Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

Michael R. Merchant was named Commissioner of the Department of Buildings by Mayor Rahm Emanuel on May 16, 2011. Merchant has made increasing efficiency and reforming the department his top priorities. Under his direction, the department has adopted the electronic plan review program, which allows design professionals to submit plans electronically and plan reviewers to review and approve permits simultaneously. The department has also started requiring mandatory certified plan corrections and permit fee deposits, both in an effort to reduce the time required to issue building permits. A member of the Illinois Bar, Merchant served under Mayor Richard M. Daley as Deputy Director in the Mayor's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. He was responsible for advancing the Mayor’s City Council legislative agenda, which including passage of the city’s budget, as well as assisting the city council in resolving legislative, policy and city service issues. This was his second stint in the Mayor's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. In between, he worked as a Director in the Chicago Public Schools Office of Intergovermental Affairs, where he lobbied on behalf of CPS concerning various matters related to local, State and Federal issues, including legislative, policy, and financial concerns. He also counseled the CEO and various departments concerning government issues and managed a department that included internal CPS employees and external contract lobbyists. Merchant has a long history in public service and legal affairs. He worked as an Assistant Public Defender in the offices of the Cook County Public Defender as well as a contract attorney for the legal services firm Special Counsel. He also worked in the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development, where he investigated housing discrimination complaints based on the Fair Housing Act and analyzed data and prepared final claims determinations. Merchant spent several years with the U.S. Peace Corps. He conducted speaking engagements for minority recruitment and spent time on a Basic Education Support Project in Namibia, Africa. As part of his responsibilities, he worked with government officials, educational leaders, international education development agencies, community leaders and community members to facilitate the workshops for teachers and principals to aid in the design of a national certification program. His career started as a teacher at Columbus Merriville, an affiliate of Brenneman School, in the Chicago Public School System. He taught mathematics to students in a residential setting who were wards of the State of Illinois. Merchant was admitted to the Illinois Bar in November, 2003 and holds a Juris Doctor from the Depaul University College of Law in Chicago and a Bachelor's of Science in General Science from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.

Alfred Pollard serves as General Counsel of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). His supervision of FHFA’s Office of General Counsel includes work on regulatory matters affecting the housing government-sponsored enterprises (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks), in-house legal issues, and relationships with other government agencies and the Administration. Mr. Pollard serves on the President’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bank Fraud and Mortgage Fraud Working Groups. He teaches (adjunct) at the Georgetown University School of Business and has previously taught at the University of Virginia School of Law (adjunct). Mr. Pollard has served as Senior Director for Legislative Affairs at the Financial Services Roundtable, a CEO-level trade group for the nation’s largest financial institutions, and as Director of Government Relations for the Savings and Community Bankers of America. Before that, for 12 years, Mr. Pollard was Senior Vice President and Director of the Washington office for Security Pacific Corporation and, briefly, for Bank of America. Mr. Pollard worked on the staffs of two United States Senators and served as general counsel for a national trade association. Mr. Pollard earned his Ph.D in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia. He earned both his bachelor’s and law degrees from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Barbara Peterson is currently a Vice President in the Default Servicing Group at M&I, where she is responsible for managing the Bank’s Loss Mitigation, Charge Off and Bankruptcy Departments for Retail and a segment of the Small Business Portfolio. Barb joined M&I in February of 2008 with over 20 years experience in the Banking and Mortgage Banking industries. She has held management positions at Chase and Wells Fargo in their Loss Mitigation Departments.

James J. Butera is a Washington attorney specializing in financial institutions legislation, and regulation. He is from the Philadelphia area and received his Bachelor’s degree from St. Joseph’s University. He was then commissioned in the United States Marine Corps and served two combat tours in Vietnam. His decorations include the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart. After graduating from Georgetown University Law School in 1972, Mr. Butera began his law and government relations career at the American Bankers Association. He has published law review articles on a variety of topics, and in 1988, was also among the industry experts selected to prepare The American Agenda, under the direction of former Presidents Carter and Ford, to identify the major issues facing the Administration of President George H.W. Bush.Mr. Butera is a partner at the Jones Walker law firm consisting of more than 375 attorneys, providing a comprehensive range of legal services to a national and international corporate client base through offices in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and the District of Columbia.

Jack Choi is currently EVP & Chief Credit Officer of Wilshire State Bank. In his position, he is managing the bank's entire loan portfolio of about $2 billion consisting of commercial real estate loans, corporate financing including asset based lending, residential mortgage, SBA guaranteed loans, and consumer loans. Main functions includes reviewing and making recommendations in the process of new loan production, managing credit portfolio risk including its reserve adequacy, training and developing lending staffs, and engaging in the bank-wide strategic decisions and enterprise level risk management. Previously, Mr. Choi founded and was President and CEO at Commonwealth Business Bank. He was leading marketing activities; overseeing risk management in the areas of credit, interest rate, market, operation, compliance, and reputation; managing organization and human resource; working with the board as a director; and formulating and updating the strategic plan. Prior to that, Mr. Choi was Senior Vice President and Chief Credit Officer, Hanmi Bank, ran an overseas printing company, and worked at various financial institutions here in the USA and Korea. Mr. Choi received a BA degree from the Seoul National University, an MBA from the Pepperdine University, and a Master in Banking from the Pacific Coast Banking School. Mr. Choi was columnist for Radio Korea, a local radio station, The Korea Times and The Korea Daily, two prominent newspaper companies in Los Angeles, and The Maeil Economy, an economic newspaper in Korea. Mr. Choi has made several lectures as a guest speaker at Cal State Los Angeles, Dongseo University, Inha University, and Korea Credit Bureau on the subject of Money and Banking. He also conducted many seminars on the subject ranging from economics to credit risk management. In 2009, he published a book on the financial crisis in Korean. The book was recognized as one of the books of the year in 2009 by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Korea. Mr. Choi is publishing his articles on his personal blog whose address is jackchoi.blogspot.com.

Robert Nagle is a partner with Nagle Law Group, Phoenix, and is also the founder of the Residential Attorney Bar Association in Arizona.

Apryl Seide joined Safeguard in 2010 as General Counsel, directing the company’s internal and external legal functions. As a member of the executive management team, her responsibilities include handling litigation and claims on the company’s behalf, reviewing and negotiating agreements, and providing strategic direction and leadership to the business. She also advises Safeguard’s senior management on legal matters and manages the company’s legal support staff. She joins Safeguard from Applied Industrial Technologies, a Cleveland-based Fortune 1000 company, where she drafted, reviewed and negotiated contracts for the corporate office as well as all subsidiaries/divisions throughout the U.S. and Canada. Prior to joining Applied, Apryl was in professional practice with Baker & Hostetler LLP as well as in private practice.She earned her Juris Doctorate from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, magna cum laude, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (Accounting) from John Carroll University. Bar admissions include Ohio and United States District Court (Northern District of Ohio).