Women in Housing Ceremony Spotlights Excellence in Leadership

On Wednesday afternoon, the 20th annual Five Star Conference & Expo wound towards its conclusion with this year's installment of the popular Women in Housing Leadership Awards Luncheon. A staple of the conference for many years, the Women in Housing event recognizes the tremendous achievements of businesswomen whose contributions will continue to impact the housing and mortgage servicing industry for years to come.

This year's event was hosted by Auction.com, along with Co-Hosts ServiceLink and Xome, Corporate Sponsor VRM Mortgage Solutions, and Partner sponsor ProVest.

This year's event kicked off with a keynote speech from Julia R. Gordon, Assistant Secretary for Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Commissioner Gordon's speech delved into the challenges of finding your passion and balancing career versus family life, as well as the importance of homeownership in building intergenerational wealth. She also spotlighted recent FHA accomplishments such as reducing the mortgage insurance premium and offering new loss mitigation options. You can read MortgagePoint's cover profile of Commissioner Gordon from our April 2023 issue here.

Following Commissioner Gordon's address, the event moved on to this year's installment of the recurring She-Suite panel, which brings together female executives to discuss industry challenges, their own careers, and what it's like to be a woman in an industry that still skews heavily male. Moderated by Ann Thorn, Head of Home Loans Servicing for Wells Fargo, this year's She-Suite included insights from Tanya Brennan, Managing Partner & CEO for PhoenixTeam; Tiffany Fletcher, SVP Compliance, Operational Support and Vendor Management for VRM Mortgage Services; Jocelyn Martin-Leano, President & CEO for Enizio Strategies; and Miriam Moore, Division President of Default Services for ServiceLink.

The program then moved on to announcing each of the 2023 Women in Housing Award recipients. Here are this year's winners.

• Rising Star Award: Micole Booker, AVP, Senior Preservation & Post-Sale Disposition Manager, Flagstar Bank. (Read Micole's profile and those of the other Rising Star finalists by clicking here.)
• Leadership Award: Robin Wright, Managing Partner, Wright, Finlay & Zak, LLP. (Read Robin's profile and those of the other Leadership Award finalists by clicking here.)
• Keys in Hand Award: Stacey Walker, Director, Single-Family Affordable Lending, Freddie Mac. (Read Stacey's profile and those of the other Keys in Hand Award finalists by clicking here.)
• Corporate Social Responsibility Award: Jane Larkin, VP, Default Servicing, Colonial Savings. (Read Jane's profile and those of the other Corporate Social Responsibility Award finalists by clicking here.)
• Laurie A. Maggiano Legacy Award: Jodi Gaines, Chief Client Officer & EVP, Insight One. (Read Jodi's profile and those of the other Maggiano Award finalists by clicking here.)

Each of the five finalists will be further profiled in the October edition of MortgagePoint magazine. Stay tuned to read more about these incredible women and their well-deserved recognition. Five Star and MortgagePoint extend our congratulations to all the talented and hard-working women and companies who were nominated this year. (You can read the full list of 2023 nominees in the September edition of MortgagePoint.)