MBA to Promote Fratantoni to Chief Economist
October 22, 2013
The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that Michael Fratantoni will be appointed chief economist and senior vice president, research and industry technology.
Fratantoni, who will succeed Jay Brinkmann as the chief economist on Feb. 1, 2014, has more than two decades of industry experience. In his current position as vice president, single family research and policy development, Fratantoni serves as Brinkmann’s top deputy on residential real estate and economic issues, managing MBA's industry surveys, economic and mortgage originations forecasts, industry technology efforts, and policy development research for issues impacting single-family lending. He is also executive director of MBA's Research Institute for Housing America (RIHA) and president of the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization (MISMO).
“Mike has been an invaluable resource to MBA and its members as we try and navigate an ever-changing industry and economic environment,” said David Stevens, the MBA’s president and chief executive officer. “Mike’s ability to compile and analyze data and apply it to complex public policy discussions has been a major factor in MBA effectively representing its members as policymakers implement many post-crisis reforms. His work has enabled us to make fact-based arguments about the impact of proposed rules, arguments that were critical in improving many of the Dodd-Frank reforms during the notice and comment period."
Prior to rejoining MBA in 2010, Fratantoni was an economic strategist within the Enterprise Risk Management Group of Washington Mutual, where he was responsible for assessing macroeconomic, regional and housing market trends that impacted Washington Mutual's risk exposure and business prospects. Previously, he had been senior director of single family research and economics at MBA, after serving as director of economic and policy research at Fannie Mae where he managed the production of policy studies by leading academics on issues relevant to Fannie Mae and served as a technical expert within the regulatory policy group. He also served as a senior economist in Fannie Mae's credit pricing group.
Fratantoni has a Ph.D. in economics from Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. in economics from The College of William and Mary.
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