Phillip Baldwin is the president and chief executive officer of CredAbility, which provides confidential budget counseling, money management education, debt management programs, bankruptcy counseling and education, and comprehensive housing counseling. He is a dedicated community leader at both the local and national level, serving as national board chair of United Way of America, and on the board of directors of United Way Worldwide, Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, and the Board of Visitors of Emory University. Previous board service includes the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Ouachita Baptist University, and Arkansas Capital Corporation. Prior to joining CredAbility, Baldwin was president and CEO of Southern Bancorp Inc., the nation's largest rural development bank. Southern Bancorp's social mission is to improve educational opportunities, decrease poverty, and provide quality housing for low-income families. In 2010, Baldwin was named one of the top five social entrepreneurs in the United States by Bloomberg Businessweek. He is a recipient of the U.S. Small Business Entrepreneurial Leadership Award and has been honored as economic developer of the year by the Society of Economic Development. Baldwin is a certified public accountant who began his career with Ernst & Young. He is a graduate of the University of Arkansas.
David L. Batlle is the area financial manager of the Office of Financial Regulation for the state of Florida. In his current role, he manages all aspects of state-chartered commercial bank and trust provider examinations for the West Palm Beach regional office. He actively participates in field examinations by reviewing loan portfolios, Bank Secrecy Act programs, and serving as examiner-in-charge. Regulatory experience includes commercial banks, savings and loan associations, trust service providers, credit unions, and money service businesses. Batlle has worked in joint examination programs with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Office of Thrift Supervision, and National Credit Union Administration. He holds a BA in finance from the University of South Florida.
Thomas "Danny" Boston is a professor of economics at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a small business owner. His research focuses on minority entrepreneurship, public housing, and community development and the impact of Millennium Development Goals on African development. He is also an economic contributor to CNN and the author or editor of six books. Recently, he completed a landmark study for the MacArthur Foundation that compared public housing revitalization outcomes in Atlanta, Chicago, and New Haven. In 2013, he was designated a primary researcher to the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship and his research for the committee has been instrumental in modifying program guidelines for the federal government's Small Disadvantaged Business Program. Under a new award from the U.S. Small Business Administration, Boston is creating a business development index to track the growth in capacity and performance of minority-owned businesses. He is CEO of EuQuant (pronounced U-Quant), an economic research company. Boston earned a BS from West Virginia State University and a MA and PhD in economics from Cornell University.
Joe Brannen is the president and chief executive officer of the Georgia Bankers Association, a position he has held since 1980. The Georgia Bankers Association is the trade and professional association representing virtually all of Georgia's commercial banks and thrift institutions. Brannen came to the Georgia Bankers Association after having worked eight years for U.S. Senator Sam Nunn (D-GA). Active in many state, regional, and national organizations, Brannen is on the boards of directors of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and the state YMCA. He is a past president of the Georgia Bar Foundation and the Georgia Society of Association Executives. He is also a former chair of the boards of the Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana State University and the American Bankers Association's Alliance of State Associations. Brannen is a past participant in Leadership Georgia, a member of the Gridiron Secret Society, and has been a member of the Committee of 100 of Emory University's Candler School of Theology. He is a native of Statesboro and graduated from the University of Georgia with a major in chemistry.
John Hope Bryant is the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Operation HOPE. The nonprofit operates in more than 270 U.S. communities and South Africa. It has raised more than $600 million and helped to restructure another $450 million in subprime mortgages to empower the poor, for a total of some $1 billion in economic activity for the underserved. Bryant served as chairman of President Obama's Subcommittee on the Underserved and Community Empowerment for the President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability. Prior to that, he served President George W. Bush as vice chairman of the U.S. President's Advisory Council on Financial Council and chairman of the Council Committee on the Underserved. Bryant has been on several corporate boards and serves as a member of the NYSE Euronext Financial Literacy Advisory Committee, the advisory board for the Gallup Government Leadership Academy, and the advisory board for the Kaplan University Business School. He is the author of Love Leadership: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World. Bryant received an honorary doctorate degree from Paul Quinn College of Dallas. In April 2008, he completed the Harvard University John K. Kennedy School of Government Global Public Policy and Leadership for the 21st Century Program as a Young Global Leader.
Cassius Butts was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2011 to be senior administrator at the Small Business Administration (SBA). He is responsible for delivery of SBA programs in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. He has managed oversight of two record-breaking years for SBA lending in region IV, with nearly $8 billion in SBA-backed loans to small businesses within the eight states. Before joining the SBA, Butts was one of three chiefs of the Real Estate Owned Division within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Prior to that role, he worked in leadership positions for Nations Bank, Fleet Bank, and Bank of America (MBNA) as well as the city of Atlanta. In addition, as a small-business owner and consultant, Butts cofounded CB Consulting Group LLC, which primarily offered entrepreneurial, strategy, and community engagement services. He is the recipient of many honors and awards such as the U.S. House of Representative Proclamation recipient and was recently appointed to the National Partnership Council. He is a graduate of Morehouse College and received his graduate degree from Clark Atlanta University's School of Public Administration and certificate of grant writing from Emory University's Life Learning Institute. He is a graduate of the Atlanta Regional Commission's Regional Leadership Institute, and Leadership Atlanta, the nation's oldest sustained community leadership program.
