Lender Roundtable Webinar

June 19, 2020

On Thursday, June 18, Berkadia’s CEO, Justin Wheelerand Head of Production, Ernie Katai, proudly hosted Lender Roundtable Webinar featuring guests from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Voya Investment Management and U.S. Bank.  

As always, we’re committed to sharing the latest insights, data and thought leadership with our clients and partners. As we navigate this ever-changing landscape together, that commitment has never been more important, so we hope this webinar will be a valuable resource to you and your team.

Featuring:

Kim Betancourt- Kim Betancourt is Fannie Mae’s Director of Economics and Multifamily Research. She manages a team of real estate economists that focus exclusively on the multifamily sector. Ms. Betancourt is responsible for analyzing current economic conditions at both national and local levels, determining their impact on the multifamily sector, and identifying future trends.

Before joining Fannie Mae, Ms. Betancourt was a Senior Vice President at GMAC Institutional Advisors and managed the Realpoint (now Morningstar Ratings) senior analytical research team. Prior to GMAC, Ms. Betancourt was a Director in the Structured Finance department of Standard & Poor’s and managed a team of 10 senior analysts. She has also held leadership positions with Citicorp and Midlantic National Bank.

Ms. Betancourt holds both a Master of Arts and a Bachelor of Arts with honors from Rutgers University.

Rob Levin- Rob Levin is Fannie Mae’s Senior Vice President and Head of Customer Engagement. In this role, he manages all customer relationships and leads all of Fannie Mae’s multifamily production activities, including the Delegated Underwriting and Servicing (DUS®) lending platform, structured transactions, seniors housing, affordable housing, green financing, small loans, and borrower relationships. Under Rob’s leadership, Customer Engagement is focused on providing support, expertise, and guidance to our customers and partnering with them to build a high-quality, balanced book of business that will meet the needs of the multifamily market now and in the future.

Prior to his current role, Rob was the Vice President of Multifamily Credit Underwriting. He led the DUS loan underwriting process for all non-delegated loans, covering conventional loans as well as specialty products. He also managed the underwriting guidelines for Multifamily, ensuring that loans guaranteed by Fannie Mae met consistently high credit standards.

Before joining Fannie Mae in 1998, Rob worked in commercial and community banking. He has a bachelor of science in finance from the University of Wyoming.

Debby Jenkins- Deborah Jenkins is executive vice president and head of Multifamily at Freddie Mac. She leads all aspects of Freddie Mac’s Multifamily business – the largest capital provider to the U.S. multifamily rental housing market.

Previously, Debby served as senior vice president and national head of Multifamily Underwriting and Credit. In this role, Debby oversaw all credit approvals and due diligence processes, asset level securitization activities, as well as credit policies and governance for all of Multifamily’s products. This prior-approval approach has produced delinquency rates among the very lowest in the industry while ensuring mortgage liquidity across economic environments. Debby also spearheaded enhancements in the company’s underwriting process specifically to support its securitization program, including its signature K and SB Deals.

Prior to that, Debby held different positions of increasing responsibility at Freddie Mac Multifamily, including vice president of national underwriting. Debby was a senior vice president with Wells Fargo National Bank in Michigan before joining Freddie Mac in March 2008.

Debby holds a Master’s degree in Corporate Finance from Walsh College in Troy, Michigan, and a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Corporate Finance from Wayne State University in Detroit.

Lamar Seats- Lamar Seats joined the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in May 2018 as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Multifamily Housing Programs. Lamar brings more than 25 years of experience in commercial, market and affordable multifamily mortgage banking through his previous leadership roles with lending institutions.

Immediately before beginning his Federal career with HUD, Lamar was a Managing Director at M&T Realty Capital Corporation where he was responsible for multifamily agency loan production with FHA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac. Prior to that, he was CEO of Bellwether Enterprise Real Estate Capital LLC, Senior VP of Enterprise Community Investment, Inc., and Senior VP of Reilly Mortgage Group, respectively.

Lamar earned both his BS in Pharmacy and his MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Greg Michaud- Greg Michaud is a Managing Director and Head of Real Estate Finance for Voya Investment Management with 25 years of investment experience. He is responsible for the oversight and management of sourcing, underwriting and management of all commercial real estate loans on behalf of its clients.  Greg has been worked in various functions in the real estate department for Voya Investment Management for over 21 years. Prior to joining Voya Investment Management in 1995, he was a real estate appraiser focused on commercial properties and eminent domain cases in the Southeastern United States.  Greg serves on the Executive Leadership Team for proprietary assets is a member of the U.S. Credit Committee and is Chairmen of the CMBS Steering Committee.

He received his BS in Real Estate from the Florida State University, MBA in Finance from Kennesaw State University and an Executive MBA from University of Georgia.

He is also heavily involved in several real estate industry groups including Urban Land Institute (Mixed Use – Blue Flight), Commercial Real Estate Finance Council (Board of Directors and Chairmen Emeritus), Mortgage Bankers Association (Member of Commercial Real Estate/Multifamily Finance Board of Governors) and National Association of Real Estate Investment Managers.

Rex Rudy- Rex Rudy is an Executive Vice President and the Division Head of U.S. Bank’s Commercial Real Estate Group that operates nationally via 31 offices. The division focuses on establishing long-term relationships with owners, operators and developers of commercial real estate, REITs, institutional owners, debt funds and public and private homebuilders.  Primary lending products include construction, term and bridge loans as well as lines of credit and warehouse financing. Prior to US Bank, Rex spent 17 years with Wells Fargo, Wachovia and First Union in their REIT Banking Group and Loan Syndications teams.  Rex has completed numerous transactions including secured, unsecured, high yield, bridge and merger and acquisition related financings.

Rex is a member of ICSC, Urban Land Institute, NAREIT, Risk Management Association, United Way Regional Campaign Cabinet and the Real Estate Roundtable (President’s Council).

Rex received both his B.S.B.A and his M.B.A from the Ohio State University.

Justin Wheeler- Justin Wheeler is Chief Executive Officer and a member of Berkadia’s Management Committee. Prior to joining Berkadia, Mr. Wheeler was the Chief Operating Officer of Leucadia National Corporation and was appointed Vice President of Leucadia in 2006. As part of his prior role, Mr. Wheeler was responsible for M&A activities, operating portfolio performance, cash management and investment, as well as various administrative functions. Previously, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of American Investment Bank, N.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of Leucadia.

Ernie Katai- Ernie Katai is Executive Vice President, Head of Production and a member of Berkadia’s Management Committee. In this role, Mr. Katai oversees approximately 240 experienced mortgage bankers and investment sales advisors. Under his leadership, the company’s mortgage banking division has grown by 90 percent, while investment sales have increased by 103 percent. In 2019, Berkadia’s combined production volume of loan origination, investment sales and JV equity placements exceeded $36 billion.

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