MBA, Finance Officials Meet With President Bush

WASHINGTON, DC-Leaders of the Mortgage Bankers Association of American say they had a “very productive discussion” with President George W. Bush during last week’s national summit of the US Conference of Mayors. The president said top priorities of his administration include homeownership assistance, especially for minority families, and the cleanup of abandoned industrial properties, topics he echoed in his address to the summit.

Attending the meeting with Bush were MBA president Andrew Woodward, chairman of Bank of America Mortgage; MBA president-elect James Murphy, chairman and CEO of New England Realty Resources; Tom Jacob, chairman and CEO of Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corp.; Shekar Narasimhan, managing director of Prudential Mortgage Capital Co.; and Jonathan Kempner, president of the National Multi Housing Council.

Woodward and other mortgage company leaders are part of a new group of mayors and business leaders called the Council for Investment in the New American City. The council also shared with the president the findings of a new survey of small businesses that show strong support for increased government investment in cities’ overall development, including housing, transportation, skills training and crime prevention.