Robert Couch is a member of the banking and financial services, real estate, and governmental affairs practice groups at the law firm Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP in Birmingham. He also serves as a commissioner on the Housing Commission of the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C. Couch served as general counsel of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) from 2006 to 2008. Prior to that position, he served as president of the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae). He also served as a member of President George W. Bush's Task Force on the Status of Puerto Rico. His first role in government was as a law clerk to Honorable Lewis F. Powell Jr., associate justice of the U. S. Supreme Court. Couch has a wealth of private-sector skills and experience. He currently serves as a director of Prospect Mortgage Company in Sherman Oaks, California, and as a director of American Capital Agency Corporation and American Capital Mortgage Investment Corporation, both of Bethesda, Maryland. Prior to his government service, he was president and chief executive officer of New South Federal Savings Bank in Birmingham. An active member of the mortgage banking industry, he is a former chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. He is a certified public accountant (inactive) and a certified mortgage banker (master certificate). Couch earned BS and JD degrees from Washington & Lee University.
Marshall Crawford is the acting vice president of the southern region of NeighborWorks America. He is responsible for the administration of financial and technical services to nonprofit community development corporations throughout a 12-state region: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Services range from foreclosure intervention and prevention counseling to new homeownership lending to construction of affordable homes and rental units. Crawford's leadership also ensures support for community building and leadership development to involve residents throughout the Southeast in the revitalization of their communities. He has served with NeighborWorks for more than 12 years. Before joining NeighborWorks, Crawford worked for the Office of Thrift Supervision as a safety and soundness bank examiner in the Southeast region. His banking career started in a management training program for SunTrust Bank in Nashville. He later relocated to Atlanta and worked as a mortgage loan officer with several banks. He received a degree in finance from Western Kentucky University and a master of public administration with a concentration in nonprofit management from the University of Nebraska–Omaha.
Hugh S. ("Beau") Cummins III was appointed commercial and business banking executive of SunTrust Banks in June 2013. The position includes oversight for SunTrust's geographic leadership of 12 division and region presidents. He is also corporate executive vice president. Cummins most recently served as chairman, president, and chief executive officer of SunTrust Robinson Humphrey (STRH), the corporate and investment banking division of SunTrust Banks Inc. Before joining SunTrust in 2005, Cummins held numerous leadership positions with Bank of America, including global head of investment grade origination, global head of foreign exchange, and cohead of global interest rate and commodity derivative sales. He began his investment banking career at Citibank in its global derivative products business. Cummins serves on the board of directors of the World Affairs Council of Atlanta and is a trustee of YoungArts. He is a past chairman of the board of trustees of the Fine Arts League of the Carolinas, and a two-term past member of the Business Advisory Council at Miami University's Farmer School of Business. He also previously served as a board member of the ABA Securities Association and is a past member of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Foreign Exchange Committee. He earned a bachelor's in business administration from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Michigan.
Keith Ernst serves as associate director for Consumer Research and Examination Analytics in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's (FDIC) Division of Depositor and Consumer Protection. He leads a talented staff of researchers and analysts that provide analytic support to FDIC examination staff conducting CRA and compliance examinations; conduct original consumer research, including research on economic inclusion topics such as the FDIC National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households; and provide other research on consumer matters to identify potential emerging issues of concern. He joined the FDIC in 2011 from the Center for Responsible Lending, where he served as director of research. Ernst has extensive experience overseeing research and developing consumer protection policies, and his research has informed the development of key consumer protection laws and regulations. His work has been published in various academic journals and in book chapters, and he has presented his work at research conferences, industry events, as well as in testimony before Congress and regulatory agencies. He also has previous analytic experience in secondary mortgage market operations and has served as a consultant in fair lending investigations. He is a graduate of Hofstra University and holds both a master's degree in public policy studies and a JD from Duke University.
Thomas M. Hoenig was confirmed by the Senate as vice chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) on Nov. 15, 2012. He joined the FDIC on April 16, 2012, as a member of the FDIC Board of Directors for a six-year term. He is a member of the executive board of the International Association of Deposit Insurers. Prior to serving on the FDIC board, Hoenig was the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and a member of the Federal Reserve System's Federal Open Market Committee from 1991 to 2011. He was with the Federal Reserve for 38 years, beginning as an economist and then as a senior officer in banking supervision during the U.S. banking crisis of the 1980s. In 1986, he led the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank's Division of Bank Supervision and Structure, directing the oversight of more than 1,000 banks and bank holding companies with assets ranging from less than $100 million to $20 billion. He became president of the Kansas City Fed on October 1, 1991. Hoenig is a native of Fort Madison, Iowa. He received a doctorate in economics from Iowa State University.
