This week, HW Media — parent company of Reverse Mortgage Daily — announced that Chris Mayer, CEO of leading reverse mortgage industry lender and servicer Longbridge Financial, will be a part of the programming at HousingWire Annual, the company’s premiere in-person housing event.

The inclusion of Mayer is a recognition of the role that reverse mortgage products can play in the larger housing market, according to Clayton Collins, CEO of HW Media.

“HousingWire Annual is built for the leaders of the housing industry – we have colloquially called the event the ‘Davos of Housing.’ At HousingWire, we have a fundamental belief that reverse mortgages will play a huge and growing role in helping qualified homeowners unlock housing wealth while continuing to experience the benefits of homeownership,” Collins said.

Including reverse mortgages in the broader conversation underscores the value the reverse products have, Collins added.

“A gathering of housing finance leaders wouldn’t be complete without a discussion about this incredibly important product,” he said. “Chris Mayer of Longbridge has one of the most inspirational and motivating stories in housing finance. I can’t wait to bring his housing market and reverse mortgage expertise to the stage in Austin.”

Mayer echoed the sentiment and excitement for being a part of the event.

“I am excited to join my peers in the mortgage industry at the HousingWire Annual event,” Mayer told RMD in a statement. “This is a critical moment in the mortgage industry with rates ‘higher for longer’ and there is a lot of attention on new products that create the potential for growth, including serving the fast-growing population of older Americans.”

Mayer earned a PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and serves as Paul Milstein Professor of Real Estate at Columbia Business School. He originally joined Longbridge Financial as its chief credit officer in 2013 before becoming co-partner and CEO soon afterward.

In an interview with RMD after becoming a member of the inaugural class of RMD Changemakers in 2020, Mayer explained that he sees the reverse mortgage product as a tool to improve the state of retirement in the U.S.

“Getting into this business was an opportunity to change the way people retire, in a good way, obviously,” Mayer said in the summer of 2020. “We know there’s a retirement crisis. We know people are struggling to figure out how to retire and there is an opportunity to find products to address growing mortgage debt, increasing medical costs, and increased uncertainty in retirement. Reverse mortgages are a way to help address those problems in a very practical way. And so, the ability to create change, to make the country a little bit of a better place to retire, were important reasons to get into the business.”

Additional details about Mayer’s speaking role can be found on the HousingWire Annual website. The event will take place at the Hyatt Lost Pines in Austin, Tex. from October 10-12.