Steve Thomas has thirty years of experience at the nexus of residential mortgage trading, community banking, affordable housing, and diversity & inclusion and serves as the Chief Executive Officer of FutureWave Finance LLC, a trailblazing minority-owned mortgage correspondent lender. For 9 years prior, he was Senior Managing Director of Mortgage Capital Markets at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago (FHLBC), a $125+ billion-dollar financial institution and one of the eleven members of the $1 trillion-dollar Federal Home Loan Bank System (FHLB), a housing government-sponsored enterprise. Steve led the team responsible for the $30+ billion-dollar mortgage loan and bond investment portfolio plus the capital markets oversight of the FHLB System’s $15+ billion in annual Mortgage Partnership Finance (MPF®) pricing, pipeline hedging and securitizations from over 750 annual sellers. Steve also held many additional roles within the FHLB System such as Chair of the MPF Capital Markets Committee (2015-2023); Vice Chair of the FHLBC MPF Committee (2019-2023); Co-Director of the FHLBC Office of Diversity and Inclusion (2015-2019); Co-chair of the FHLBC Housing Goals Working Group (2016-1019); Co-founder of the FHLB Capital Markets Supplier Diversity Committee (2016-2023) and on the FHLB Housing Finance Reform Task Force (2017-2019).

Prior, Mr. Thomas served as founder and Managing Director of the Mortgage Finance Group at CastleOak Securities, which was the #1 ranked minority-owned investment banking firm in residential mortgage-backed securities, commercial MBS, consumer asset-backed securities, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Federal Home Loan Bank agency debt and served as one of the largest minority-owned advisors to some of the country’s largest and most sophisticated public and private institutions during the Housing Crisis with clients such as the United States Treasury, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, FDIC, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae, PwC, Deloitte, Morgan Stanley and several hedge funds.

Immediately prior, Mr. Thomas spent four years as the SVP-Capital Markets and co-founder of American Mortgage Capital Group, a mortgage distressed loan hedge fund which raised and was launched in 2007 with $200mm. There he devised and led a prominent JV with Morgan Stanley to purchase non-performing loans from the FDIC utilizing unique retention strategies. Prior to his tenure there, Mr. Thomas was Senior Vice President of Pricing and Product Development at Aegis Mortgage, a $20 billion/year subprime and Alt-A originator. There he worked tirelessly in an attempted turnaround of Aegis Mortgage, a Cerberus-owned lender.

Prior, Mr. Thomas worked at two GSEs, serving as Vice President of Mortgage Finance at the FHLBC where he led the team which purchased over $100 billion of residential conventional, conforming loans, via the Mortgage Partnership Finance Program and as the Director of New Product Pricing at Fannie Mae, where his team won the prestigious Chairman’s Award in 2000 and he led a team of traders in pricing and acquisitions of many “esoteric” loan products for the then $700 billion dollar portfolio. Immediately prior Mr. Thomas spent three years as one of the first employees and a Director of Capital Markets at Countrywide Securities, the broker-dealer arm of Countrywide Home Loans. He began his career at Hyperion Capital Management, MBS-creator Lew Ranieri’s money manager/hedge fund.

Mr. Thomas began his professional career by serving his country as a Naval Officer in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and is a Navy ROTC Midshipman graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Economics & Japanese. He has also completed Executive Education coursework at The Wharton School of Business and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Mr. Thomas was recently elected to the Home Builders Institute Board with a term commencing in 2025 and currently sits on the Board and Audit Committee of The Fay Group, a $200mm+ in revenues real estate finance and property services company. He is a Board, Executive and Nominating Committee member and Treasurer of Mercy Housing-Lakefront, a part of Mercy Housing which is the nation’s largest non-profit developer and owner of affordable housing. He’s Vice Chairman of the CDFI Advisory Board and member of the Black and Hispanic Community Development Advisory Board of Quontic Bank and the Treasurer of the Delta Alpha Boule Foundation. He formerly was National Co-Chair of the National Housing Conference’s National Advisory Council (2021-2023); Executive Council member of the American Mortgage Diversity Council (2016-2019); Steering Committee member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s Financial Services Pipeline Initiative (2015-2018).

Mr. Thomas is a native of Montclair, N.J., and is a black-belt in Goju-Ryu karate.

Andi Dirkschneider Bliss brings over 15 years of comprehensive experience in the homebuilding industry and has held leadership positions at the local, state, and national levels within the Home Builders Association. In 2023, she was recognized with the Inaugural Woman of the Year award by the Greater Charlotte HBA.

As a second-generation homebuilder and third-generation construction professional, Andi’s passion for the industry began early. She spent her childhood on job sites with her father “frame punching houses” with her little pink tool belt. In high school, she worked for a local homebuilder, gaining experience in warranty, accounts payable, and sales. Andi pursued a double major in Neuroscience & Behavioral Biology and Behavioral Economics at Emory University, where she developed an interest in consumer behavior. Following graduation, Andi worked in Investor Relations for a hedge fund focused on distressed real estate, before moving into asset management on a portfolio of 1,000 REO properties.

In 2016, Andi joined her father’s company, Brookline Homes, to help grow the business. She held a variety of roles, including purchasing, sales management, superintendent, and land acquisition. As the company grew, Andi leveraged her involvement with local and state HBA chapters to expand her knowledge in land development. After her father’s retirement, Andi took over as President of Brookline Homes in 2022, following the completion of her Master of Science in Real Estate and MBA from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. Under her leadership, Brookline Homes is poised for significant growth, with plans to increase annual home production by 50%, focusing primarily on first-time and move-down buyers.

Andi is a passionate advocate for women in construction, actively supporting programs in mentorship and workforce development for school-aged girls and young women. Following devastating losses in Andi’s family, her focus shifted to broader workforce development initiatives, and she was inspired to donate part of Brookline Homes’ office land to establish a permanent home for the HBI Charlotte Build Strong Academy.  “I can’t think of a better way to give back to an industry that has given my family so much than to ensure future students have the same opportunities I had.”

Emily Price serves as the Senior Vice President, Strategic Partnerships and Development of Home Builders Institute (HBI). Before HBI, Emily served as the Senior Policy Advisor for the Council of the District of Columbia, Committee on Labor & Workforce Development. During her tenure at the Council, Emily successfully authored legislation creating Industry Sector Partnerships in Healthcare and Infrastructure for the District of Columbia. She was critical in the partnership, funding, and development of Information Technology and Direct Care Nursing pathways between the DC Workforce Investment Council and the University of the District of Columbia and Community College. She also facilitated the permanent establishment of a School Year Internship Program for DC youth.

Emily comes to HBI with over 20 years of workforce development expertise. At SOME, Inc. (So Others Might Eat), she was the Chief Program Officer, Center for Employment Training (CET) for 15 years. CET is a licensed post-secondary vocational skills training program with wraparound services. Emily was critical in the expansion and move of CET to the Conway Center, a housing, healthcare, and employment training center. The National Skills Coalition profiled Emily on the Leadership Spotlight Skills Blog in 2016. She was a member of the Mayor’s Workforce Intermediary Task Force, Mayor’s Adult Literacy and Career Pathways Taskforce, and an Aspen Institute Workforce Leader’s Academy graduate. Emily started her career as a Bill Emerson Congressional Hunger Fellow and AmeriCorps Promise Fellow. Additionally, she was the Board Chair of the Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development (CNHED), a former Board Member of Southeast Ministries, the DC Jobs Council, and Southeast Children’s Fund.

Emily holds her bachelor’s and master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Kansas. She is a devoted KU basketball fan, Rock Chalk Jayhawk, and Washington Nationals fan, Go Nat’s!