HousingWire’s Finance Leaders award honors the top finance executives who are driving financial performance, expanding margins, improving liquidity and helping their businesses access the capital markets. This award will recognize the senior executives who drive growth and move the housing economy forward by enabling, supporting and navigating growth and innovation.
See more info on eligibility and criteria below and check out some of our past honorees.
Program Details
Nomination period
January 1 – 31, 2026
Nomination fee
$795
Winners announced
March 2, 2026
Who is eligible for this award?
HousingWire Finance Leaders must be corporate finance, capital markets, or accounting executives within mortgage origination or a real estate brokerage and will be selected based off of financial management, strategic thinking and contribution to their organization.
Eligible nominees with highest probability of selection will hold a CFO, head of secondary marketing, EVP of Capital Markets or equivalent title. Nominees should be finance leaders in their organizations, so please indicate if your organization does not have a CFO, and the nominated individual is the leader in your organization. Special consideration will be given to executives who can demonstrate that their contributions have enabled organic growth, improved margin profiles, supported M&A, or helped the organization access debt and/or equity markets.
Eligible categories for real estate execs:
- Residential real estate
- I-buying
- Residential real estate investors and single-family rental owner / operators
- Technology and solutions enabling real estate sales clients
Eligible categories for mortgage execs:
- Mortgage origination
- Loan servicing
- Secondary markets
- Appraisal / valuation
- Title
- Technology and solutions supporting mortgage clients
Past Honorees
Frequently Asked Questions
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1. Can I see the submission questions ahead of time?
The submission questions are similar to other HousingWire awards and, while there is no word count requirement or limit, we ask that you provide enough information to allow the HousingWire selection committee to make informed selections.
- Elevator pitch: Give us the elevator pitch on why you think this nominee should be a Finance Leader award recipient. No more than three sentences.
- Contribution to your organization: Give the reasons this person is so valuable to your organization, focusing particularly on the last 12 months as applicable. One or two paragraphs recommended.
- Leadership and excellence: Describe how the nominee has actively demonstrated excellence and reflected the values of your company. One or two paragraphs recommended.
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2. When do nominations begin?
The 2026 nominations will be open the full month of January — January 1-31, 2026.
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3. How can I nominate someone? Can I just call you or send you an email with the name of the person I’d like to nominate?
Nominations must be submitted through our online portal. See the link above during the nomination period to submit a nomination.
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4. Why is there a nomination fee?
The nomination fee ensures award program integrity by supporting a diligent selection process by HousingWire’s selection committee. The fee also supports the production and distribution of winner profiles to recognize these truly exceptional finance leaders.
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5. I want to nominate my boss, but would it be better if someone higher up nominated him? Can I nominate a family member?
You can nominate yourself, a client, a family member, your boss, an employee, or an acquaintance. The most important thing is that you state a clear, business-oriented reason for the nomination.
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6. How does the process work?
After the nomination period closes, the HousingWire selection committee begins an extensive process of reviewing all nominations, evaluating accomplishments and applying industry knowledge to determine the impact each nominee has on their organization and the industry. Following review, the editorial selection committee holds a series of meetings to determine which candidates will be chosen. We strive to select the most impressive and impactful leaders leveraging the nomination information and industry knowledge of organizations, accomplishments and trajectory. The process takes a significant amount of time over a compressed schedule.
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7. Can I contact you to see how my nominee is doing in the judging process?
Unfortunately, we don’t provide status reports. If we need any further information, we will contact you and if you or your nominee is an award recipient you will be hearing from us closer to the time of the announcement.
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8. I want to be picked for the Finance Leaders program. Will it help to hire a public relations firm?
No. Publicists often submit candidates, but they do not influence the judging.
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9. I was not picked for Finance Leaders. Can you tell me why?
With hundreds of candidates and only a few spots available, the majority of the time we are unable to share specific feedback for each nominee who wasn’t selected. Oftentimes, many quality nominees don’t make the cut.
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10. I was selected as a Finance Leader last year, does this impact my ability to be selected again?
No. Nominees are welcome to submit for HousingWire awards as many times as they would like and have the ability to win multiple years in a row.
Have more questions? Reach out to Lesley Collins
Award Materials
For additional award materials, like plaques and trophies, please visit our online store here.
