Rodrigo Lopez recently made history as the first Latino elected to serve as chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).
Lopez was sworn in as the 2017 chairman on Sunday during the MBA Annual Convention and Expo opening ceremony in Boston. An active member of the MBA for 30 years, Lopez has the experience necessary to lead an organization which represents over 2,200 member companies throughout the real estate finance industry.
As the most recent chairman of MBA’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, Lopez worked to advocate for underrepresented facets of the population in order to foster inclusiveness, creativity and economic growth within the industry.
His appointment comes at a time when Hispanics are poised to add as many as 5.7 million additional homeowners over the next decade. Homeownership among Latinos has been growing while homeownership among the general population continues a 12-year decline. According to the 2015 State of Hispanic Homeownership Report from the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP), Hispanic families represent 52 percent of new households over the last 15 years. The primary barrier to Hispanic homeownership growth has and continues to be access to affordable mortgage credit.
During his swearing in, Lopez pledged to uphold the MBA’s mission to promote fair, responsible and sustainable mortgage practices through both education and advocacy, for the benefit of industry professionals and the families whom they represent.
“Rodrigo Lopez represents the best of both our industry and the Hispanic community in the United States,” Gary Acosta, CEO and cofounder of NAHREP, said in a statement. “NAHREP supports the MBA and Rodrigo Lopez in their efforts to improve and diversify the real estate finance industry and is committed to assisting in every way possible.”
