Former FDIC Chair to Deliver Keynote Address at Women in Housing Leadership Forum

Former Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. chair Sheila Bair has announced as the keynote speaker for the Third Annual Women in Housing Leadership Forum at the 12th Annual Five Star Conference and Expo on September 18 in Dallas, according to an announcement from the Five Star Institute.

Now it in its third year, the Women in Housing Leadership Forum recognizes the strength and leadership of women across housing and mortgage servicing and provides a platform for advancement through open dialogue and inspiring keynotes. The Forum will be the concluding event of the three-day conference, which will be September 16 to 18 at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas.

A renowned financial reform advocate, Bair was appointed by then-President George W. Bush to lead the FDIC in 2006 and stayed in that position for five years through the financial crisis. In her role as FDIC chair, Bair was one of the first officials to warn about the damage the subprime crisis would cause to homeowners and the economy. Also among her achievements as FDIC chair were helping to shape and implement the Dodd-Frank Act, giving the FDIC power to wind down a big bank rather than bailing it out, and the creation of the Advisory Committee on Economic Inclusion, which helped bring banks to underserved areas.

Bair is the author of a New York Times bestseller, Bull by the Horns: Fighting to Save Main Street from Wall Street and Wall Street from Itself, which was about her five years as FDIC chair. She has also written three books for children on financial literacy. Bair won multiple prestigious awards for her work as FDIC chair, including the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, the Hubert H. Humphrey Civil Rights Award, and the Better Business Bureau's Presidents' Award. She was named the second most powerful woman in the world twice by Forbes magazine, both times behind German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

In May 2015, Bair was named president of Washington College, a private liberal arts school in Maryland. When her tenure begins on August 1, she will be the 28th president overall and first female president of historic Washington College, which was founded in 1782.

A native of Independence, Kansas, Bair graduated from the University of Kansas in 1974 with a bachelor's degree in philosophy. She earned a law degree from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1978.

The Women in Housing Leadership Forum will be from 1:15 to 2:15 p.m. on Friday, September 18. The Forum is open to all attendees of the conference, but seating is limited.

Editor's note: The Five Star Institute is the parent company of MReport and MReport.com.