Meet the Experts

Office of Housing and Community Investment ​

Ted Wartell, Associate Director

Expertise: affordable housing, federal housing programs, financial regulation, mortgage finance. Four years managing the Office of Housing and Community Investment since its creation. Prior to FHFA, served as the Director of Regulator​y Affairs at the Office of Comptroller of the Currency.  He also served as chief of staff for Community Lending at Fannie Mae. Served as Directo​r of the Office of Policy at the U.S. Small Business Administration and as a budget analyst for affordable housing programs at the U​.S. Office of Management and Budget. M.P.P., University of Chicago and B.A., Northwestern University.​

Rona Richardson, Administrative Office Manager

Expertise: office administration, new technology implementation, federal records management and other federal administrative protocols. Ten years at FHFA, having been transferred with the rest of HUD's Enterprise mission oversight staff, with which she had worked for eight years in the GSE offices.  While at HUD she was recognized for her work on special projects involving HUD's Community Builders program, databases, reorganizations and procurement within the Office of Personnel.  She carries out all administrative duties for OHCI and is OHCI's Records Management Liaison.

Enterprise Housing Goals Team

Padmasini (Padma) Raman, Team Lead, Supervisory Policy Analyst

Expertise: Affordable housing markets and finance, primary and secondary housing market analyses, econometric and economic analysis. Padma joined FHFA in 2015 as the team lead for the Enterprise Housing Goals team. Prior to that she was an economist in the Housing Finance Analysis Division of the Office of Policy Development and Research at HUD.  She has over 22 years of experience conducting research, analyzing and monitoring housing markets, including over ten years at Fannie Mae as an economist and in multiple product management roles. Ph.D. in Economics from Rutgers University.

Omena Ubogu, Senior Policy Analyst

Expertise: Quantitative research, data analysis and visualization, and modeling. Joined FHFA in 2018. Twelve years in real estate research and forecasting at CoStar Group. M.A. in Applied Economics, University of Michigan.

Jeanie Shattuck Lemons, Senior Policy Analyst

Expertise: Federal affordable housing and community development policy, research, communications, policy analysis. Joined FHFA in 2016. Previous experience working on federal, state and local housing policy  at Enterprise Community Partners. Prior to graduate school, experience working on the government relations team at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. MA in Public Policy, Duke University; B.A. in Government/Political Science, Franklin & Marshall College.

Samson Ramasamy, Economist

Expertise: Econometrics, data analysis, and visualizations. Joined FHFA in 2023. While completing his undergraduate degree, Samson worked on the communications team at the Bureau of Economic Analysis. M.S. in Economics, Georgetown University; B.A. in Economics and Business Management, Washington College.

Victoria Hume, Policy Analyst

Expertise: Policy analysis, econometrics, qualitative and quantitative research. Joined FHFA in 2023. Previous experience working on program evaluation and policy analysis at Government Accountability Office and Department of Education. MPP from The Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia; BA in Political Theory/Government from the University of Virginia​.

Duty to Serve Team

Arun Barman, Senior Economist

Expertise: Housing finance and mortgage markets, economic modeling and trends, metropolitan and regional housing market analysis, high-LTV refinance programs, affordable housing programs, data visualization, policy analysis, and program management. Barman has worked at FHFA for over five years in various roles, in OPAR, OFAMS and now leading data analytics and monitoring of the Duty to Serve program. Barman joined FHFA in February 2014 from Deloitte and Touche where he provided risk analysis for Ginnie Mae.  He also worked as a Research Economist at the National Association of Realtors, and Economist at the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Brookings Institution. Master's degree, London School of Economics. M.A., University of Toledo. B.A., U.C.L.A.

Marcea Barringer, Supervisory Policy Analyst

Expertise: Affordable rental housing finance, low-moderate income homeownership finance and counseling, housing and community development policy analysis.  Barringer joined FHFA in 2017, and currently leads the Duty to Serve Program team.  Previously, she served as team lead for the Federal Home Loan Bank Affordable policy team at FHFA. Before coming to FHFA, Barringer worked for NeighborWorks America for nine years. She has over twenty years of experience in the affordable housing field, including as a technical assistance provider, CDFI lender, and Low Income Housing Tax Credit syndicator.  M.P.A. and certificate in Urban and Regional Planning, School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University; B.A. in Architectural Studies, Brown University. 

