Melanie Aitken

Commissioner of Competition
Competition Bureau of Canada

Melanie Aitken, commissioner of competition for Canada's Competition Bureau, an agency similar to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, oversaw the ratification of a consent agreement this year between the bureau and the Canadian Real Estate Association, a Realtor trade group that operates Canada's Realtor.ca real estate search website. The agreement brought to rest a 3 1/2-year dispute over rules that the Competition Bureau deemed restrictive to some forms... of limited-service real estate brokerage. The Competition Bureau had filed a complaint against CREA in February 2010. Aitken served as interim commissioner from Jan. 12, 2009, to Aug. 4, 2009, before she was appointed as commissioner for a five-year term that year.

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Sheila C. Bair

Chairman
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

While bank failures are expected to exceed the 2009 volume, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila C. Bair has said she expects bank failures to peak this year. FDIC has a mission to protect bank customers’ deposits in the event a bank goes belly up. The FDIC reported that FDIC-insured institutions earned an aggregate profit of $14.5 billion in third-quarter 2010, much improved from $2 billion earned in third-quarter 2009. But the number of... institutions on the agency’s “Problem List,” with increased risk of failure, rose to 860 in the third quarter, which was the highest level since March 31, 1993. The agency had intervened in 127 failures of FDIC-institutions in the first three quarters of the year. Bair has served as FDIC chairman since 2006, and she had earlier served as assistant secretary for financial institutions at the U.S. Department of Treasury and as senior vice president for government relations of the New York Stock Exchange.

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Ben Bernanke

Chairman
Federal Reserve Board

After implementing drastic measures during his first term that supporters say prevented a meltdown of the financial system, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke was rewarded with a second four-year term and will continue leading the Fed through 2014. The Fed's massive purchases of mortgage-backed securities were credited with helping keep mortgage rates low in 2010. But some critics fear that the program's successor, "QE2" -- a second round of quantitative... easing through the purchase of Treasurys -- will spark inflation. With Bernanke's position at the helm secure, some Fed critics are now directing their animosity at the institution itself, demanding that it be stripped of its independence, if not abolished altogether. But implementation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 is expected to give the Fed -- and Bernanke -- greater regulatory powers.

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Christopher J. Dodd

U.S. Senator
Connecticut

As chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Sen. Chris Dodd capped a 30-year career in the U.S. Senate by helping shepherd the financial regulatory reform bill that bears his name -- the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 -- to President Obama's desk. Like his colleague in the House, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., Dodd was an ally of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the housing boom. Although Dodd, Frank and other Democrats... supported legislation aimed at strengthening oversight of Fannie and Freddie, they opposed Republicans' attempts to cap the mortgage giants' portfolios during the Bush administration. In his final term, Dodd was embroiled in controversy over his participation in Countrywide Financial's "Friends of Angelo" program, which allegedly allowed him to take out two mortgages at below market rates. Dodd said he didn't get a sweetheart deal on the mortgages, and a Senate ethics panel later found no evidence that he'd sought special treatment from Countrywide.

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Shaun Donovan

Secretary
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Shaun Donovan, former commissioner for the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, took office as secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in January 2009. Donovan oversees the Federal Housing Administration, which is the largest government insurer of mortgages. The FHA has been instrumental in assisting buyers acquire loans in an environment of restrictive lending. HUD has worked to implement several... Obama administration programs intended to avoid foreclosure, such as the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives program, which is intended to expedite short sales or deeds in lieu of foreclosure for those who do not qualify for loan mods via the federal Home Affordable Modification Program -- HAMP has been widely criticized for its failure to produce a high rate of successful, permanent loan mods. During the Clinton administration, Donovan had served as deputy assistant secretary for multifamily housing and had served as acting FHA commissioner during the transition from the Clinton to Bush administrations.

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Kenneth R. Feinberg

Founder and Managing Partner
Feinberg Rozen LLP

Perhaps best as the administrator of the fund created to compensate victims of the 9/11 attacks, Kenneth R. Feinberg became an important person in the lives of many Gulf Coast Realtors when he was put in charge of the $20 billion fund established to compensate victims of the BP oil spill. After meeting with Realtor associations and brokers, and engaging in talks coordinated by NAR CEO Dale Stinton, Feinberg "walked out on a limb" and carved $60 million... out of the fund that was earmarked for real estate professionals. Realtor associations in five states -- Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida -- distributed the funds. Addressing Realtors in November in New Orleans, Feinberg said "my trust in you has been vindicated 1,000 percent." Feinberg wrote a book about his experiences administering the 9/11 fund. As an arbitrator, he helped determine the fair market value of the original Zapruder film of the Kennedy assassination, and legal fees in Holocaust slave labor litigation.

