J.D. Degree from Texas Tech University Law School in 1977. She is Board Certified by the State Bar of Texas as a specialist in the field of Residential Real Estate Law. Chris founded her firm, PeirsonPatterson, LLP, located in Dallas, Texas, in 1984. Her practice is restricted to residential and consumer lending. She is a recognized specialist in the area of residential real estate law and regulatory compliance. Chris is a frequent speaker on both the state and national level, having made presentations for the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, the American Institute of Banking, the State Bar of Texas and many other professional organizations. Her publishing history includes many publications for the State Bar of Texas, the University of Texas School of Law, the South Texas School of Law, and the Texas Land Title Institute.

Brent Stokes is senior vice president of Sperlonga Data & Analytics, an Arlington, Virginia-based firm that helps connect HOAs, servicers and banks to get claims for unpaid HOA fees resolved. Previous experience includes key production management and national accounts roles with Chase Home Loans and Stewart Title and First American Title. He also served on the boards of the Community Financial Resource Center and the Inland Empire Chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals.

Bliss Sawyer is a nationally recognized coach, trainer and speaker. She specializes in relationship-based marketing strategies for mortgage professionals. She can be reached at 806-577-3937.

Louise Thaxton is a producing branch manager for Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp., with satellite offices across Louisiana. She has been in the mortgage business for 13 years, almost 11 of those years with Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. She has ranked No. 1 within Fairway for number of units closed in both 2009 and 2010. She co-authored her first book with Stephen Covey and Patricia Fripp, “Success Simplified”. Louise can be reached at 866-960-9115.

Lauren Roberts, a 25-year real estate veteran, is the founder and managing member of Realis Real Estate Software (formerly REO Maestro). Realis Real Estate Software provides the most widely utilized software solution for agents and brokers who specialize in marketing and managing foreclosure and short sale properties. Roberts has served as a mentor and coach for real estate professionals nationwide in the benefits of streamlining workflow, and in the implementation of her first software product, REO Maestro.

Craig is a Senior Research Director in TowerGroup's Retail Banking & Cards practice specializing in research and advice on mortgage and consumer lending. He covers a wide range of business, process, strategic, and technical topics relating to loan origination, loan servicing, securitization, and risk management. Craig has 25 years of experience in a variety of finance, product development, and business development roles for mortgage technology vendors, lenders, and risk management firms.Prior to joining TowerGroup, Craig was a financial services consultant for clients that included Wells Fargo. His work included developing new home equity loan products for the Internet channel and creating technology specifications to automate correspondent mortgage lending. Before that, Craig was vice president of marketing for Tuttle Decision Systems, where he developed the positioning and branding for Tuttle's electronic loan pricing technology and secondary marketing risk management systems. He was also director of business development at database vendor Mortgage Information Corp. and vice president of marketing at Indy Mac. Craig spent nine years at PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., where he managed the budgeting, market research and product development functions. He began his career as an economic analyst at the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco. Craig has written numerous feature articles for Mortgage Banking (US) and Lending Strategy (UK) magazines and is quoted regularly in American Banker, National Mortgage News, Inside Mortgage Technology, and Mortgage Technology. He speaks regularly at mortgage industry conferences.In 2003, Craig received the prestigious Certified Mortgage Banker (CMB) designation from the Mortgage Bankers Association. Craig holds a Master of Arts in applied economics from the University of San Francisco and graduated with high honors from the State University of New York at Oneonta with a Bachelor of Science degree in business economics. Craig also attended Schiller University in Heidelberg, where he studied international trade.

Alan Jaffa is the chief executive officer for Safeguard Properties, a role he assumed in May of 2010. Previously he served as chief operating officer. Since joining Safeguard in 1995, Alan has learned the business from the ground up, working through virtually every department of the company. This hands-on experience has given him unique insights as a leader to innovate, improve and strengthen Safeguard's processes to assure that the company adheres to the highest standards of quality and customer service. Alan has led Safeguard's initiatives to develop information technology tools to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery to clients. He takes a team approach to process improvement, involving staff at all levels of the organization to address issues, brainstorm solutions, and identify new and better ways to serve clients. Under Alan's leadership, Safeguard has enjoyed extraordinary growth that has catapulted the company to its current position as the largest privately-held mortgage field services company in the nation. Safeguard has been recognized in Northeast Ohio by the Weatherhead 100 for 15 years. In 2008, Alan was recognized by Crain's Cleveland Business in its annual "40-Under-40" profile of young leaders.

Brian C. Coester is CEO of Coester Appraisal Group, an appraiser-owned appraisal management company that provides full service, end-to-end valuation services for both commercial and residential properties. He is directly responsible for developing and implementing the business strategies that have grown the company from a small, local appraisal company to a high volume appraisal provider in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Brian began his career as a field appraiser, completing roughly 40 appraisal reports per month. His in-depth understanding of the appraisal industry is due in part to the tutelage of his father, who was the sole proprietor and original operator of the company now known as Coester Appraisal Group. Brian has been a speaker, presenter and trainer in the appraisal industry, and has authored numerous articles for the mortgage and real estate press. He is also a former college football player at the University of Tennessee and University of Maryland, College Park where he majored in business administration and economics.