Forum IX-September 9-11-San Antonio, TX
Hotel Info and Reservation Link
The St. Anthony San Antonio - A Marriott Luxury Collection Hotel
Standing at the heart of downtown San Antonio since 1909, The St. Anthony is the city's original grand hotel - a National Historic Landmark that has hosted presidents, generals, royalty, and more than a few legends, including the cattlemen who built it and the entrepreneurs who once sketched the original Southwest Airlines route map on a napkin in its famous St. Anthony Club. Known for generations as the "Queen of San Antonio," the property pairs Italian marble, Corinthian columns, and the quiet elegance of Peacock Alley with the modern sophistication of a AAA Four Diamond Luxury Collection hotel - just steps from the Alamo and the River Walk. For Forum IX, it is the right setting: a place where serious conversations have always happened, and where the history on the walls reminds you that this industry has been built one relationship at a time.
Forum IX Special Rate
Use the link below to reserve the room at the special Forum rate. Meeting a minimum number of rooms helps us keep costs down for our meeting, so please use this link.
Speaker Bios
Marc Helm
Timothy Harleth (Invited)
CEO
CIS Home Loans
Marc Helm has been in mortgage banking for nearly five decades, and his career reads like a map of the industry's evolution. A Vietnam veteran who served nearly seven years in the United States Army, he brought that same discipline to building and leading mortgage companies across origination, servicing, reverse mortgage, and consulting. He founded Reverse Mortgage Solutions and grew it into one of the sector's most recognized servicers, served on advisory committees for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae, FHA, and VA, and chaired both the MBA Loan Administration Committee and the MBA Technology Committee. Today he leads CIS Home Loans, a full-service mortgage bank with more than 30 years of community lending history. He is also a published author, an executive coach, and a sought-after speaker - and at Forum, he brings the kind of perspective that only comes from having seen this industry from nearly every angle there is. You won't want to miss Marc's inspirational story.
Timothy Harleth (Invited)
Timothy Harleth (Invited)
Founder and CEO
Genrae
Tim Harleth's path to mortgage finance runs through the White House - literally. As Chief Usher from 2017 to 2021, he was responsible for the daily operations of the Executive Residence and the official functions of the President of the United States. That background in high-stakes operational management and institutional trust is now being applied to one of housing finance's most persistent problems: affordability. Genrae, the company Tim co-founded, offers first-time homebuyers a below market rate. Currently in beta rollout across 420 counties in 24 states, Genrae is one of the more serious attempts to rethink how we get qualified buyers into homes in a high-rate environment. Tim brings an outsider's fresh perspective and an insider's understanding of what it takes to build something that scales.
Mitch Kider
Chairman and Managing Partner
Weiner Brodsky Kider
When the mortgage industry needs to understand what Washington is doing, or about to do, Mitch Kider is one of the first calls people make. As the leader of one of the nation's premier financial services law firms, he has spent nearly four decades representing banks, mortgage companies, and servicers in the full range of regulatory and litigation matters. He is an MBA Faculty Fellow, the author of six books on residential mortgage finance, and a co-author of multiple MBA Compliance Essentials guides that practitioners rely on daily
Jeff Bode
Patrick Sullivan
Chairman & CEO
Click n' Close
Jeff has been reinventing the mortgage process since before most of the industry knew it needed reinventing. In the business since 1981, he founded the original Mid America Mortgage in 1989 and became the first lender to build an interface inside Calyx Point - a glimpse of what was to come. When he saw the digital mortgage revolution taking shape, he went all in, leading Mid America to become the first independent lender in the country to implement eClosings and eNotes across retail, wholesale, and correspondent channels. The company rebranded as Click n' Close in 2022, and the name says everything about his philosophy: get the borrower to the closing table faster, cheaper, and with less friction.
Paul Yarbough
Patrick Sullivan
Patrick Sullivan
MCTlive Development Directo
MCT Trading
Paul came to MCT as a client first - spending 13 years running secondary marketing operations at Nationstar, Willow Bend, Evolve Bank and Trust, and others - before joining the firm to help build what is now the industry's leading capital markets platform. That background gives him something most technology presenters lack: he has sat on the lender side of the desk and knows exactly where the pain points are. At MCT he has built the client success function from the ground up, earned a HousingWire Insiders Award, and now leads MCTlive development, translating lender feedback directly into platform capability.
Patrick Sullivan
Patrick Sullivan
Patrick Sullivan
Executive Vice President
FHLB Chicago
Patrick is the Group Head for the Mortgage Partnership Finance (MPF) for the FHLB. The Federal Home Loan Bank has been a cornerstone of housing finance since 1932, yet for many mortgage bankers, it remains one of the most underutilized resources in the industry. Advances at below-market rates, down payment assistance grants, affordable housing program funding, liquidity solutions, and secondary market access through the MPF program are just the beginning of what FHLB makes available to its members. Patrick came to FHLB in 2024 after serving as CFO of Wintrust Mortgage.