State Government Affairs Forum/NACCA Annual Meeting

BRETT J. ASHTON is an Assistant General Counsel in the American International Group State Relations Department and specializes in consumer finance issues management for all jurisdictions, in addition to representing all AIG company interests before legislative and regulatory agencies in Indiana, Kentucky and Michigan. He also chairs AFSA's State Government Affairs Mortgage Lending Subcommittee. Prior to joining AIG in 2000, Mr. Ashton held positions with Banc One Financial Services and as staff in the Texas Senate.

BRYAN BOLTON is Senior Vice President of Loss Mitigation for Citigroup's North American mortgage portfolios with staff at sites across the country. Mr. Bolton has 24 years of mortgage in the banking and mortgage banking industries, and has held management positions in collections, default management, servicing and originations.

JEFF CASH is Vice President of Government Relations for Wells Fargo and Company. He represents Wells Fargo Financial, providing real estate-secured lending, automobile financing, consumer and private-label credit cards and commercial services to consumers and businesses. Mr. Cash is member of the board of Directors of AFSA and currently serves as Chair of the State Government Affairs Committee. With over thirty years experience in consumer and commercial finance, Jeff has been with Wells Fargo for the past nineteen years.

JUD CHAPIN is Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel for World Acceptance Corporation. World Acceptance is one of the largest small-loan consumer finance companies in the United States, with operating offices in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mexico, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and South Carolina. Prior to joining World Acceptance, Mr. Chapin was in private law practice representing primarily financial institutions with an emphasis on creditor representation in bankruptcy cases.

ROBERT COOK, managing partner of Hudson Cook LLP, has practiced in all area of Consumer Financial Services throughout his career. Mr. Cook is a founding member of CounselorLibrary.com LLC, which publishes HouseLaw®, a monthly Internet publication of recent developments in real estate finance and HouseLaw Counselor®, an interactive database of state mortgage lending laws. Mr. Cook is a member of the American Financial Services Association Law Committee where he serves as Counsel to the Home Equity Subcommittee.

JOE CRIDER has supervised Missouri banks and consumer lenders in the area of consumer compliance since 2005. His duties include supervision and training for all field examiners and office staff as well as examination and enforcement of compliance laws. Prior to his supervisory role, Mr. Crider worked as a field examiner within the Division of Finance. Before beginning his career as an examiner, he worked in the consumer finance and banking industry for nearly fifteen years in four states. Mr. Crider currently serves as NACCA Secretary/Treasurer.

CHRIS DIPIETRO is Executive Director of the Mid-Atlantic Financial Services Association. He owns and operates CDi Consulting Services, providing government relations and association management services before legislative and administrative agencies in Maryland and Delaware. Mr. DiPietro previously served as Government Relations Director for Beneficial Management Corporation of America and as Vice President at NationsBank (now Bank of America).

TIM DOYLE is Vice President of Industry and Agency Relations with the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS). At CSBS, Mr. Doyle is responsible for coordinating state mortgage regulators in developing the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System (NMLS). In this capacity, Mr. Doyle is responsible for the legislative and regulatory policies that seek to create a system of strong and efficient regulation. Prior to joining CSBS, Mr. Doyle was a Senior Director of Government Affairs at the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

PRESTON DUFAUCHARD, the Commissioner for the California Department of Corporations, has practiced law and been a leader in the San Francisco Bay area legal community for the past 22 years. In 1997 he joined the in-house legal department for Bank of America. While at the Bank, he was responsible for substantial litigation and regulatory matters including class action securities litigation, consumer class action litigation, broker-dealer arbitration, private equity disputes, and construction development litigation.

JENNIFER E. DUFFY is Senior Editor for The Cook Political Report, where she is responsible for U.S. Senate and governors races. Previously, Ms. Duffy was a senior account executive with Hill and Knowlton Public Affairs Worldwide and an associate with the lobbying firm Cassidy & Associates. Ms. Duffy has 22 years of experience in campaign politics including a stint as Press Secretary for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. She has been quoted in numerous publications and has appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, PBS' The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, and C-SPAN's Washington Journal.

BRETT ERNST can currently be seen in the feature film Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show which opened to critically acclaimed reviews and Ernst was singled out as one of the best new comedians in the country. Bret has recurred on the hit series Weeds, and has guest starred on CSI: NY. His stand up has been featured on The Late Late Show and on Comedy Central's Premium Blend. Bret can be seen headlining at top clubs across the country and has earned the sought after honor of marquee status on the Sunset Strip, performing nightly at the top clubs in Hollywood.