Lauren Boyd, Policy Analyst

Expertise:  Affordable housing programs, policy analysis.  Boyd joined FHFA in August 2020.  Previously, she was a Jr. Analyst at The Cloudburst Group where she held the coordinator role for projects supporting Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) programs.  Master's degree in Public Policy focusing on Urban Policy, George Washington University; B.S. in Political Science and Mass Communication, Towson University.  

Rebecca Cohen, Senior Policy Analyst

Expertise: Affordable housing programs, state and local housing and land use policy, policy analysis, and program evaluation. Cohen joined FHFA in 2019. Previously, she was an Associate at Abt Associates, where she worked on projects related to state and local affordable housing policy, homelessness, disaster response and recovery, and financial literacy and asset-building.  Before Abt, Cohen was at the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), where she supported BPC's Housing Commission in developing recommendations for reform of the U.S. housing finance system; and the Center for Housing Policy. Master's degree in Urban and Regional Planning, Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota; B.A. in Cultural Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis.  ​

Toi N. Roberts, Program Analyst

Expertise: Executive office management and administration, project management, project tracking and organization, records and information management, budget planning and execution, contracting representative, computer software technology and implementation.  Roberts joined FHFA's predecessor agency, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) in 2000 and has provided executive assistance to the Director's office under four Directors. Throughout her tenure, she has assisted the Capital program office in the writing of the Risk-Based Capital rule, developed and maintained the agency executive review tracking system and process, and served as the COR on the agency's HARP Campaign project.​

Joshua Sagartz, Policy Analyst

Expertise: Affordable housing programs, policy analysis. Sagartz joined FHFA in March 2022. Previously, he was a Policy Analyst at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s (HPD) Office of Policy and Strategy where he monitored and reported on performance indicators of HPD’s affordable housing production. Further, he analyzed the performance of NYC’s housing lottery system. He graduated from the University of Virginia with a Master of Public Policy and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia.

Federal Home Loan Banks Affordable Programs Branch

Tiffani Moore, Supervisory Policy Analyst 

Expertise: affordable housing finance and homelessness program regulatory and policy development, analysis, and implementation; program monitoring and compliance. Joined FHFA in February 2017. Previously, she was employed with the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) in the Office of Community Planning & Development where she supported the Office of Affordable Housing Programs in the administration of the HOME Program and the Housing Trust Fund, the Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs as the Team Lead of the Continuum of Care Program Regulation and Policy Team, and a field office as a Community Planning and Development Representative. She also provided staff support to Harris County (TX) in the administration of its HUD affordable housing and community development allocation. 
M.B.A., University of Virginia; Master of Urban Planning with a concentration in community and economic development, University of Michigan; and B.A. in English, magna cum laude, Dillard University.​

Shannon Fountain, Senior Policy Analyst

Expertise: affordable single-family and multifamily housing development and finance, owner-occupied housing rehabilitation, community economic development in low-income communities, primary and secondary market lending, housing finance program development, delivery and administration. Fountain joined FHFA in May 2022; previously, she worked a total of twelve years at the Federal Home Loan Banks of Indianapolis and Atlanta serving in leadership roles supporting the Affordable Housing Program and the Community Investment Program. She has over twenty years of experience in the housing finance industry serving in various roles focused on housing finance at Fannie Mae, the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, and Banc One Mortgage Corporation. She earned a B.A. in Political Science from Indiana University- Bloomington and is a National Development Council Certified Housing Development Finance Professional. 

Eric Howard, Principal Policy Analyst

Expertise: Regulatory and policy development, program development and implementation, financial institution examination, equal employment opportunity, affirmative employment, special emphasis programs, diversity outreach initiatives, program monitoring and compliance, alternative dispute resolution. Twelve years at FHFA including 4 years with OHCI developing the proposed and final rules for the AHP. Previously at FHFA, Eric served as Deputy Director Office of Minority and Women Inclusion, and EEO and Diversity Director.  Eric spent 23 years at the Farm Credit Administration as a Senior Policy Analyst, EEO Director, Ombudsman, and Commissioned Examiner. M.S., Human Resources Management and Services, University of Maryland; B.A. in Finance, Oklahoma State University.​

