Housing Executive Series 2025
Join us to stay ahead of the curve and make informed decisions in the ever-evolving environment by taking a wide view on trends across one of the biggest and most important areas of the economy.
Overview
The Moody's US Housing and Housing Finance Executive Series is your go-to forum for understanding the US residential real estate market, from home builders to lenders, REITs, RMBS, and state housing agencies. Join industry executives and our credit analysts for insightful discussions on challenges like sluggish sales and affordability pressures. This flagship virtual series offers expert market insights for investors, professionals, and housing enthusiasts—live or via replay.
Scroll down to view the confirmed executive speakers, register for one or multiple events with a single click, or learn more about each webinar.
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closeTimothy J. Mattke is chief executive officer of MGIC Investment Corporation and MGIC. He joined the company in 2006. Prior to his appointment as CEO, he served as executive vice president and chief financial officer from 2014 to 2019, controller from 2009 to 2014, and held other positions within the Accounting and Finance departments. Before joining MGIC, Mr. Mattke was an audit manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. He holds a bachelor’s in business administration and an MA in accountancy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Mr. Mattke currently serves on the Boards of Acts Housing, Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Wisconsin and Chicago, Inc., and sits on the Advisory Council of SecureFutures and the Advisory Board for the Accounting Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He previously served on the Board for the United Performing Arts Fund (UPAF).
Jay Bray serves as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mr. Cooper Group. Jay has also served in various leadership roles at Nationstar since joining the company in 2000.
Jay has more than 25 years of experience in the mortgage servicing and originations industry. From 1988 to 1994, he worked with Arthur Andersen in Atlanta, Georgia, where he served as an audit manager from 1992 to 1994. From 1994 to 2000, Jay held a variety of leadership roles at Bank of America and predecessor entities, where he managed the asset backed securitization process for mortgage-related products, developed and implemented a secondary execution strategy and profitability plan and managed investment banking relationships, secondary marketing operations and investor relations. Additionally, Jay led the portfolio acquisition, pricing and modeling group at Bank of America.
He holds a B.A.A. in Accounting from Auburn University and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Georgia.
Jim Dunbar is a Partner and Head of Real Estate Lending. He oversees commercial real estate debt strategies, including loan originations and loan trading. He has also led investments in real estate operating companies, hospitality assets and non-performing CRE loans. He is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee. Based in Minneapolis, he joined the firm in 2010 and was named Partner in 2022.
Prior to joining Värde, Jim was a Senior Vice President at Macquarie based in Chicago. He had multiple roles within its real estate business including commercial real estate investments with joint ventures partners, developing new business initiatives and forming real estate investment trusts. Prior to Macquarie, Jim worked for Salomon Smith Barney/Citigroup within its investment banking division in New York and Sydney.
Jim graduated from Boston College with a B.S. in Finance.
Jeffrey Baevsky serves as the Chief Financial Officer of Greystone. As CFO, he works directly with the company’s executive management team developing, implementing, and executing strategic business goals. Over his 11-year tenure with Greystone, Mr. Baevsky has been instrumental in building a robust and dynamic Finance Group where he cultivated relationships with numerous banking institutions, structured and led several rated securitizations, and played a pivotal role in establishing Greystone's Senior Debt Fund.
Prior to joining Greystone, Mr. Baevsky served as Head of Capital Markets at Gramercy Capital Corp., where he was responsible for arranging corporate and project debt and leading secondary loan trading activities. Throughout his career, he has advised on and completed mortgage-based credit facilities, mezzanine finance, off-balance sheet acquisition and asset development programs, and both public and private debt and equity capital placements.
Mr. Baevsky holds an M.B.A. in finance and real estate from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a Bachelor of Science and Engineering degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
James D. Allen is Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Forestar, positions he has held since March 2020. Mr. Allen joined Forestar with over 35 years of operating and financial experience in multiple industries including manufacturing, most recently serving as a Senior Operating Partner at Palm Beach Capital where he was responsible for operational oversight and executive and financial support of the firm’s portfolio companies. Prior to joining Palm Beach Capital, he served as CFO of Hollander Sleep Products and held a variety of executive roles at both private and public companies, including Operating Vice President and Group CFO at Sun Capital Partners, Chief Administrative Officer at Mattress Firm Inc. and a variety of C-Suite roles at Tandycrafts Inc. after spending 10 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers where he began his career.
Mr. Allen holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting and management from Evangel University.
Ms. Palmer is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Taylor Morrison Home Corporation, a leading national homebuilder and developer based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Since 2007, Ms. Palmer has overseen a highly experienced leadership team in several key national homebuilding markets. With more than 35 years of cross-functional building experience, including leadership in land acquisition, sales and marketing, development and operations management, Ms. Palmer has led Taylor Morrison into the top ranks of America’s largest public homebuilders, following the company’s IPO in 2013.
Under Ms. Palmer’s leadership, Taylor Morrison has been successful in creating trustworthy relationships with both internal and external customers, as evidenced by the Company holding the title of America’s Most Trusted® Home Builder for 10 consecutive years by Lifestory Research and recognized by Forbes as one of the Most Trusted and Best Companies in America in 2025. The Company also made Newsweek’s America’s Most Responsible Companies list in 2024 and was recognized by U.S. News & World Report as a Best Company to Work For.
