Allen J. Fishbein is the director of housing and credit policy for the Consumer Federation of America (CFA). CFA is a national non-profit association of 300 pro-consumer organizations, with a combined membership of 50 million, founded in 1968 to advance the consumer cause through education, research, and advocacy. Allen directs CFA’s policy work in the areas of housing and housing finance and serves as its chief spokesperson and representative on these topics with the news media, financial services industry, public officials, and consumer and affordable housing organizations. He served at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as senior advisor for government sponsored enterprises oversight where he supervised the department’s establishment of affordable housing goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. While at HUD he also coordinated activities of the National Predatory Lending Task Force, a joint federal body established with the U.S. Treasury Department to investigate the problem of predatory mortgage lending. Allen was previously general counsel of the Center for Community Change and led the organization’s pioneering work on the Community Reinvestment Act, fair lending and other initiatives promoting responsible banking and credit practices. He represented community organizations in obtaining the first CRA regulatory denial of a bank expansion request. Allen frequently provides expert testimony before Congressional panels and is interviewed by national news media on a variety of home finance, consumer credit, and regulatory policy matters. He also has written numerous articles and authored publications and reports on this topics, including co-authorship of two recent CFA reports: Exotic or Toxic?: An Examination of the Non-Traditional Mortgage Market for Consumers and Lenders; and Subprime Locations: Patterns of Geographic Disparity in Subprime Lending. A member of the District of Columbia Bar, he was once honored as their “Consumer Lawyer of the Year.” The National Community Reinvestment Coalition also presented Allen this year with its William Proxmire award for career achievement. Allen earned his law degree from the Antioch School of Law in Washington, D.C.

Mark W. Griffith, Co-Director of the Neighborhood Economic Advocacy Development Project (NEDAP), was the founding Executive Director of the Central Brooklyn Partnership from 1991 to 2003. The Partnership, a membership and neighborhood-based organization, built the capacity of local people to exert political and economic power through direct action community organizing and cooperative, sustainable development. While directing the Partnership he also served as the founding Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Central Brooklyn Federal Credit Union, which at the time was the country’s largest Black-owned, community-based financial cooperative. Mark also addresses community development and economic justice issues through magazine journalism and public policy analysis. He maintains a column on community development at the Gotham Gazette and is a Fellow at the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy.

Robert Gutierrez is an Examining Officer in the Bank Supervision Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In September 1996, Mr. Gutierrez joined the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as a Senior Bank Examiner in the Bank Supervision Department’s Legal and Compliance Risk Group, leading consumer compliance and CRA Examinations of state member banks. Mr. Gutierrez currently manages the Consumer Compliance Examination Group. The Consumer Compliance Examination Group conducts consumer compliance, CRA, and fair lending examinations at holding companies and state member banks located in New York, New Jersey, Southern Connecticut, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. The state member banks under supervision have ranged from $600 Billion to $11 million in total assets. Prior to joining the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Mr. Gutierrez worked for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency from September 1993 to September 1996 and the Office of Thrift Supervision from October 1986 to September 1993. Mr. Gutierrez managed and participated in safety and soundness, consumer compliance, and CRA examinations of national banks and thrifts at these regulatory agencies. He also worked as an Assessment Auditor for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Mr. Gutierrez holds a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree with Pace University, New York and graduated from the Graduate School of Banking program with the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Barbara Kent received her law degree from New York Law School in 1974, graduating second in her class. Prior to that, Ms. Kent received her B.S. and M.A. from Case Western Reserve University. She was at the New York State Banking Department for approximately 21 years, during which time she was a lawyer, the Director of Consumer Affairs and Financial Products, and briefly the Acting Superintendent of Banks. Ms. Kent is now President of the Coalition for Debtor Education.

Sarah Ludwig is founder and executive director of the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project (NEDAP), a resource and advocacy center that promotes community economic justice in New York City. Since founding NEDAP in 1995, Sarah has worked with hundreds of community groups to develop local organizing and advocacy strategies to address redlining and lending discrimination. Sarah leads New Yorkers for Responsible Lending, a coalition of 135 community and consumer groups and community financial institutions dedicated to combating predatory lending practices. Sarah was a 2000 fellow in the Rockefeller Foundation's Next Generation Leadership Program, and in 2002 received the Union Square Award. In 2004, she was selected as a Ford Foundation Leadership for a Changing World awardee. Sarah was appointed in 2006 to serve on the Federal Reserve Board's Consumer Advisory Council. Sarah is an adjunct professor in urban planning at NYU's Wagner School of Public Service. She received a joint degree in law and urban planning from NYU.

Ruhi Maker is an attorney at Empire Justice Center in Rochester, New York. She obtained her law degree in 1979 from the London School of Economics (University of London). She works on affordable housing issues and community reinvestment issues. She co-convenes the Greater Rochester Community Reinvestment Coalition. She serves on the steering committee of New Yorkers for Responsible Lending. She served on the Federal Reserve Board’s Consumer Advisory Council from 2002-2004.

Richard Marsico practiced poverty law in the South Bronx for the Legal Aid Society before joining the faculty at New York Law School. His clients have included tenant associations, public assistance recipients, and community groups seeking bank investment in these low-income neighborhoods. His scholarly interests include lending discrimination and community reinvestment, and he is currently completing a book on the subject. He is a member of the board of directors of the Washingtonville Housing Alliance, a not-for-profit developer of affordable housing.