​Mike Price, Senior Policy Analyst

Expertise: manufactured housing, Community Support Program, Affordable Housing Program, Duty to Serve, Enterprise and Federal Home Loan Bank housing goals, and fair lending. Started with FHFA in February 2009; previously served at the Department of Housing and Urban Development overseeing the Enterprises. Projects have included developing regulations, monitoring compliance, developing and presenting executive briefing materials, analyzing legislation, teaching mortgage finance and securitization to incoming agency staff, and speaking on behalf of the agency at conferences and interagency events. Law degree and bachelor's degree, University of Georgia. Member of the District of Columbia Bar and the State Bar of Georgia.​

Danielle Safran, Senior Economist

Expertise: Data analysis and data visualization, market research, and technical writing. Data expertise in Federal Home Loan Bank housing programs. Additional Federal Home Loan Bank experience includes market risk board reporting, corporate and board governance, executive compensation, and speechwriting. Before FHFA, Danielle worked in labor market economics and statistics. She holds an M.B.A. from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, and a B.A. in Economics, cum laude, from Harvard University.​

Office of Capital Policy

Caroline Hopkins, Senior Economist

Hopkins develops and maintains single-family mortgage credit models and provides analytical support to the development of regulatory capital policy for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In support of FHFA’s Climate Change and ESG work, she co-leads FHFA’s Data and Research Working Group and is a member of the FHFA’s Assessing Exposure Working Group. Her expertise is in environmental economics, and her research currently focuses on natural disaster risk and mortgage finance.

Hopkins has a B.A. in Economics from Washington and Lee University and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Economics from Carnegie Mellon University Tepper School of Business. Prior to her graduate studies, she was a research analyst for The Brattle Group.

Alexandra Marr, Senior Economist

Marr develops and maintains single-family mortgage credit models and provides analytical support to the development of regulatory capital policy for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In support of FHFA’s Climate Change and ESG work, she is a member of FHFA’s Data and Research Working Group and FHFA’s Assessing Exposure Working Group. Her expertise is in labor economics and machine learning, her research currently focuses on borrower behavior and natural disaster risk.

Marr has a B.S. in Cognitive Science from the University of California Merced and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California Irvine.

David Roderer, Senior Financial Analyst

Roderer is responsible for the Annual Guarantee Fee Report and the Monthly Interest Rate Survey.  Over the last four years he has worked extensively on finding the appropriate level of guarantee fees.  He has been with the FHFA and FHFB for 11 years in the Office of Policy Analysis & Research and the Division of Bank Regulation.  Before that he worked for the OCC for ten years, in Economics and Compliance.  He has a B.A. in Mathematics from Macalester College.

Ron Sugarman, Principal Legislative Analyst

Sugarman has more than 30 years of experience in federal housing finance programs. His recent work has focused on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guarantee fee policy analysis, Dodd-Frank implementation (credit risk retention and swap margin rules), writing a working paper on the National Survey of Mortgage Originations, writing part of the Enterprise capital rule, and international coordination. Prior to joining OFHEO (one of FHFA's predecessor agencies), he worked at HUD on the FHA and Ginnie Mae programs. ​He earned his B.A. in Quantitative Studies at Johns Hopkins University.​

Xiaoqiang (Charles) Hu, Supervisory Financial Analyst

Hu leads a team developing and maintaining single-family mortgage credit models and providing analytical support to the development of regulatory capital policy for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He additionally co-leads FHFA’s Assessing Exposure Working Group in support of FHFA’s Climate Change and ESG work. Hu’s 30-year career span academia, private sectors, and federal government. His expertise is in applied macroeconomics and finance, and his research currently focuses on climate risk and mortgage finance. His research products have been published in peer-reviewed academic journals.

Hu received his Ph.D. in economics from Boston College, his MA in economics from Nankai University, and BS in physics from Huangshan University in China.

Division of Research and Statistics

Robert B. Avery, National Mortgage Database Project Director

Avery joined FHFA after retiring as a Senior Economist from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in 2012. Previously he was a Professor at Cornell University and an Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon University.

