Kate, thank you for sitting down with me today. We have known one another for a long time. I am looking forward to this interview with you and hearing more about your career growth to Partner at Guidehouse and President of Women in Housing & Finance. That is a tremendous combination for your clients at Guidehouse and the membership of WHF.
Faith Schwartz: Kate, I recall we first met years ago through the Women in Housing & Finance network. You have an impressive career and have your finger on the pulse of all things in housing finance. Can you share with us more about your background and educational training, and what brought you into the housing profession?
Kate Rock: Thank you, Faith. I am lucky to have had the opportunity to meet you through Women in Housing & Finance (WHF), and am excited to be here with you today.
I was born and raised in Atlanta, GA, and attended Washington and Lee University in Lexington, VA. After graduating with a degree in Business Administration and Accounting, I started my career at Ernst & Young (EY) working as an auditor. I worked for EY’s Financial Services Office (FSO), primarily auditing hedge funds and private equity companies along with other types of financial services organizations. During my career at EY, I obtained my Certified Public Accounting (CPA) license. While at EY, I had the opportunity to work in New York, London, and the Washington, DC area.
I joined Navigant Consulting, Inc. (Navigant) based out of the Washington, DC area approximately 15 years ago, and this is when I started to become more exposed to housing finance.
I spent many of those first initial years in consulting supporting clients such as the Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSE) on numerous finance and accounting-related projects and banks on the Independent Foreclosure Reviews (IFR) resulting from the financial crisis.
Currently, I focus on providing consulting services to banks, nonbank lenders and servicers, law firms, and the GSEs. I have had the opportunity to work with multiple clients across many different types of engagements of varying sizes and complexity, and across areas such as consumer lending and servicing, small business lending and servicing, privacy, and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG). I’ve been able to combine this with the ability to work across functional areas such as operations, risk, compliance, legal, technology, and finance and accounting.
In 2019, Navigant was acquired by Veritas Capital-backed Guidehouse, which enabled us to continue our work, but also draw on fantastic additional resources and expertise.
Our teams have been able to work on some of the industry’s most critical issues such as the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), the previously mentioned IFR, and key litigation cases impacting and shaping our industry.
FS: How has the merger with Guidehouse gone and please share with us how your role changed when you were promoted to Partner?
KR: Guidehouse combines both public and commercial expertise to provide our clients with a complete perspective. While we never expected to have to be combining legacy Guidehouse and legacy Navigant into one during a global pandemic, and while it has been a lot of hard work, it has been fun to see the growth and success of the combined organization. Guidehouse also recently acquired Dovel Technologies which is exciting and helps us to expand our already deep technology capabilities.
It is a privilege to be a Partner at Guidehouse, and I look forward to continuing to help develop and support our team, solve our clients most pressing and complex challenges, and grow our business. As a Partner, there is continued expectation to be a leader of the organization, and help build its continued success by driving new work, delivering exceptional client service, recruiting, mentoring / coaching, recognizing and rewarding team members, participating in conferences / webinars, and writing thought leadership among others. I have to hold myself and our teams accountable and collaborate and enable teamwork, while being adaptable / flexible.
FS: As we approach year-end, what do you see as the three most challenging issues facing the mortgage finance world in 2022?
KR: As I spend a lot of time working with our mortgage lending and servicing clients as well as the GSEs, from my perspective, our clients will continue to face operational challenges as they work with borrowers who are exiting forbearance.
Many lenders and servicers will also be preparing for or responding to regulatory inquiries, investigations, and enforcement actions given the increased regulatory scrutiny from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and other federal and state regulators in a new environment where the regulators are actively communicating with each other.
In addition to these post-pandemic operational and regulatory challenges, I believe the mortgage industry will continue to be focused on how to increase the supply of affordable housing across the U.S. and how to plan for the impacts of climate change that we can already see through rising sea levels and increases in storm frequency and intensity.
FS: From your perch at Guidehouse, how are you seeing the role of executive women in leadership change?
KR: I am generally seeing more women in leadership roles, and they are proving themselves invaluable. We need to continue to support each other so we can continue this trend and progress together. I have always admired how you, Faith, have mentored and supported other women.
FS: Following up on that, and more from your WHF lens, are we doing enough for women in leadership?
KR: Companies must find ways for women to stay at and be involved with the organization and continue to make meaningful impact.
Mentoring and coaching all team members, including women, should be a priority as effectively leading, managing, and developing people is critical to long term success. In my business, it is critical to help them be positioned to take advantage of current and future client demands.
I personally make mentoring and coaching my teams a priority. I work to build trust with my teams, keep them motivated, and encourage them to continuously improve. My mentoring and coaching includes: communicating authentically; respecting all team members, asking questions, and listening; providing real time feedback; role-playing prior to staff presenting to a client or internal leaders; working alongside them to develop / finalize written deliverables so the language is precise and concise; and, recognizing and rewarding team members, among others.
I’ve worked to encourage the women on my teams, particularly those who may be quieter, to be proactive in seeking additional opportunities. When they do, they have excelled.
As previously mentioned, I believe that women need to support each other as we progress together.
FS: We thank you for your partnership with Housing Finance Strategies in bringing great policy, tech and mortgage insights to our annual #HousingDC conference. What are some of the highlights you anticipate for the WHF agenda in 2022?
KR: WHF and WHF Foundation (WHFF) value our relationship with and the support from Housing Finance Strategies. As we wrap up 2021 and turn towards 2022, WHF is starting to plan how to expand its membership and activities beyond its traditional metropolitan DC area footprint and, of course, plans to continue to provide our members with pathways to learn and grow through our programming, networking, and leadership opportunities. We are excited to have been able to host two in-person / virtual hybrid events this year, and look forward to many other similar opportunities next year as appropriate. We will be welcoming Sandra Thompson, Acting Director, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) in January, and expect to have other great speakers that we are working to finalize shortly. We also expect our Symposium, one of our flagship events, to return to its in-person format. For WHFF, we look forward to celebrating its 25th anniversary next year so please be on the lookout for an event to celebrate later in the year.
FS: I’d like to lighten up our dialogue and close with a question I always enjoy asking. What is something you can share with us that no one else knows about you?
KR: While some of my family and friends know, I am not sure how many, if any, I work with know … I can juggle as well as spin a basketball on my fingers.
At Housing Finance Strategies, we are leading change in all things housing. By interviewing key executives like Kate Rock, our intent is to educate and encourage the industry to constantly grow and evolve. Kate is such an impressive individual and she is an example of a leader who consistently makes a difference in her field. What a powerful interview!
Thanks so much to Kate for taking the time. And as I like to say: Grow, lead and mentor your peers!