DANIELLE FAGRE ARLOWE is Senior Vice President of State Government Affairs for the American Financial Services Association. Prior to joining AFSA, Ms. Arlowe was Director of Government Affairs and Legislative Counsel for credit card issuer Metris and an associate with Venable LLP and O'Connor & Hannan LLP where she represented banks and major U.S. financial institutions, lobbying on their behalf in Congress. She also assisted Fortune 500 corporations in various industries with government ethics compliance.

JEAN ANN FOX is director of financial services for the Consumer Federation of America. She specializes in financial services, electronic commerce, and consumer protection issues. Before going to work for CFA in 1997, Ms. Fox served as a Board member, President and Vice President of CFA. Ms. Fox is the author of numerous reports on check cashing and payday lending and has also authored reports on refund anticipation loans, car title loans, and bank overdraft loans. She manages a website for consumers on payday loans at www.paydayloaninfo.org.

JOHN FUND is a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, and writes "On the Trail" for the Journal's website. He is also a commentator on the 24-hour cable news channels CNBC and MSNBC. Mr. Fund previously served as deputy editorial features editor and on the Journal's editorial board. His editorials on Congressional reform led the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call to dub him "the Tom Paine of the modern Congressional reform movement". Mr. Fund served as an analyst for the California State Legislature before beginning his journalism career as a reporter with syndicated columnists Rowland Evans and Robert Novak.

SUSAN HANCOCK is Deputy Commissioner with the Virginia State Corporation Commission's Bureau of Financial Institutions. She is in charge of the Bureau's Consumer Finance and Mortgage Section, which is responsible for the regulation of approximately 3,000 non-depository institutions including mortgage lenders, mortgage brokers, consumer finance companies, industrial loan associations, debt management companies, check cashers and payday lenders. Ms. Hancock, who has been with the Bureau since 1987, is also a past president of the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators (AARMR) and currently chairs two of its committees.

PHILLIP HOLT has been working in the Government Relations arena for the last 17 years at both the state and federal level. Mr. Holt began his career with Texas Utilities Corp in Midland Texas as a Senior Account Executive, and then was promoted to Federal Relations Manager in the Washington DC office, with responsibilities in areas of mining, nuclear and electric transmission systems. Mr. Holt has served in his current position with Security Finance Corporation for over five years and sits on the executive committee of many state associations representing the installment lending industry.

SCOTT JACKSON is Managing Attorney & Director of Legislative Affairs Ford Motor Credit, based in the company's Nashville Business Center. Among his other duties, he is responsible for coordinating Ford Credit's federal, state and local legislative initiatives. Prior to joining Ford Credit in 1998, Mr. Jackson was Senior Counsel in the Tennessee Attorney General's Office. Before entering state government, Mr. Jackson was in private practice in New Orleans and later Nashville.

MARK JOSEPH KENNEY is Severson & Werson's Chairman and Managing Director. He specializes in civil litigation, dispute resolution and business counseling. Mr. Kenney is an accomplished trial lawyer, having defended clients in some of California's largest class action suits and in complex litigation. He is a member of the bars of California, Colorado and Montana and has been admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court. He is a member of the American and San Francisco Bar Associations, and was awarded the 2006 Distinguished Service Award by the American Financial Services Association.

CARL LASUSA began his career as a regulator with the Illinois Department of Financial Institutions in 1977, where he served in a managerial position with the Department's Consumer Credit Division for approximately 16 years. After 25+ years with the DFI, he established the consulting practice of Carl A. LaSusa Consulting, which provides services on a multi-state basis to entities in the financial services and money services business industries on matters of regulatory compliance and license transactions.

PAT MARTYN is the Executive Director of the Minnesota Financial Services Association and the owner of Martyn Service Company, which provides association management and public affairs services to over 400 companies. With his background as a financial and management analyst, Mr. Martyn has served as an assistant or advisor to governors, commissioners, legislative leadership, and corporate CEOs on a broad range of issues. He has also served as a Director on the Boards of over two dozen organizations and has been the lead spokesperson for several successful coalitions.

BILL MATCHNEER is Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Regulatory Affairs and Manufactured Housing for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In this capacity, Mr. Matchneer is responsible to Deputy Assistant Secretary Gary Cunningham and Federal Housing Commissioner Brian Montgomery for all aspects of the Office of RESPA and Interstate Land Sales as well as the Office of Manufactured Housing Programs. Mr. Matchneer was been working at HUD for the past six years and prior to his current role he was responsible to Assistant Secretary and Federal Housing Commissioner John Weicher.