For the Board of Governors, Avery’s work focused on supervisory issues related to community affairs and bank supervision. He coauthored numerous studies in these areas including the Federal Reserve’s Congressional Report on Disparate Impact in Credit Scoring, Federal Reserve Bulletin articles on Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data, and revisions to the Community Reinvestment Act in 2005. Avery also was a founder of the tri-annual Survey of Consumer Finances and designed the loan sampling systems used for the Federal Reserve’s examinations of large, syndicated loans and small bank safety and soundness. He has a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Ross Batzer, Economist

Batzer studies how the housing market drives outcomes in asset markets and the macroeconomy. Prior to FHFA, Ross worked as a Research Analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

Specializing in macroeconomic modeling, Batzer’s state-of-the-art computational models have shown how policy tools can be tuned properly across business cycles as well as throughout an individual's lifecycle for more efficient systems. He has a B.S. and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Minnesota.

Joshua Bosshardt, ​Economist

Bosshardt specializes in research on financial intermediaries, including topics related to mortgage lending, liquidity, and lender business models. Bosshardt’s research focuses on forbearances, usage of appraisal waivers, and underwriting standards, each with a focus on a comparison between banks and nonbanks. He has presented at conferences organized by the Financial Intermediation Research Society, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Financial Management Association.

Bosshardt is a member of the Financial Management Association and the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Economics from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prior to his graduate studies, he was a Research Assistant at the International Monetary Fund.

Becka Brolinson, Senior Economist

Brolinson specializes in environmental economics, focusing on energy economics and natural disaster risk in mortgage finance. Her research has focused on household response to residential energy prices, green labeling of commercial office space, and natural disaster risk in mortgage finance. She has presented at conferences hosted by the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, the Southern Economics Association, the United States Association for Energy Economics, Camp Resources at North Carolina State University, the Young Economists Symposium at Columbia University, and the Heartland Conference on Environmental and Resource Economics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She additionally co-leads FHFA’s Data and Research Working Group related to climate risk and is a member of the Division of Research and Statistics’ Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

Brolinson has a B.A. in Economics with Minors in Mathematics and Spanish from the University of Vermont and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from Georgetown University.

Shawn J. Bucholtz, Chief Data Officer; Senior Associate Director, Office of the Chief Data Officer

Among Bucholtz’s many responsibilities are providing executive leadership for FHFA’s Data Governance Committee and overseeing implementation of the Evidence Act. His greatest passion is improving the quantity and quality of the data disseminated to the public. Bucholtz previously served as Director of the Housing and Demographic Analysis Division at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Policy Development and Research, where he oversaw the American Housing Survey and HUD’s other housing surveys. Prior to HUD, he was at the Department of Agriculture in various roles.

Bucholtz has a B.S. in Public Resource Management from Michigan State University, an M.S. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of Maryland, and a Ph.D. in Computational Social Science from George Mason University.

Charles Capone, Supervisory Economist

Capone joined FHFA in 2020 after a 35-year career spanning academia, government, and banking. He now leads a team looking at new product proposals for feasibility and viability. Capone specializes in mortgage credit risk analysis and has built and led teams building models of credit risk, portfolio valuation, and capital requirements. His written work appears in professional/academic journals, reports to Congress, and internal working papers and documents.

In his prior roles, Capone developed the expanded loan limit regime for the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac that assured housing credit availability in the unfolding financial crisis, oversaw capital valuation for FHA through the financial crisis, and managed (Basel II/III) Advanced Approaches models of capital determination for single-family mortgages at JPMorgan Chase in the post-crisis period. He has a B.S. in Business Administration from LaSalle University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Virginia.

Chi-Cheol Chung, Senior Financial Analyst

Chung is responsible for leading research on housing affordability. His expertise includes FHFA’s Neighborhood Stabilization Initiatives. Recently, he published a research paper on a new home affordability estimate. Prior to FHFA, he worked at various organizations including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Barclays, focusing on fixed-income capital markets and market risk management.

Chung’s expertise is in data and modeling, credit and market risk assessment, the risk-based capital framework, and policy analysis. He has a Business degree with concentrations in Finance, Economics, and Marketing from the University of Virginia.

Daniel E. Coates, Deputy Director

Coates is responsible for using economics, research, and data analytics to enhance FHFA's regulatory policy, supervision, and oversight. Coates previously served as Senior Advisor to the Acting Director. Before becoming a Senior Advisor in the Office of the Director, Coates served as a Senior Associate Director in FHFA's Division of Bank Regulation, where he led a team of economists and financial analysts. His team was responsible for targeted credit and market risk examinations to support the FHFA's examinations of the Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks). Additionally, Coates led a team of financial analysts who evaluated the financial condition and performance of the FHLBanks. He serves as the Chairman of the FHFA's Reference Rate Transition Steering Committee, which oversees the FHFA's regulated entities' transitions away from LIBOR and other reference rates. Coates is also the FHFA's representative to the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC). He is also the Executive Sponsor of FHFA's Climate Change and ESG working group. Before joining FHFA, Coates served as an Associate Director leading the Division of Research at the Federal Housing Finance Board. Previously he served as a Senior Economist at the U.S. General Accounting Office (now the Government Accountability Office). He earned his Ph.D. (with distinction) in economics from Columbia University, and his MA and BS in economics from the University of Delaware.