William Myers retired from Alternatives Federal Credit Union, which he founded in 1979 and where he was CEO through mid-2007, providing strategic direction as well as hands-on management of the credit union’s activities. From its inception, Alternatives has successfully focused on serving underserved markets with innovative products and partnerships. Alternatives became a leading community development credit union, noted innovations including a VITA tax preparation site, six-branch youth credit union, Business CENTS training, Money Wise financial planning, a Payday Alternatives product, Tompkins County Livable Wage Statistic, Community Partnership Lending, and Individual Development Accounts. At Aspen, Mr. Myers is working on issues of scale and reach for products and institutions for unbanked consumers. Mr. Myers is the List Manager for the Community Development Banking Listserve.

Josh Silver has had 17 years’ experience in the housing and community development field. As Vice President of Research and Policy, Mr. Silver develops NCRC’s policy positions, produces various research studies, and supervises a staff of research and policy analysts. He has written NCRC testimony submitted to the Senate and House Banking Committees on topics including financial modernization, predatory lending, and the effectiveness of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). He has also written several comment letters to federal banking agencies on subjects ranging from the merger application process, the content and accuracy of home and small business data, and fair lending issues. Prior to NCRC, Mr. Silver worked at the Urban Institute for five years, where he specialized in housing market analysis and program evaluation. Mr. Silver holds a Master’s degree in public affairs from the Lyndon Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin and earned a Bachelor’s degree in economics from Columbia University in New York City. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland with his wife and daughter.

Gregory D. Squires is a Professor of Sociology and Public Policy and Public Administration at George Washington University. Currently he is a member of the Board of Directors of the Woodstock Institute, the Advisory Board of the John Marshall Law School Fair Housing Legal Support Center in Chicago, Illinois, and the Social Science Advisory Board of the Poverty & Race Research Action Council in Washington, D.C. He has served as a consultant for civil rights organizations around the country and as a member of the Federal Reserve Board’s Consumer Advisory Council. He has written for several academic journals and general interest publications including Housing Policy Debate, Urban Studies, Social Science Quarterly, Urban Affairs Review, Journal of Urban Affairs, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. His recent books include Insurance Redlining (Urban Institute Press 1997), Color and Money (with Sally O’Connor - SUNY Press 2001), Urban Sprawl (Urban Institute Press 2002), Organizing Access to Capital (Temple University Press 2003), Why the Poor Pay More: How to Stop Predatory Lending (Praeger 2004), Privileged Places: Race, Residence and the Structure of Opportunity (with Charis E. Kubrin – Lynne Rienner 2006) and There is No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster: Race, Class, and Hurricane Katrina (with Chester Hartman – Routledge 2006).

John Taylor is President and CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. Raised in the housing projects of Boston and trained as an attorney, he has dedicated his life to economic justice. With over 25 years in the field, he has been the recipient of numerous local, state, and national awards, including the Martin Luther King, Jr. Peace Award, a United States Congress Citation/proclamation (twice), the State of Massachusetts Award for Excellence in Community Economic Development, and a Presidential Appointment to the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund. Mr. Taylor recently was appointed to the board of directors of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and the Leadership Conference for Civil Rights. He has also served on several other national boards, including the Consumer Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank Board, The Fannie Mae Housing Impact Division, The Freddie Mac Housing Advisory Board, and many others. He has appeared on ABC's Nightline, CBS, Fox News, CNN, The Lou Dobbs Show, CSPAN, in The New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and hundreds of other print, television, and radio media. Finally, Mr. Taylor has testified before numerous congressional committees, both in the US Senate and the House of Representatives.

Warren W. Traiger, a partner at Traiger & Hinckley LLP in New York City, counsels financial institutions on regulatory matters, particularly issues involving fair lending and the Community Reinvestment Act. Mr. Traiger argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals in Lee v. Board of Governors, 118 F.3d 905, 911 (2d Cir. 1997), a benchmark case that helped define the rights of community organizations to challenge Federal Reserve Board determinations. He has testified before Congress and the federal banking agencies on fair lending and CRA and advised the New York Banking Department on predatory lending regulation. Mr. Traiger previously served as counsel to the New York Bankers Association and as a New York City Department of Consumer Affairs and New York State Consumer Protection Board official. Mr. Traiger graduated from New York University School of Law and holds a magna cum laude degree in Government from Cornell University.

Mark A. Willis is executive vice president of JPMorgan Chase Bank and head of the Community Development Group. He is responsible for coordinating the corporation’s community development programs and products to help strengthen low- and moderate-income communities. This responsibility includes: the development and implementation of innovative lending and investment programs for affordable housing, community economic development, and small businesses; community relations; and corporate oversight of Fair Lending and Community Reinvestment Act compliance. Mr. Willis also chairs the JPMorgan Chase Community Development Corporation, is on the Board of Trustees of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation and co-chairs the steering committee of the corporate Supplier Diversity Program. Before joining Chase in 1989, Mr. Willis held various positions with the City of New York, culminating in his appointment as Deputy Commissioner for Development of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Presently, Mr. Willis is Chairman of the New York Community Investment Company and is Co-Chair of Living Cities: The National Community Development Initiative. He also chairs the Consumer Bankers Association Community Reinvestment Committee and is a member of the Bankers/Community Collaborative Council of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. He serves on the boards of a number of other organizations including the National Equity Fund (Executive Committee), and the Community Preservation Corp., and chairs the Advisory Board of the Community Development Research Center. He writes and lectures widely on urban issues and community development. Mr. Willis has a B.A. in economics from Yale University, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and a Ph.D. in urban economics and industrial organization from Yale University.