Conference Mainstage Speaker Information
We have nationally recognized industry and motivational speakers. Learn from them and get the motivation, inspiration and insight to apply to your business to bring it to the next level. We also have a full schedule of educational sessions, social receptions and indulgent dinners. We did build in time to make those important business connections too, and some free time to catch up on work...or just relax at the resort. This is a "must see" event. Don't hear about it - experience it for yourself!!
Go to the conference homepage here for all details and to register
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MAIN STAGE SPEAKERS: |
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Carol Hutchins, known simply as “Hutch,” is the winningest coach in NCAA Softball history and one of the most respected leaders in all of sports. Across 38 seasons as Head Coach at the University of Michigan, she guided her teams to a National Championship, 22 Big Ten titles, 12 Women’s College World Series appearances, and more than 1,700 victories. Yet, ask Hutch what she’s most proud of—and she won’t mention the trophies. She’ll tell you it’s the leaders she built along the way. Today, Hutch shares her championship mindset and purpose-driven leadership philosophy with organizations, conferences, and executive teams ready to stop playing small and start leading with intention, resilience, and integrity. |
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Joel Kan serves as Vice President, Deputy Chief Economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association. In this role, he is responsible for MBA's macroeconomic and housing market forecasts and oversees the production of MBA's industry surveys, including the Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, Builder Applications Survey, and Mortgage Credit Availability Index - three of the association's high-profile surveys. Mr. Kan presents regularly on the economy and housing market at MBA and industry events, and is interviewed and quoted frequently in national, local and industry media outlets. Prior to joining the MBA, he worked in Ernst & Young's Quantitative Economics and Statistics (QUEST) group. He holds a B.Sc. in Economics and Statistics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
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Dr. Bruce isn’t your typical keynote speaker. At 25, he was already a published author and speaker. By 29, he’d completed his PhD in Human Performance and became one of the youngest program directors in the Texas A&M system. What sets him apart? A heart of a teacher combined with the intensity of a championship coach. Dr. Bruce doesn’t just motivate—he teaches systems. He doesn’t just inspire—he equips. Attendees describe him as “intense but fun and positive,” creating an energy that makes you believe breakthrough is possible. Recruited back to corporate America as VP of Sales, he helped grow revenue by over $2 million annually before launching 90-Day Sales Manager in 2017—now recognized as a top sales onboarding program in financial services. He’s spoken on the largest stages in North America and his content is featured on platforms including Breakthrough Broker (600,000 users) and MDRT (65,000 members) Sponsored by: |
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Sue Woodard brings more than 30 years of financial services and mortgage industry experience, strategic vision and leadership to her role as a Strategic Advisor at STRATMOR Group. Having held many executive and leadership positions throughout her career, Woodard’s specialties are in customer experience, operationalizing excellence in the customer and employee journey, content strategy, and developing personal brand and presence via speaking, media and social media. Woodard started her career at the ground level in financial services, became a top producing originator, then leveraged her knowledge to become a highly acclaimed industry speaker, subject matter expert and technology executive. Sue has been awarded numerous industry honors, including the NMP Most Powerful Women in Mortgage Banking, the MPA HOT 100 list, the Housing Wire Vanguard Award, and the NMP Most Innovative Award. Sue is known for her genuine enthusiasm and passion for the mortgage industry, the people working in it, and the customers across the nation that the industry helps create “home.” She applies her breadth of experience and depth of relationships to add tremendous value to each of the clients she serves. Throughout her career, delivering an excellent experience that goes beyond what is expected is the standard – which made joining the team at STRATMOR a perfect fit. A graduate of Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Woodard completed a double major in Finance and Business Management with a minor in Economics. She serves on the board of HOPE4Youth, a non-profit working to end youth homelessness, as well as on the board of Axis Lending Academy, an industry non-profit. As a bit of a thrill seeker, she has sky-dived over Vegas, fire walked on hot coals, Harley-ed down Route 66, run a Ragnar through the desert and cage dived with great white sharks, but claims nothing has been more exciting than raising her millennial daughter. |
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Rob Chrisman began his career in mortgage banking – primarily capital markets – 39 years ago in 1985 with First California Mortgage, assisting in Secondary Marketing until 1988, when he joined Tuttle & Co., a leading mortgage pipeline risk management firm. He was an account manager and partner at Tuttle & Co. until 1996, when he moved to Scotland with his family for 9 months. He returned to the United States in mid-1997 and ran Secondary for Standard Financial, a sub-prime lender in northern California. In late 1997 Rob was hired by CrossLand Mortgage to start, and be the president of, a sub-prime company named OnCall Mortgage (a division of CrossLand). OnCall Mortgage was in existence until Wells Fargo purchased First Security Bank (the owner of CrossLand) at the end of 2000. Rob then joined CMG Mortgage, a wholesale mortgage bank, as the Director of Secondary Marketing. In early 2003 and re-joined Tuttle Risk Management Services, Inc. TRMS (now Compass) provides mortgage pipeline risk management for mortgage companies and thrifts that seek to originate and sell loans into the secondary mortgage market. In November of 2006 Rob left TRMS to become the Director of Capital Markets for RPM Mortgage, a retail residential lender you all know, leaving there in late 2008 to focus on not only publishing a widely read daily market commentary on current mortgage events but also on his family. |