Justin Contat, Senior Economist

Contat conducts research on housing and mortgage markets, with a focus in search theory and general buyer/borrower behavior. His work often entails adapting theoretical frameworks to study empirical problems in new ways. He assists in data production for the FHFA House Price Index (HPI) and has been a member of the Climate Change and Environmental, Social, and Governance Working Group. Prior to joining FHFA, he taught at Longwood University.

Contat’s current interests include the strategic incentives of seller disclosures in real estate listings, housing market liquidity, and the dual role of housing as consumption and investment. He is a member of the American Economic Association, the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, and the American Real Estate Society. He has a B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Florida and a Ph.D.in Economics, focusing on Auction Theory, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Lawrence Costa, Economist

Costa's research focus centers around education and its relationship to lifecycle earnings and unemployment, which he studies using computational models of the working lifetime. He uses his modeling expertise to study the housing market.

Costa has a B.S. in Economics from New York University and Ph.D. in Economics from Georgetown University.

Jonah Coste, Economist

Coste conducts research on housing and mortgage markets and is especially interested in topics related to property taxes, household finance, and housing supply. He has presented his work at the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association National Conference.

Coste is a member of the American Economic Association, the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, and the American Real Estate Society. He has experience working on consumer finance topics at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. He received his Ph.D. in economics from George Washington University and his B.S. in Computational Finance from Carnegie Mellon University.

Will Doerner, Supervisory Economist

Doerner leads a team of Economists doing research in housing, mortgage markets, and real estate. He provides thoughtful data-driven leadership on national policy issues. His recent research products have won professional awards, been published in academic and industry journals, and formed the basis for stories in leading news sources. Doerner brings a combination of practical and academic experiences that includes being appointed as a Commissioner for the Prince George's County, Maryland Planning Board, serving on the Hyattsville Planning Committee, and working in property appraisal and valuation for both state and county agencies in Florida.

Doerner has a B.S. in Mathematics-Economics and Urban Studies from Furman University and an M.S and Ph.D. in Economics from Florida State University.

Rashida Dorsey-Johnson, Supervisory Statistician

Dorsey-Johnson is Chief of the Statistical Products Branch in the Office of the Chief Data Officer. She leads production and publication of innovative public-facing data products featuring FHFA’s data assets. In this role, she supports implementation of open data provisions in the Evidence Act to expand transparency and advance equity. Dorsey-Johnson previously was the Director for Data Development and Information Products in the Office of the Chief Data Officer at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Prior to EEOC, she was at the Department of Health and Human Services in various data, policy, and equity leadership roles.

Dorsey-Johnson has a B.S. in Neurobiology and Physiology from the University of Maryland, College Park, an M.P.H. from Saint Louis University, and a Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the University of Pittsburgh.

McLane Driskill, Economist

Driskill joined the Statistical Products Branch through the Research Assistant Mentorship Program (RAMP). He assists with producing the Uniform Appraisal Dataset Aggregate Statistics and promoting FHFA data products through research and blogs. As an undergraduate, he interned at the House of Representatives, worked as an Editorial Assistant for the International Studies Quarterly journal, and was a Research Assistant on a project funded by the National Science Foundation to build a database of rebel groups and their grievances.

Driskill has a B.S. in Economics with a concentration in International Business from the University of Tennessee.

Robert Dunsky, Principal Economist

Dunsky has served at FHFA and its predecessor agency for over two decades. He designed and directed the effort to build the first FHFA mortgage analytics platform used to measure mortgage credit and prepayment risks for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That model formed the basis of risk-weighted asset determination for mortgage assets in the 2020 Enterprise Regulatory Capital Framework. Dunsky has also assisted other U.S. federal agencies and international organizations with mortgage modeling, valuation, and risk management. Previously, Dunsky worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers in the strategy practice to assist clients with the design and development of economic models.

