At mortgage industry conferences, we deserve better, more diverse speakers

We all work in the mortgage industry, so we all know there is no shortage of #women experts are out there killing it every single day for years, whether it's corporate #compliance, #counsel, #operations, #digital -- it's true across all points of the #mortgagelending and #mortgageservicing lifecycle. The women experts are there. Yet, check out the speaker roster gender stats from the big conferences in 2021. 👎🏼

I bet every one of you reading this will instantly think fondly of a woman that taught you so much about this industry. She was a walking encyclopedia of knowledge and opened so many doors for you. I know you're thinking about her because I've heard these stories from everyone in this industry, every day since Jeri Yoshida and I started NEXT back in 2017.

So why does having women experts on stage at conferences matter? So many reasons... Tell me your reasons in the comments, but here are some of mine.

Getting more women lender execs on stage at industry conferences is good business practice for industry conferences and organizations because it better serves your paying customers. Put the real experts who are doing the daily work in front of lender execs who came to the event seeking knowledge, collaboration, and advice. When lender execs sacrifice precious time away from the office and their families, they came to find out what other lenders are actually doing about current challenges, not what vendors recommend they spend their budgets on this year. Instead of sales pitches at industry events with expensive ticket fees, let's share tested #technology best practices to help all ships rise. #homeownershipmatters

Inviting more women lender execs on stage at industry conferences helps those deserving women (and ALL women). Visibility for these experts leads to promotions, board seats, raises, book deals, critical relationships, and more. They have earned these opportunities. #womenhelpingwomen #womeninbusiness

Having more women experts on stage at industry conferences will help us inspire young people to enter our industry. That's something we all desperately need and have spent millions trying to figure out how to do. The visible experts in our industry are mostly older white gentlemen. I don't mean to be rude, but let's get real. We're not exactly a beacon for young people by maintaining the "pale, male and stale" status quo. #representationmatters #millennials #firsttimehomebuyers #diversityandinclusion

One final point I can't fail to express because it will ruin everything if you don't hear this. When you DO get these women experts on stage, it's important to do the right thing. It's time to shine a spotlight on the tremendous knowledge they have in the industry. We can't have women speakers on stage only to ask them about topics like work/life balance, owning their voice, or how to handle boardroom interrupters. C'mon now! These women are power experts on serious business topics like secondary markets, HECM channels, FTHB, all-cash lending, economics, etc. Don't waste your opportunity. Apples to apples, these women experts in our industry are smarter than any of the other people you've ever met on the same topics. They had to be to get where they are. We have to stop acting like their claim to fame is succeeding in a man's world. Yes, they did that. But now, they're the undisputed top minds in our industry. Full stop. Ask them to speak on their true expertise.

For these reasons and so many more, the vast majority of speakers at NEXT events are women. We have a great, growing community but it's time to change ALL events in the mortgage industry.