With Ms. Palmer’s dedication to community, Taylor Morrison has made a profound impact across the country through its involvement with “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” and by building places of sanctuary for patients undergoing treatment at Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Ms. Palmer’s passions extend beyond homebuilding and enter the many realms of leadership, supporting veterans and solving for homelessness. In fact, she was named Builder’s Hearthstone Humanitarian in 2021 and served as the Chairman of the National Board of Directors of HomeAid America from 2019 to 2021. Currently, she serves as Chairman of the Building Talent Foundation, an organization that partners with homebuilders to address the vast trade labor shortage. With a strong commitment to building energy-efficient homes in our industry, Ms. Palmer currently serves on the Carlisle Companies’ Board of Directors. Ms. Palmer is retiring as a member of the board of directors of Offerpad Solutions Inc., a leading publicly traded tech-enabled platform for buying and selling residential real estate, at the June 2025 annual meeting, and previously served as a member of the board of directors of Interface, Inc., a leading publicly traded global manufacturer of modular carpet. Additionally, she serves as an Executive Committee Member of the Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) Policy Advisory Board at Harvard University.
Josh Smith has been Senior Managing Director and Treasurer of PennyMac Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE: PFSI) since January 2025, a role which encompasses all aspects of structured
finance, corporate finance, bank financing facilities and treasury management for PFSI and its affiliated entities.
Additionally, in 2025, Mr. Smith was recognized as a HousingWire Finance Leader, a distinction honoring the top 40 most impactful finance executives for their expertise in strategy, capital management, and operational efficiency within the financial services industry.
Prior to his current role he served as Managing Director and Treasurer at Pennymac. Mr. Smith has been with the organization for over 10 years, including nine years in which he managed Mortgage Finance within Capital Markets, where he was a key partner in the growth and development of Pennymac’s financing structures. He has deep expertise in capital markets, structured finance, bank financing facilities and treasury management.
Mr. Smith earned a B.S. in Biology from the University of Arizona, and an M.B.A. in Finance from the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School.
Rohit Gupta is President, CEO and Director of Enact Holdings. Passionate about helping more people responsibly achieve and maintain the dream of homeownership, Mr. Gupta works with lenders, regulators, and policy leaders to advocate for the value of mortgage insurance to a sustainable housing finance system. Prior to being named CEO, Mr. Gupta held the positions of Chief Commercial Officer & Senior Vice President of Products, Intelligence and Strategy, as well as Vice President of Commercial Operations, in Enact’s Mortgage Insurance business. Mr. Gupta currently serves as chairman and board member of the U.S. Mortgage Insurers trade association. He also serves on the board of the Mortgage Bankers Association and is a member of the Housing Policy Executive Council. In addition, Mr. Gupta served on the board of Aqua Finance, a consumer finance company owned by Blackstone, from 2020 to 2022, and previously served on the board of Sagen, Canada’s largest private mortgage insurance provider, from 2016 to 2019. Mr. Gupta is a catalyst for community change and served as the chair of the Genworth Foundation Board from 2018 to 2021, and currently serves as a board member of Pratham USA’s Raleigh chapter. Mr. Gupta began his career with FedEx in Strategic Marketing in 1998 where he was responsible for competitive intelligence and market analysis supporting FedEx senior management. He was hired by GE Capital as a Product Manager responsible for growing a new business line for an Information Technology business. Between 2003 and 2007, he held various marketing and commercial roles. Mr. Gupta has an MBA in Finance from University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and an under-graduate degree in Computer Science & Technology from Indian Institute of Technology. He resides in Raleigh, North Carolina with his two children.
Ms. Pak is the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Essex Property Trust since January 2021. She is responsible for the Financial Strategy of the Company, including managing the Capital Markets, Private Equity, Accounting, Tax, Treasury, Financial Planning & Analysis, Research & Analytics, Internal Audit, Due Diligence and Investor Relations departments. From 2014 to 2020 Ms. Pak held various roles within the Finance group, including leading the Capital Markets and Private Equity platforms. During her tenure at Essex, Ms. Pak successfully expanded access to capital and enhanced the balance sheet. Her accomplishments include issuing over $6 billion in unsecured bonds at attractive rates, including issuing the company’s inaugural 30-year unsecured bonds. In addition, she managed and expanded the +$4 billion co-investment platform, including raising new capital for acquisitions, monetizing existing promote income within the ventures and managing various development and redevelopment projects. Ms. Pak joined Essex in 2012 to lead the Investor Relations department where she successfully improved communications with the analyst community.
Prior to joining Essex, Ms. Pak’s career focused on REIT securities, including her time spent as a Portfolio Manager for Oak Hill REIT Management where she was responsible for the investment selection and strategy of the fund. Prior to that Ms. Pak worked at Green Street Advisors writing REIT research and advising clients on REIT investments.
Ms. Pak holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the University of South Dakota and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). She is a member of NAREIT.
Chrystal Kornegay is a mission-driven problem solver whose career is defined by repositioning organizations for growth. Her data-informed, laser focus on outcomes has led to increases in state investments in affordable housing and the launch of nationally recognized programs to advance mixed-income housing, climate resilience and homeownership.
For nearly two decades, Chrystal has held senior positions in the nonprofit and government sectors, using transactions to drive change. Under her leadership, MassHousing has grown to serve exponentially more people, and secured over $500M in government funds to expand housing production and preservation. More than one-fourth of the dollars that MassHousing has lent in the past-five decades have been delivered during Chrystal’s tenure.
Prior to joining Mass Housing, Chrystal served as Undersecretary of the Commonwealth’s Department of Housing and Community Development. She previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the community development corporation Urban Edge.
Chrystal lends her fun-loving spirit to the industry by serving on the boards of the National Council of State Housing Agencies and the National Housing Trust.
Chrystal holds a master’s degree in urban planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Hunter College.