Dunsky has a Ph.D. in Economics from the Maxwell School of Syracuse University and is an avid sailor.

Matt Greene, Assistant Chief Data Officer

Greene supports FHFA’s Chief Data Officer as a data governance senior expert. Since joining FHFA in 2021, he helped establish the Data Governance Committee and its ongoing operations. His over 20 years of experience spanning the public and private sectors includes working in survey research at the Research Triangle Institute, consulting as part of Deloitte’s Change Management and Human Capital Practice, and serving at the Department of Education (ED). At ED, Greene worked on data integration initiatives at the National Center for Education Statistics before moving to the Office of Federal Student Aid and, ultimately, ED’s central policy office as Deputy Chief Data Officer, where he led projects such as the College Scorecard and ED’s first Data Strategy.

Greene holds a B.A. in Economics from Virginia Tech and an M.B.A from The College of William and Mary.

Elizabeth Hoeffel, Senior Survey Statistician

Hoeffel performs survey data collection, methods, and analysis. She works on the National Survey of Mortgage Originations and the American Survey of Mortgage Borrowers providing support for the entire life cycle from questionnaire design to data dissemination. Prior to FHFA, Hoeffel was a Statistician at the Census Bureau working on population estimates, producing racial statistics for the 2010 Census, and analyzing paradata. She also was employed at several Department of Health and Human Service agencies working on surveys, confidentiality, and grant data.

Hoeffel has a B.A. in Psychology from Ohio State University and an M.S. in Sociology from Virginia Tech.

Varun Joshi, Economist

Joshi coordinates and facilitates the operations of FHFA’s Climate Change and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Working Group in support of the Climate Change and ESG Steering Committee. Previously at FHFA, he supported data production, management, and policy analysis. Prior to joining FHFA, Joshi served as a Consultant at the World Bank and as a Graduate Research Assistant at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy.

Joshi has a B.S. in Economics with a Minor in Mathematics from George Washington University and an M.S. in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University.

Ian Keith, Senior Program Analyst

Keith is responsible for data management and quality control of the National Mortgage Database. Prior to joining FHFA in 2009, he was at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, primarily with the Office of Policy Development and Research in the Financial Institutions Regulation Division.

Keith specializes in use of SAS® software and is an expert in Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data, Census tract demographic data, and FHFA’s Enterprise Affordable Housing Goals. He has a B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an M.S. in Operations Research from the Naval Postgraduate School.

Ken Lam, Senior Economist

Lam oversees the Uniform Appraisal Data project. He started at FHFA in 2011 in the Office of Policy Analysis and Research before moving to the Office of Housing and Community Investment. In those roles he provided FHFA with expertise in mortgage market modelling and forecasting, default/prepayment models, loan modifications, underwriting standards, and program evaluation. Prior to joining FHFA, Ken was at Abt Associates, where he conducted research on Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECM) and the Federal Housing Administration’s American Dream Downpayment Initiative (ADDI).

Ken has an M.P.P. in Public Policy and Econometrics from the University of Minnesota.

Ismail Mohamed, Senior Financial Analyst

Mohamed is responsible for overseeing the matching of administrative and other third-party data into the National Mortgage Database. Previously, he worked as a contractor supporting the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) mission regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He also led architecture and development for vital HUD projects as well as implementation of the agency-wide SAS® Enterprise Business Intelligence System supporting over 300 users.

Mohamed has over 20 years of technical expertise in applications development, data analysis, and applied economic research. He has authored and coauthored technical reports covering the practical implementation of time series, applications of neural networks, program planning and evaluation, and international development. He has a M.S. from the University of Maryland and a M.S. and Ph.D. from Iowa State University.

Saty Patrabansh, Associate Director, Office of Data and Statistics

Patrabansh leads the office responsible for the National Mortgage Database (NMDB), Uniform Appraisal Dataset, and several other mortgage and housing data systems at FHFA. Previously, he was Manager of the NMDB Program and a Senior Economist in the Office of Policy Analysis and Research. Prior to joining FHFA, Patrabansh was a Data Center Co-Director and Project Director at Abt Associates, a government research and consulting firm.

