Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

Emre Ergungor is a senior research economist in the Research Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and Adjunct Professor of Finance at the Case Western Reserve University. His research focuses on financial intermediation, information economics and housing policy. He has written on systemic banking crises and crisis resolution. His recent research examines the economics of mortgage lending in low-moderate income neighborhoods of Ohio. In particular, he has applied theoretical insights to the study of the impact of bank branch presence on the quantity, price and quality of credit in these neighborhoods. Born in Istanbul, Turkey, Dr. Ergungor earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Bogazici University and his MBA from Koc University, both in Istanbul. He earned his PhD in finance from the University of Michigan in 2000 and joined the bank in September of the same year.

Yaxuan Qi is an Associate Professor of Finance at the City University of Hong Kong. Her main research interests are law and economics, and corporate finance. She received competitive research grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Fonds de recherche sur la Société et la Culture. Her research has been published in leading academic journals such as Journal of Financial Economics, The Accounting Review and Journal of Law and Economics.Qi received her PhD in finance from the Rutgers University in 2007. Prior to joining the City University of Hong Kong, she was an Associate Professor at the Concordia University in Canada.

Professor Z. Jay Wang received his B.A. in Economics from Peking University, M.S. in Statistics and Ph.D. in Economics from Iowa State University, and Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Michigan. He is now an Assistant Professor of Finance at the University of Oregon. His main research interests are Investments and Asset Pricing, with a particular focus on mutual funds, hedge funds, and closed-end funds. He has written a number of empirical research papers on the strategies of mutual fund families, the introduction of multiple share class structure in the mutual fund industry, the payout policy of close-end funds, the side-by-side management of mutual and hedge funds, the labor market movement between mutual fund and hedge fund industries, and the dynamic changes of hedge fund fees. His work has been published in the Review of Financial Studies, the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, and the Journal of Financial Intermediation.

Dr. Smith (Brent) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Finance Insurance and Real Estate in the School of Business at Virginia Commonwealth University. He holds a Master in Business from the University of Notre Dame and holds a Ph.D. in Finance and Economic Geography from Indiana University. His research interests include commercial property markets, mortgage performance, housing finance, and valuation. Brent serves on the editorial board for Real Estate Economics, the Appraisal Journal, the Journal of Real Estate Practice and Education, the Journal of Housing Research and the Journal of Real Estate Literature, and regularly reviews articles for numerous journals in the fields of real estate finance and urban economics.   Brent was a recipient of the Outstanding Reviewer Award in 2010 and 2012 for Real Estate Economics, and received the Emerging Scholar’s Award in 2010 from the American Real Estate Society. In addition, he is a post-doctoral honoree at the Weimer School of Advanced Studies in Real Estate and Land Economics, Florida, USA. His research papers have received numerous grants and acknowledgements include two best paper awards from the American Real Estate Society.Brent was recently inducted as one of only 3 academic members into the Real Estate Councilors’ Group of America. Brent’s recent research is directed at issues of risk and valuation.  Within those themes the areas of study include commercial property markets, mortgage performance, investment finance, and public policy and tax influences.  His research in this area has been published or scheduled for publication in the Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Real Estate Economics, the Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting and Financial Management, the Journal of Real Estate Research, Urban Affairs Review, the Journal of Property Tax Assessment and Administration, the Journal of Housing Economics, the Journal of Housing Research, and Economic Quarterly. 

Tricia Kerney-Willis is Deputy Director of the White House Council on Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2). SC2 is a federal interagency pilot initiative that aims to strengthen neighborhoods, cities, and regions by enhancing the capacity of local governments to develop and execute economic visions and strategies. In her prior role, she served as manager of the Office of Training and Outreach at the U.S. Department of the Treasury Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund. She was responsible for oversight of national outreach and training initiatives for Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), Community Development Entities (CDEs), and increasing awareness of CDFI Fund programs with public and private sector stakeholders. Before joining the Department of the Treasury in July 2009, Ms. Kerney-Willis was a Vice President in the Consumer Real Estate division at Bank of America Corporation in Washington, DC, where she focused on Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) lending. She also served as an Assistant Vice President and Relationship Client Manager in the Community Development Banking division. Ms. Kerney-Willis began her career in community development finance at Baltimore Community Lending - a U.S. Treasury certified CDFI. She managed the Commercial and Multifamily Real Estate Lending division which provided loans to small, minority, and women-owned real estate developers and investors for the rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of vacant and abandoned properties in Baltimore City. She is a graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, a Master of Science in Public Affairs, and a Master of Urban Planning from the university's School of Architecture and Planning.