ANDREW MORRISON is Executive Vice President of Brundage Management/Sun Loan Company. Mr. Morrison is also the current Chairman of the Board of Directors of AFSA, and past Chair of AFSA's Independents Section. Sun Loan Company is a family-owned business based in San Antonio, Texas, which makes small installment loans in nine states. Mr. Morrison has been with Brundage/Sun for nearly 18 years and was previously with the British Merchant Bank Kleinword Benson (now Dresdner Kleinwort) for whom he was a Senior Vice President of its North American operation and Deputy Director of Group Credit.

JOE MULBERRY is the Assistant Commissioner for the Wyoming Division of Banking and has worked for the division for 16 years. He oversees the consumer credit regulation of state chartered banks, finance companies, sales finance companies, payday lenders, and pawnbrokers under the Wyoming Uniform Consumer Credit Code; the regulation of mortgage lenders and mortgage brokers under the Wyoming Residential Mortgage Practices Act; the regulation of money transmitters under the Wyoming Money Transmitters Act; and the regulation of rent-to-own merchants under the Wyoming Rental-Purchase Agreement Act. Mr. Mulberry presently serves as President of NACCA.

CLINTON ROCKWELL is a senior associate at Buckley Kolar LLP. Mr. Rockwell advises financial services clients, including federal savings banks, national banks, member banks of the Federal Reserve System, bank holding companies, national mortgage companies, commercial lenders, credit card issuers, and securities broker-dealers, regarding a variety of regulator, compliance and transactional matters. Mr. Rockwell's professional experience includes involvement in matters dealing with the federal preemption of state consumer and commercial credit laws, and licensing and regulatory compliance in connection with state mortgage banker, broker, consumer and commercial loan laws.

JAMES SACCACIO joined RealtyTrac as Chairman and CEO in October of 2000. Mr. Saccacio is responsible for setting the company's policies, objectives and initiatives. In this capacity, Mr. Saccacio established and communicated a vision for RealtyTrac to become the leading online marketplace for distressed properties, and orchestrated the re-structuring of the company. Prior to joining RealtyTrac, he served as COO, EVP Sales, VP Finance and Operations, and Controller at Elite Leather Company. Before joining Elite, Mr. Saccacio was an Assistant Vice President with Bank of America in the Corporate Banking Division.

GARY SCHLOSSBERG is Vice President and Senior Economist for Wells Capital Management. Mr. Schlossberg analyzes the economic and investment environment for Wells Capital Management and for other investment groups within Wells Fargo & Co. He is a member of Wells Capital's Asset Allocation and Fixed Income Strategy committees and also participates in the Asset Allocation and Fixed-Income Strategy committees of the Private Client Services Group. Prior to joining Wells Fargo, Mr. Schlossberg worked as a researcher at the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve Board covering international economic conditions.

CHRIS STINEBERT is President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Financial Services Association. Previously, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) and the National Concrete Masonry Association (NCMA). Mr. Stinebert has 30 years of knowledge and experience in managing national trade associations with key highlights in government affairs and advocacy; strategic planning and implementation; technical standards and regulations; and economic and statistical data collection.

WENDY STONE is an Assistant General Counsel at Chrysler Financial Services. She oversees the Regulatory Compliance and Corporate Matters Section, which is responsible for ensuring legal compliance with all state and federal consumer finance laws and regulations. Prior to joining Chrysler, Ms. Stone was in-house counsel at National Bank of Detroit where she specialized in real estate and commercial transactions. She began her career as a tax specialist in the Detroit office of Coopers and Lybrand.

MARK TARPEY is the Division Supervisor of the Consumer Credit Division of the Indiana Department of Financial Institutions, where he regulates state chartered banks, savings and loans, credit unions, finance companies and others who extend consumer purpose credit. He began his employment with the Division in 1975, served as a senior field examiner and Division Coordinator, and was appointed to his current supervisory role in 1995.

MARK WEIGOLD is director of the Consumer Finance Section with the Michigan Office of Finance and Insurance Regulation. Mark is a 20+ year state of Michigan employee holding previous state positions including Senior Financial Institutions Examiner, Financial Institutions Licensing Specialist and Supervisor of Licensing over Michigan's consumer finance, insurance, and securities programs. Mr. Weigold was previously branch manager of a nationwide finance company. He is a member of AARMR, NACCA, and MTRA, and currently serves on subcommittees involving the NMLS (Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System) and the implementation of the SAFE Act.

2008 - Speakers