Patrabansh specializes in survey methodology, single-family mortgages, credit bureau data, and property data. He has prior research and analysis experience in first-time homebuyers, refinancing programs, rural mortgages, mortgage delinquency, foreclosure prevention, homeownership retention, real estate owned (REO) disposition, and cadastral data. He has a B.A. in Mathematics and Economics from Grinnell College and an M.P.P. specializing in Econometrics, Finance, and Evaluation from the University of Chicago.

Robert Renner, Senior Geographer

Joining FHFA in 2022 as the Agency’s first and senior geographer, Renner manages geospatial data while contributing his expertise in spatial analysis to produce housing-related data, statistics, and research. Before FHFA, he spent several years as a Senior Manager in Deloitte’s Location Intelligence Practice delivering consulting and advisory services to various private and public sector clients. Prior to that, Renner worked in the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Policy Development and Research, where he led development of an agency-wide Geographic Information System and numerous applications to support housing and community development programs. He has also published research in several academic journals.

Renner is a geographer by training and recognized leader in the federal geospatial community. He has a B.S. in Geography from Shippensburg University and an M.S. in Geography from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Malcolm J. Rogers, Economist

Rogers supports the Office of the Chief Data Officer in developing and implementing data governance, while also managing data, overseeing FHFA’s Comprehensive Data Inventory (CDI), and supporting the Agency’s data and analytics infrastructure. He came to FHFA in the Research Assistant and Mentorship Program (RAMP), where he worked alongside senior researchers to produce rigorous analyses covering housing market conditions, and aided in producing FHFA’s House Price Index.

Rogers has a B.A. in Economics and International Relations and an M.S. in Applied Economics from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Diego Saltes, Senior Statistician

Saltes works in the Statistical Products Branch on developing data models and structures to leverage FHFA’s many mortgage finance data systems. He is part of the team responsible for releasing the Uniform Appraisal Dataset Aggregate Statistics. His work there focuses on creating insightful analytical products for the public, such as dashboards and blogs. Previously, Saltes was a Data Scientist with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), where he created data models and dashboards to advise budget decision making. Prior to NASA, he held Senior Economist positions with Ginnie Mae, the Treasury Department, and several Washington, D.C., industry trade associations.

Saltes has a B.S. in Economics and a M.S. in International Economics from Radford University, an MIPP from the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) School of Advanced International Studies, and a Graduate Certificate in Forecasting Practice from the JHU International Institute of Forecasters.

Jay Schultz, Senior Economist

Schultz is responsible for developing and implementing critical components of the National Mortgage Database. Prior to that, he worked on Affordable Housing Goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That work began years earlier while Schultz was at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Schultz’s work at HUD focused on developing regulations and evaluating the performance of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac toward the statutorily required housing goals. Prior to working for the Federal Government, he was Chief Economist for the Missouri Department of Insurance, where he headed the Statistics Section responsible for collecting and analyzing data on underwriting and losses.

Schultz’s research has focused on affordable housing and mortgage market issues as well as property insurance as it relates to affordable housing and community development. He has a B.S. in Economics from Michigan Technological University and a Ph.D. in Economics/Finance from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Jessica Shui, Supervisory Economist

Shui leads FHFA’s research on climate-related financial risks and coordinates the Agency’s many working groups supporting the Climate Change and ESG Steering Committee. Prior to climate-related research, she studied real estate brokerage services, mortgage appraisals and appraisal waivers, automated valuation models, and land price valuation. She is published in the Journal of Monetary Economics, Journal of Housing Economics, the Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, and the Journal of Real Estate Research.

Shui has a B.S. in Economics from Tsinghua University (China) and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley, where her focus was on Behavioral and Real Estate Economics.

Jonathan Spader, National Mortgage Database Manager

Spader is Co-Manager of the National Mortgage Database (NMDB) Project. He also serves as FHFA’s leader on the National Survey of Mortgage Originations (NSMO) and the American Survey of Mortgage Borrowers (ASMB), which the Agency operates in partnership with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Prior to joining FHFA, Spader was Assistant Division Chief for Housing Characteristics in the Social, Economic, and Housing Statistics Division of the U.S. Census Bureau. He has also held positions at Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, Abt Associates, and the University of North Carolina’s Center for Community Capital.

Spader’s prior research and expertise includes topics related to survey methodology, affordable homeownership, financial education, and disaster recovery. He has a B.A.in History/Mathematics from Truman State University and a Ph.D. in Public Policy Analysis from the University of North Carolina.