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Barney Frank

U.S. Congressman
Massachusetts

As chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Rep. Barney Frank played a key role in shaping the landmark financial regulatory reform bill that bears his name: the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. The bill -- the most extensive revision of the U.S. financial regulatory system since the Great Depression -- creates a new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection with jurisdiction over mortgage lenders and other providers... of consumer financial products. Many in the lending industry fear Dodd-Frank will restrict credit and create additional cost and complexity. Frank, who has served in Congress since 1981, will step down as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee next year, when the 112th Congress is sworn in. Republicans, who will be in the majority, have elected Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., to chair the committee, but Frank will continue to play a leadership role as the committee's ranking Democrat.

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Charles E. 'Ed' Haldeman Jr.

CEO
Freddie Mac

Charles E. "Ed" Haldeman Jr. was named CEO for secondary mortgage giant Freddie Mac in July 2009. He had formerly served as chairman of Putnam Investment Management LLC, where he worked to reorganize the company during a period of scandal involving improper trading by the company's managers. While he lacked a background in the mortgage and housing industries, Haldeman has said that his navigation of the regulatory issues and experience in working with... financial services companies helped to prepare him for his role at Freddie Mac. The fate of Freddie Mac and sister mortgage entity Fannie Mae has been a political bouncing ball since the government-sponsored entitites were placed under conservatorship by the U.S. Treasury Department in September 2008, and legislation restructuring their role may not come to pass until 2012 or beyond. Haldeman had earlier served as chairman and CEO for Delaware Investments and as president and chief operating officer for United Asset Management Corp.

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Tom Miller

Attorney General
Iowa

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller this year took the lead in the Mortgage Foreclosure Multistate Group, with membership from all 50 state attorneys general and dozens of state banking and mortgage regulators, to delve into the "robo-signing" scandal over the improper processing of foreclosure documentation. Among the goals of the group, according to an October announcement: stopping improper mortgage foreclosure practices and establishing a mechanism for... better, independent monitoring of future practices. The robo-signing scandal has slowed the foreclosure process, as several major loan services temporarily halted foreclosure practices to review their practices. Miller's office established a Mortgage Help Hotline as a resource for distressed homeowners. Miller served as Iowa's attorney general from 1979-91, was elected to the office again in 1994, and was re-elected in 1998, 2002 and 2006. He has served as president of the National Association of Attorneys General.

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David Stevens

Commissioner
Federal Housing Administration

As the Obama administration's pick to run the Federal Housing Administration, David Stevens has so far managed to steer the FHA's loan guarantee program clear of the need for a taxpayer bailout. The former Long & Foster Cos. president and chief operating officer has implemented a series of changes to FHA's underwriting standards and premium structures that are intended to restore the program's capital cushion. Anticipated claims from loans insured... at the height of the housing bubble continue to weigh on FHA's capital reserve ratio. FHA now insures about 40 percent of purchase loans, and some critics have charged that FHA has shifted its focus away from low- and moderate-income borrowers. Earlier in his career, Stevens spent 16 years with World Savings Bank and also served in executive roles at Wells Fargo and Freddie Mac.

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Michael J. Williams

President and CEO
Fannie Mae

Michael J. Williams was appointed to lead Fannie Mae in 2009 as the company continued to play a key role in responding to the housing crisis. Williams says he's focused on supporting realistic, common-sense lending, building a profitable new book of business, reducing credit losses on its legacy book, and transforming the company to better serve the housing and mortgage markets. In a career with Fannie Mae spanning nearly 20 years, Williams has been senior... vice president for eCommerce, helping bring Fannie Mae into the digital era by leading the development of Desktop Underwriter. In 2005, he was named executive vice president and chief operating officer, later overseeing Fannie Mae's role as administrator of the U.S. Treasury Department's Making Home Affordable program, bolstering the company's foreclosure prevention and credit loss mitigation operations and managing the majority of the organization. Since 2009, Fannie Mae has helped 475,000 homeowners avoid foreclosure through loan modifications and workouts.

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