President of Countrywide International Consulting Services

Dr. Michael Lea is the President of Countrywide International Consulting Services, LLC., (CICS) a firm specialized in the analysis of and provision of technical assistance to primary and secondary mortgage market institutions worldwide. CICS is part of Countrywide Credit Industries, a global financial services company with headquarters in Calabasas, California. Countrywide's principal business is mortgage banking -- the origination, servicing and securitization of residential mortgage loans.

Prior to joining Countrywide on January 1, 2000, Dr. Lea was President of Cardiff Consulting Services, a firm specializing in the analysis of housing finance markets and institutions worldwide. He has over 15 years of international experience in 22 countries spanning 5 continents. He has provided advice on the creation of market-based housing finance institutions and systems as a consultant to the European Commission, Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank Group and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Dr. Lea has provided consulting services for government-sponsored enterprises, trade groups, regulatory agencies and major private sector financial institutions in Europe and the U.S. His products include business plans, financial planning and models, feasibility and implementation studies for the creation, privatization and restructuring of financial institutions, analyses of primary and secondary mortgage and major studies of European and North American systems of commercial and residential property finance.

Dr. Lea has a unique combination of research experience, senior operational responsibility in a major financial institution and high level participation in public policy formulation. He was Senior Vice President of Finance and Capital Markets at Imperial Corporation of America from 1987 to 1991. In this capacity he was responsible for the corporate finance, portfolio management and strategic planning functions of a $12 billion diversified financial institution and managed a staff of 40 professionals.

Dr. Lea was Chief Economist at the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) from 1983 to 1987 with responsibilities for all primary and secondary mortgage market analysis and forecasting. He has also served as a staff member for the President's Commission on Housing and was a Brookings Institution economic policy fellow at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Dr. Lea is an internationally known authority on housing and mortgage finance. He has published over 70 articles and book chapters, organized several conferences and made numerous presentations to government agencies, multi-lateral institutions, trade groups and academic and professional organizations. He has served on the faculties of Cornell University, the University of California, San Diego and the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton International Housing Program. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

back