Dennis P. Lockhart is president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. In this role he is responsible for all of the Bank's activities, including monetary policy, bank supervision and regulation, and payment services. He also chairs the Bank's management committee. Prior to joining the Atlanta Fed in March 2007, Lockhart served on the faculty of Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service, teaching in the master's program and chairing the program's concentrations in international business–government relations and global commerce and finance. He was also an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University's Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. Prior to his academic career Lockhart was managing partner at the private equity firm Zephyr Management LP. He also worked at Heller Financial, where he served as executive vice president and director of the parent company and as president of Heller International Group. Previously, Lockhart held various positions, both domestic and international, with Citicorp/Citibank. In addition to his professional activities, Lockhart was a member of the boards of directors of several companies and was chairman of the Small Enterprise Assistance Funds, a not-for-profit operator of emerging markets venture capital funds. He holds a bachelor's degree in political science and economics from Stanford University and a master's degree in international economics and American foreign policy from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.
Paul M. Nash is senior deputy comptroller and chief of staff at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). In this role, Nash oversees the external affairs and communication functions of the OCC, including congressional liaison, banking relations, press relations, internal communication, minority affairs, Disclosure and Freedom of Information Act services, and publishing and design services. He also oversees the agency's enterprise governance functions. In addition, he directs the daily operations of the OCC's support staff and serves as a member of the OCC executive committee. He joined the OCC in May 2012. Prior to joining the OCC, Nash served as deputy to the chairman for external affairs at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) since 2009. In that role, he oversaw the operations of the FDIC's office of legislative affairs and office of the ombudsman. He assisted the agency in community bank outreach and was the designated federal officer for the advisory committee on community banking, established to examine issues unique to community banking. Nash previously served as executive director and counsel at Verizon Wireless in Washington, DC, from 2001 to 2009. Before that position, he served as a legislative assistant to Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) from 1997 to 2001, specializing in banking, health care, telecommunications, and labor issues. He also worked for the Congressional Research Service and practiced law in both Washington, DC, and New Orleans. Nash received a BA in international relations and history from the University of Pennsylvania and a law degree from Georgetown University.
John Owen is a senior executive vice president and head of business groups, including business services, consumer services, and wealth management, for Regions Financial Corporation. He also serves as a member of the Executive Council. Regions is a top U.S. bank-holding company headquartered in Birmingham with $127 billion in assets. It has more than 1,700 banking offices in 16 states. Owen joined Regions in 2007 as head of operations and technology. He then provided leadership for the company's consumer services group until being named head of business groups in 2012. Before joining Regions, he served as chief executive officer of Assurant Specialty Property, a Fortune 500 company based in Atlanta. Owen began his service at Assurant in 1998 as senior vice president of information technology. From 2003 until 2005 he held the position of chief operating officer of the Assurant Property and Solutions Group and was then promoted to CEO. Owen also served as senior vice president of Global Systems Development for Citicorp Credit Services and chief information officer of North American operations for Arrow Electronics. He began his career in 1983 in information systems with McDonnell-Douglas and American Airlines. Owen holds a bachelor's degree in aviation management from Auburn University School of Engineering. He is a graduate of Leadership Alabama, a board member on the Consumer Bankers Association, and a member of the Financial Services Roundtable.
Hugh Rowden is a senior vice president and regional director of Wells Fargo & Company. He manages national strategic planning and servicing outreach focused on home and property preservation efforts, brand and reputation management, mortgage servicing policy, and community stabilization. His strategic planning work is done nationally for the CLG community relations and outreach team. Regional responsibilities are focused in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Previously, Rowden served as an executive regional director, managing retail mortgage originations in the Southeast. He's been in the bank's residential lending division for 15 years. His current board responsibilities include Wells Fargo's Consumer Lending Groups Diversity Council, Advisory Council for the Atlanta Fed's Center for Real Estate Analytics, and Resources for Residents and Communities (RRC). He serves as president of the Men of Zion at Solid Rock AME Zion Church. Rowden attended the University of Northern Colorado for his undergraduate degree, the University of Arkansas Sam M. Walton School of Business for Middle Management Leadership Development, and the Eugene W. Stetson School of Business and Economics at Mercer University for his MBA.
Elisabet Rutstrom is the director of the Dean's Behavioral Economics Laboratory at Georgia State University Robinson College of Business. She holds a joint appointment in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. Her current research fields are in the area of behavioral economics, with a special focus on decision making under risk and uncertainty, and she has a current interest in risk management by poor working households. She does field research in the Atlanta area as well as in developing countries, including Pakistan, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, with applications to financial, health, and education risks. She has published extensively in international academic journals on various applications to risk and risk management, including wild fire risk and traffic congestion risk. She has also published applied policy research using computable general equilibrium models. Applications include international trade policy in less developed countries (Indonesia, Morocco, and Tunisia) and in the United States, as well as tax and agricultural policies in the European Union. Some of this work was conducted as a consultant to the World Bank. Rutstrom's research has been funded by, among others, the National Science Foundation, the Federal Highway Administration, the Danish Social Science Research Council, and the Carlsberg Foundation. She has published in international economic journals such as Econometrica, American Economic Review, Games and Economic Behavior, the Economic Journal, and the Journal of Environmental and Economic Management. She earned a PhD in economics from the Stockholm School of Economics.