Longbridge Investments LLC

Manjiang Xu served as Chief Operating Officer of New York Life Home Equity Income LLC., a startup for  FHA/ HUD-insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgage ("HECM") and proprietary reverse mortgages. The role combined company-wide leadership of operations, information technology, sourcing and strategies.   Prior to joining Home Equity Income LLC, Manjiang joined New York Life's M&A department , and later joined International Distribution where his responsibilities included oversight of agency, telemarketing and bank distribution channels across several Asia-based operations.  His oversight of China operations included directing a $20-million strategic initiative, during which he grew sales by 25% and expanded into three cities.  Manjiang was promoted to International Vice President, overseeing geographic expansion, insurance operations and IT in seven countries including China, India, Mexico and Thailand.  He carried out business operations re-design and achieved annual savings of $6 million.  Recently Manjiang managed the divestitures of four New York Life Asia operations with an aggregate valuation at $800 million.  Manjiang earned his M.B.A. from University of Michigan Ross Business School, and has an M.S. in Computer Engineering from Wayne State University. 

John joined New York Life Insurance Co. in 2005, where he was involved in designing and developing the company’s Retirement Income business and was responsible for developing cash flow and asset allocation tools pertaining to longevity risk management.  While at New York Life he organized and ran a quantitative analyst group which focused on bespoke longevity risk solutions.  In 2010 John joined Deutsche Bank Securities in New York as a trader, where he focused on structured products and co-managed the implementation of an electronic trading book.  In 2012 he joined Home Equity Income Solutions as Vice President in charge of loan pricing and portfolio construction.  In April 2012 he co-founded Longbridge Investments LLC, where he oversees loan pricing, portfolio construction and securitization strategies.  John has a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law and a Master's degree from the MIT Sloan School of Business with a focus in Finance/ Financial Engineering.

Christopher Mayer, PhD

Professor Mayer is Paul Milstein Professor of Real Estate and Finance and Economics at Columbia Business School.  His research explores a variety of topics in real estate and financial markets, including housing cycles, mortgage markets, debt securitization, and commercial real estate valuation. Professor Mayer serves as a Visiting Scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a member of the Academic Advisory Board for Standard and Poor’s. He has received funding from the National Science Foundation and Pew Charitable Trusts. Dr. Mayer has been active in advising policymakers on the financial crisis, testifying six times before committees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, writing on the causes of the housing and credit bubbles for the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, and authoring numerous op-ed articles on housing and credit markets. He frequently appears in the media, including regular appearances on National Public Radio, Bloomberg, the Washington Post, and ABC News and commentary in The Wall Street Journal and The NY Times. Dr. Mayer previously served as Senior Vice Dean at Columbia Business School and held positions at The Wharton School, the University of Michigan, Harvard Business School, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.  He holds a BA in Math and Economics from the University of Rochester with highest honors and a PhD in Economics from MIT. 

Melissa Macerato

Melissa Macerato has over twenty years experience in the financial services industry.  Melissa has a proven track record as a senior business leader with specific expertise in launching and growing new business ventures into profitable, market leading programs within large corporations.  She has spent the last  fourteen years within the MetLife organization holding various positions, including the start up of MetLife Bank and the development of MetLife’s reverse mortgage program.  As an enthusiastic, dynamic leader with a passion for winning,  Melissa has held several successful sales and marketing positions during her career.   Prior to joining MetLife, Melissa was a Vice President  with MBNA America and a Senior Director at GE Capital, where she managed several key partnerships and retail credit card programs throughout her tenure.  Most recently, Melissa has participated as a senior leader within MetLife’s Reverse Mortgage team where she was instrumental in the complete start up and growth of  the business to be the number one-ranked reverse mortgage program in the country.  

Ben Woloshin

Ben Woloshin is a senior sales, relationship management and product executive with more than twenty years of in depth investment management and insurance industry expertise. He is recognized for combining effective sales strategies that both increase revenue and expand an account base with execution know-how to meet and exceed client objectives. Ben has a track record of success developing and implementing distribution strategies in multiple jurisdictions and distribution channels and he has deep, long-standing relationships with key decision makers and senior management throughout the financial services community in the U.S. and internationally. Most recently Ben was Senior Vice President and head of the Institutional Markets Group at New York Life where he was responsible for managing a team of 20 sales professionals and client relationships. Immediately prior to NYL, Ben was with the Goldman Sachs Reinsurance Group where he was director of Institutional Relationships and executed multiple transactions in the longevity/mortality space. Prior to Goldman, Ben was a Managing Director with Citigroup and then MetLife, building global distribution businesses for CitiInsurance. Earlier in his career, Ben had distribution and product positions of increasing responsibility with Putnam Investments for 11 years.