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"As President of MISMO, I lead the mortgage industry’s standards organization in driving collaboration, interoperability, and innovation across the housing finance ecosystem. MISMO’s mission is to enable a more efficient, transparent, and trusted mortgage market through data standards that power digital transformation from origination to servicing and beyond. In this role, I oversee MISMO’s strategic initiatives and community engagement, advancing the adoption of key standards such as the SMART Doc® specification, the Loan Boarding Dataset, and the Mortgage Compliance Dataset, while expanding participation across lenders, servicers, technology providers, GSEs, and regulators. I also guide funding and execution of the Innovation Investment Fee (IIF) program, which supports cross-industry projects that modernize mortgage data exchange and improve consumer outcomes. My focus is on uniting the industry around a common digital language, accelerating innovation through collaboration, and ensuring that every participant, from startups to agencies, benefits from MISMO’s standards and trusted framework." |
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Breakout Session Speakers |
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Andrew DeGood is the CEO of AskBobAI, a B2B AI platform for financial services. He and his team build the trustworthy data layer that lets mortgage, banking, and lending companies put real AI to work, the kind you can defend to a borrower, a regulator, or an investor. Andrew is one of the clearest voices on what AI actually asks of leadership. His core argument is simple and a little provocative: the modern executive can't just sponsor AI, they have to embody it. Educated on what's possible, able to drive real adoption, and willing to build with their own hands. He writes on this every week to a growing audience of founders and financial-services leaders, and he practices what he preaches, building software himself most nights. Outside the company, he hosts two podcasts and runs a men's community focused on honest leadership and personal growth. |
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Eric Levin is the Co-Founder of Model Match He's been at this for 16 years. The platform keeps getting sharper. And the industry keeps catching up to what he saw coming a long time ago. When he's not changing how the mortgage industry thinks about business development, he's at home in Hickory, North Carolina with his wife Nikki — or out in Utah with his two grown sons Abe and Tate, who apparently decided North Carolina wasn't far enough. They're into climbing and snowboarding, and Eric hits the mountain with them as often as he can talk his way onto a flight west. He also co-founded Hickory FC, a semi-pro soccer club in Western NC. They won the national championship in year two. Turns out he likes to compete, and win. |
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Tom Davis is Deephaven Mortgage's Chief Sales Officer. In this role, he manages Deephaven’s wholesale and correspondent sales teams and all marketing initiatives. As an extensively trained mortgage-industry professional, Tom brings 20+ years of experience helping lending partners with their Non-Agency/Non-QM and Agency needs. Prior to joining Deephaven, Tom served as Executive Vice President, Head of TPO Production at First Guaranty Mortgage Corporation. Over the course of his career, he has worked at Bank of America, First NLC (FBR Capital Markets), JPMorgan Chase, and Finance of America Mortgage. He holds a Bachelor of Finance and Business Administration degree from Florida Atlantic University. |
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Deb Herdman spent over 30 years in the mortgage industry working nearly every production role there is: operations, loan officer, producing manager, region manager. Along the way, she built and led a team of 90 loan officers producing over a billion in annual volume. She has also served as past president and board member of the Michigan Mortgage Lenders Association, chaired the Michigan Bankers Association's Retail Lending Committee, and was appointed to Governor Whitmer's Partner Advisory Council for the State of Michigan. Deb was born and raised in Michigan and built her entire career across Michigan and the Midwest before moving full time to Florida. Deb has developed The Weekly Reset, a community for mortgage professionals built around what she calls the Execution Gap: the space between knowing exactly what to do and actually doing it. Most loan officers already have the systems, the scripts, and the strategies they need. She explains that closing the gap starts with understanding what the brain is actually built for: to scan, predict, and protect. Not to make anyone successful. Deb helps professionals recognize the patterns silently working against their own best strategies, so they can finally execute on what they already know. |
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John Ball serves as the VP of Sales for Champions Funding’s Correspondent division, where he directs a national sales initiatives and leads a dedicated team focused on delivering innovative mortgage solutions. As a seasoned correspondent lending executive with over 25 years of sales experience at Wells Fargo and Freddie Mac, John has cultivated strong relationships with mortgage companies, banks, and credit unions across the nation. With an MBA in marketing and a deep understanding of the mortgage industry, he specializes in developing and managing client relationships. His passion lies in providing exceptional customer service and crafting tailored solutions that align with his clients' strategic objectives. His mission is to lead his sales team and build enduring partnerships that drive sustainable growth for clients.
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Joe Wilson is the founder and CEO of SocialCoach, the social selling platform trusted by 7 of the top 20 mortgage lenders in the country. A former loan officer and longtime mortgage technology executive, Joe helps financial institutions turn social media into real relationships and revenue. |
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Alicia Brisbane
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Alicia Brisbane is Throughout her career, Alicia has built a reputation for developing strong client relationships, delivering strategic guidance, and helping lenders successfully navigate the evolving correspondent marketplace. She specializes in Non-Agency lending, broker-to-correspondent transitions, warehouse lending strategies, and supporting lenders of all sizes—from emerging mortgage companies to established delegated correspondent sellers. Before joining Onity Mortgage, Alicia served as Executive Vice President of Correspondent Lending at GenWay Home Mortgage, Vice President of Correspondent Lending at First Guaranty Mortgage Corporation, and was a top-performing Correspondent Account Executive at Pacific Union Financial. Known for her collaborative approach and deep product expertise, Alicia is passionate about helping clients identify new opportunities, structure successful lending strategies, and grow their businesses with confidence. |
Contact Joanne Misuraca at 586-226-2823 or [email protected] for any questions.
