Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

Denise James leads the market strategy and product development initiatives used by the Real Estate industry for LexisNexis Risk Solutions which includes the Mortgage Asset Research Institute. Denise’s focus is on developing robust fraud detection and prevention solutions as part of the Financial Services Market Planning organization. She works with customers, industry associations and fraud work groups to identify and qualify industry needs. Denise is a frequent industry speaker and contributor on issues facing the mortgage industry and has been quoted by national media outlets, such as the Associated Press, USA Today, CNN Money, The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. She is a contributing author of the MARI Annual Case Report on Mortgage Fraud as well as other articles and white papers published by leading trade publications. Her career with LexisNexis followed eleven years in the technology industry with Motorola. She has held leadership positions in product management, business planning and product marketing. Denise currently serves as a board member of the Georgia Real Estate Fraud Prevention Awareness Coalition (GREFPAC) and as Vice Chair for the MISMO Fraud Detection Workgroup. She holds advanced business degrees with honors including a Masters of Strategic Marketing and Business Administration from Nova Southeastern University in Miami, FL., and a BA in Marketing and Finance from Northwood University in Florida. Denise is a designated Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), having successfully met the character, experience, and education requirements required by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). Denise has demonstrated knowledge in four areas critical to the fight against fraud: Fraudulent Financial Transactions, Criminology & Ethics, Legal Elements of Fraud and Fraud Investigation. She is currently pursuing designation as a Certified Mortgage Banker.In her spare time, Denise enjoys scuba diving, billiards, listening to classical music and movies.

Vickie Lester is the President of Mortgage Servicing at RoundPoint Financial Group. Mrs. Lester is an industry veteran with over 25 years experience in loan servicing and is responsible for managing loan administration services. Prior to joining RoundPoint Financial Group, Mrs. Lester held positions previously with Citi Mortgage as a Vice President of Loss Mitigation and also held various executive management positions during her 24 years at ABN AMRO Mortgage Group. Mrs. Lester represented ABN AMRO as a participate of various Loss Mitigation focus groups with organizations such as NeighborWorks and the Hope Now Alliance as well as participated in many default pilot programs for both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Mrs. Lester attended Elmhurst College and is a certified Six Sigma Greenbelt.

For more than 30 years, Catherine A. Allen has been an outstanding leader in technology strategy and financial services and a luminary in business innovation. Catherine has won accolades from industry, government, academia, business groups and the press for her success in fostering innovation, promoting new technologies, and bringing stakeholders together to address common challenges.Catherine stepped down from her role as the founding CEO of the financial services industry consortium BITS in 2007 after a decade of service. During her tenure, Catherine worked closely with CEOs, CIOs and executives at the nation's largest financial institutions on strategic issues facing the financial services industry, from payments strategies to risk management. BITS' accomplishments under Catherine's leadership include creating best practices in more than 30 areas of financial services management, facilitating the industry's transition from paper to electronic payments, and creating a trusted forum in which corporate leaders could speak candidly about critical challenges in a noncompetitive environment.Today, Catherine is chairman and CEO of The Santa Fe Group, a strategic consulting company based in Santa Fe, NM. Catherine established The Santa Fe Group in 1996, and soon afterward the company became a strategic partner to BITS. The Santa Fe Group specializes in briefings to C-level executives and boards of directors at financial institutions and other critical infrastructure companies, and provides management for strategic industry and institutional projects.Earlier in her career, Catherine served in several senior executive positions at Citicorp in the Retail, Bankcards, and Corporate Technology divisions. She represented Citibank as founding chair and president of the multi-industry Smart Card Forum. Prior to joining Citibank, Catherine was director of corporate planning for Dun and Bradstreet, where she created and chaired the Electronic Yellow Pages and Information Association. Catherine was also a consultant to CBS, Inc. on new technologies and international trade.Catherine is a sought-after expert on a range of issues. Named one of 16 "unsung heroes and rising stars" in the country by Fast Company magazine, Catherine has appeared on CNN, ABC's "Good Morning America," CBS's "This Morning" and "Eye on America," MSNBC, NBC News and NBC's "Dateline," and PBS's "Nightly Business News." Catherine is quoted frequently in national media outlets as well as in a range of industry publications. She is co-editor and author of two books on business innovation strategy.Catherine sits on the boards of Stewart Title Guaranty Company, Singlepoint, LLC, Hudson Partners, LLP, and El Paso Electric Company. Catherine is chair of the Advisory Council for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. Catherine is active politically in the national and local spheres, including serving on President Barack Obama's New Mexico Finance Committee and The New Mexico State Investment Council.In 2007 Catherine was honored by US Banker magazine with the Marion O. Sandler Lifetime Achievement Award for her outstanding contributions to financial services and technology. Catherine is also the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of Missouri in 2006, recognizing her professional achievements in financial services and technology.

Piyush Tantia leads domestic and international financial design projects for ideas42, a non-profit behavioral economics R&D lab housed at Harvard University. In that role, Piyush works closely with leading academics from Harvard, MIT and Princeton to apply cutting-edge behavioral economics research to improve the design and delivery of financial products with the goal of maximizing social impact. Since early 2009, Piyush has been leading a series of projects applying behavioral insights to foreclosure mitigation. The key projects have explored strategic default, what borrower psychologies drive low response to outreach, how to design better loan modification offers and how to best utilize counseling in foreclosure mitigation. Other projects include designing and testing an economically self-sustaining “financial health check” for consumers, understanding the market for financial advice, generating ideas for consumer finance policy, developing a concept for a behaviorally informed “good bank” as well as various microfinance product pilots internationally.Prior to joining ideas42, Piyush was a Partner in Oliver Wyman’s Retail and Finance & Risk practices, and now serves as a Senior Advisor to Oliver Wyman. During his 14 years at Oliver Wyman, he worked on projects spanning a vast array of retail financial services businesses including prime and subprime credit card, home equity, prime and subprime mortgage, deposits, retail distribution, microfinance, and unbanked/ underbanked. He tackled a wide range of issues including strategy, customer and product value management, credit process, distribution and risk management. Piyush holds a B.S. in Economics, magna cum laude, with a concentration in Management from the Wharton School and a B.S in Engineering, magna cum laude, with a concentration in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania.

Mark Spangler is currently an Assistant Vice President in the Home Savers Group at Huntington National Bank where he is responsible for managing the retention and liquidation workout processes for the Bank’s owned (portfolio) servicing portfolio. Mark joined Huntington in 2007 with over 30 years experience in the banking and mortgage banking industries. Mark has held management positions in retail banking and mortgage origination with the former State Savings Bank, Fifth Third Bank and Wells Fargo. From 1999-2004, Mark was an investor and director of mortgage lending operations for Prospect Bank, a start-up bank which was eventually sold to the former Sky Bank, which was then acquired by Huntington Bank.Mark holds a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Dayton and is also a graduate of the Ohio Savings and Loan Academy.