As the Biden transition continues and new leaders take office, we are watching closely how policy changes will impact the mortgage industry.
Clearly, change is afoot and few attorneys in Washington, DC are as well versed in assessing and understanding complex policy change as is Suzanne Garwood, Assistant General Counsel and Executive Director, JPMorgan Chase.
In addition to her role at JPMorgan Chase, Suzanne is President of the Women in Housing & Finance Foundation.
I was fortunate to sit down with Suzanne for an interview on February 11, 2021 and I am excited to share a portion of our back and forth dialogue here:
Faith Schwartz: Suzanne, tell us about where you grew up, how you chose the college and law school you attended?
Suzanne Garwood: Sure Faith, I grew up just outside of Boston on the South Shore in Weymouth, MA.
I went to school just down the road in Rhode Island at Bryant College, now Bryant University, a small private business (and now also arts) school. At the time I went there, Bryant’s campus was the practice camp for the New England Patriots.
Lured by scholarship money, I eventually I ended up in Ada, Ohio at Ohio Northern University for law school. In keeping with providing little known facts about my life – Ada is home to the Wilson football factory, which footballs are used in Super Bowls. And as I understand it, these footballs are typically not deflated.
So, there is a sort of Patriots/Tom Brady theme to my background.
FS: Wow a Tom Brady theme! His seven Super Bowls and five MVPs are records I can’t see anyone else approaching, but I digress. Early in your career you worked at law firms. What can you tell us about your work then?
SG: Law firms are great training for young lawyers. I was exposed to state law work, federal TILA and RESPA work and, at the time, there was a relatively robust secondary market, so I did diligence on loan files, which is great hand’s on experience. And I was fortunate enough to learn from some of the best in the industry – Larry Platt, Phil Schulman and the entire team at Mayer Brown (then K&L).
My years at Venable were spent in large part with the GR team where I was able to write and contribute small parts of EESA, HERA and Dodd Frank.
FS: I met you years ago through Women in Housing and Finance (WHF). I knew you were something special a long ago. Why did you get engaged with that organization?
SG: That is very kind Faith. At the time I was working at K&L for Rebecca Laird, a Past WHF President. She introduced me to the organization and all of its benefits. I started out as the Housing Taskforce Chair (scheduling events mostly) and progressed through the organization to become President of the Foundation today.
FS: It’s noteworthy that you have been a fierce advocate for driving funding to the WHF Foundation as President. How is that going during the Pandemic?
SG: We are adapting. Consider that one year ago our fundraising was based entirely on an in-person model. Recognizing that in-person would not be viable for the foreseeable future we launched virtual events – our “Partner Series” which is like the WHF Brown Bag Lunches, a virtual fundraiser that raised over $10,000 and our first virtual 5 or 10K. Despite the absence of any established funding source, we were able to give grants to all seven of our partner charities as well as a donation of facemasks back when they were difficult to find.
FS: That’s remarkable! We are so pleased to be supporting WHF Foundation. It is a great fit for our #HousingDC21 conference that we can be a funder to the foundation and help support women in need of either shelter or financial literacy. I am proud to be working with you. And back on topic, tell us about your role at Chase as a lawyer in Mortgage?
SG: I am head of “regulatory,” which means that I’m involved in analyzing proposed regulatory changes and assist with implementation after adoption. As you can expect TRID and QM have been all-consuming over the past few years. I’m looking forward to the next acronym that the CFPB sends our way.
FS: Tell us about the award you received at Chase in the recent years? I understand it is very prestigious and unique.
SG: Yes, I received a Chase champion award. It’s meaningful because you are nominated by your clients and peers and few receive the award in any given year and most often recipients are business people not attorneys. I received it for my work on TRID.
FS: My knowledge of you is that you are a whip smart regulatory lawyer and I have seen your work around Dodd Frank and consumer protection laws. What should we be thinking about in mortgage lending for 2021 and beyond in this area?
SG: Evolutions in QM that will bring with it innovations in underwriting – AI, machine learning. Also, evolutions in responses to social issues – how climate change and racial disparities affect home lending.
If you haven’t read The Color of Law read it now. There is so much work still to be done to address the impact from redlining that we still feel today.
FS: Suzanne, you are an avid runner and top athlete and raise funds while you exercise. Your daily pics on the capitol are impressive and reminds us all of having a driving spirit. What keeps you going each day to do this?
SG: Oh, I’m so looking forward to getting back to working and running in DC! Self-care, taking time to take care of yourself is so important. And I use Charity Miles which raises money every time you bike or run. (I raise money for Special Olympics.)
FS: What a great interview, what final thoughts can you share?
SG: Just so happy to be here and thankful for the support you are giving to WHFF and by extension our partner charities working so hard for women and families in the DMV area working through homelessness, domestic violence and financial literacy.