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MBA introduces 2024 officers at annual convention

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Conference Coverage
Friday, October 20, 2023

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) introduced its 2024 officers during the organization’s 2023 convention and exposition in Philadelphia. The association’s new chairman, Mark Jones, president of Union Home Mortgage and founder of Amerifirst Home Mortgage, said he plans to make his top priority will be affordable homeownership.  

Jones was sworn in alongside 2024 MBA Chair-Elect and Lennar Mortgage President Laura Escobar and 2024 MBA Vice Chair M&T Reality Capital Corp. Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Christine Chandler (vice chair) during the opening general session of the conference.

“I have been a proud part of the MBA family for nearly four decades and am incredibly honored and ecstatic to serve as the next chairman,” Jones said. “With the support of Laura Escobar and Christine Chandler, I am confident that our industry will overcome the current tough market environment. I am committed to promoting financial literacy for young adults and focusing on advocacy initiatives that increase housing supply and improve affordability in communities across America.”

Escobar is a 36-year real estate finance industry veteran who has held leadership positions with both bank-owned and independent mortgage companies overseeing all aspects of mortgage banking. Escobar serves on several advisory boards and committees, including MBA’s 2022-2023 board of directors, and as vice chair of MBA’s DEI Advisory Committee. She is also a member of the MORPAC Steering Committee; Fannie Mae AHAC; Freddie Mac Advisory Board; NAHREP; NAMMBA Visionary Ambassador; and United Way’s chapter – Women United.  

Chandler has been with M&T since 1991 and has more than 30 years of experience in commercial real estate finance. Since 2018, she has been responsible for making credit decisions for M&T RCC multifamily and healthcare transactions underwritten in the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and FHA platforms as well as managing the company’s operations and its Asset Management Group and Transformation team.  

Jones co-founded Amerifirst in 1983 and oversaw its growth from a single location in Kalamazoo, Mich., to more than 80 full-service locations and 900 personnel nationwide. In January 2023, Amerifirst merged with Union Home Mortgage. Prior to its merger with Union Home Mortgage, Amerifirst was the top USDA lender, ranked third in FHA lending in Michigan, and ranked 13th in FHA lending in Florida.

Jones described how MBA’s help was critical to his company’s survival during its formative years and through the savings and loan crisis in the late 1980s. Amerifirst recently merged with Union Home Mortgage as a strategic move given the tightening market conditions.

“Only fools started a mortgage business back then. At least, that’s what a lot of my friends and family told me. It would almost be like opening a Blockbuster video right now,” Jones said. “Honestly, one of the big reasons we survived was the Mortgage Bankers Association. This organization gave us the right insights at the right moment. And when I came to my first MBA conference, I was hooked. I knew I’d always come back and be part of this group.

“With MBA’s help, we weathered that early storm. And we did it again when things turned south in the late 1980s, with the savings and loan crisis. Like today, none of us saw it coming. But also like today, we all did what we had to do,” he added.

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