Matthew Suandi, Economist

Suandi applies a unique toolkit as an economic historian to address microeconomic issues. Currently, he is studying the consequences of natural hazard risk in housing finance.

Suandi’s research has covered issues such as how career shocks affect the labor market and individual outcomes, the impact of infrastructure expansion on political participation, and how land transfers affect communities in developing countries. He has presented research at the National Bureau of Economic Research Summer Institute, national conferences, and university seminars. He has a B.S. in Economics and Mathematics from Michigan State University and a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Rebecca Sullivan, Economist

Sullivan supports data management and analysis of the National Mortgage Database (NMDB), focusing primarily on the National Survey of Mortgage Originations. Before FHFA, she was a Research Assistant at the University of Maryland. In that role, she managed databases consisting of economic, demographic, and voting data.

Sullivan has a B.S. in Economics, focusing on Public Policy and Statistical Modeling, from the University of Maryland.

Anju Vajja, Principal Associate Director and Principal Advisor

Vajja leads the Office of Data, Statistics, and Research, oversees the Office of Data and Statistics (ODS) and the Office of Research and Analysis (ORA), and is the Principal Advisor to the Deputy Director. ODS produces the National Mortgage Database, Uniform Appraisal Dataset, and several other stores of mortgage and housing data. ORA conducts research and policy analysis in housing, mortgage markets, and real estate and contains FHFA’s Housing Collateral Branch, which prepares the FHFA House Price Index. Prior to joining the new Division of Research and Statistics in 2020, Vajja served in Federal Home Loan Bank supervision as an expert in credit risk modeling. Earlier in her career, she worked at the World Bank on community development program evaluations and research.

Vajja has an M.A. in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics (India), Ph.D. in Economics from Georgetown University, and Financial Risk Manager and Professional Risk Manager certifications.

Scott Weiner, Economist

Weiner analyzes policy proposals related to housing and housing finance markets, with a primary focus on expanding opportunities for affordable and sustainable homeownership. He also contributes to projects aimed at improving data quality and access for other FHFA researchers and analysts.

Weiner is an applied microeconomist whose passion for uncovering and understanding the real-world effects of policy choices, particularly on vulnerable or underserved populations, binds his research work. His areas of expertise include statistical methods of causal inference, policy evaluation, and working with large, complex data. He has performed research in India and Argentina. He has a B.A. degree in Economics and International Relations from Brown University and a Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University with specializations in Development, Labor, and Public Economics.

November Wilson, Economist

Wilson focuses on exploring topics at the intersection of racial inequalities and policy. Their research examines whether natural hazard risks have differential impacts on vulnerable populations in housing finance markets. Their work also extends to broader climate risk-related research in the housing finance sphere.

Wilson has a B.A. in Economics from the University of South Florida and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Applied Microeconomics and Econometrics from the University of Oregon, where they studied the impacts of drug law policy changes on the prevalence of racial disparities in law enforcement.

Office of Multifamily Analytics and Policy

Debra Fuller, ABD, Principal Financial Engineer/Economist

Fuller is a responsible for managing research projects from data collection, validation and loading into QRM, 3rd party vendor behavioral model and term structure and other assumptions set-up and validation, resolution of IT/vendor issues, including debugging and RAM and disk space issues, and validation and analysis of vendor and proprietary FHFA model results. Debra also is responsible for documentation of aforementioned processes and writing of white papers and presentations. She has expertise in SAS, default/prepayment modeling, market risk, credit risk, and project management. Published work includes “Economic Impact Analysis of the Port of Tampa," USDA white papers, FHFA Risk-based Capital Rule and an FHFA Countercyclical working paper. She has earned a B.A. International Relations/Spanish (University of South Florida), M.S. Economics (University of Florida), and was a Ph.D. Candidate ABD (University of Miami). Several FHFA awards, including the Director's Award for work on principal forgiveness.

Michael Groarke, Senior Policy Analyst, M.B.A.

Michael Groarke has extensive experience in single family and multifamily housing markets, as well as in affordable housing. He has played an important role in teams focusing on housing research and policy development, and in the development of affordable housing goals for the Enterprises.  He previously worked at HUD, with the CIA, and with several other government agencies and firms. He received his undergraduate degree in economics from Columbia University and his M.B.A. from the business school at the College of William & Mary.

​Date last updated:  10/16​​​​/2023​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​