Professor of the Practice & Executive-in-Residence
University of Maryland, Robert H. Smith School of BusinessHousing Policy, Markets, Risk Management
Dr. Clifford Rossi is an Executive-in-Residence and Professor of the Practice at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland. Prior to entering academia, Rossi had nearly 25 years’ experience in banking and government, having held senior executive roles in risk management at several of the largest financial services companies. His most recent position was Managing Director and Chief Risk Officer for Citigroup’s Consumer Lending Group where he was responsible for overseeing the risk of a $300+B global portfolio of mortgage, home equity, student loans and auto loans with 700 employees under his direction. While there he was intimately involved in Citi’s TARP and stress test activities. He also served as Chief Credit Officer at Washington Mutual (WaMu) and as Managing Director and Chief Risk Officer at Countrywide Bank. Previous to these assignments, Rossi held senior risk management positions at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. He started his career during the thrift crisis at the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Domestic Finance and later at the Office of Thrift Supervision working on key policy issues affecting depositories. Rossi was also an adjunct professor in the Finance Department at the Robert H. Smith School of Business for eight years and has numerous academic and nonacademic articles on banking industry topics. Rossi is frequently quoted on financial policy issues in major newspapers and has appeared on such programs as C-SPAN’s Washington Journal and CNN’s Situation Room. He is currently writing a book, Fundamentals of Risk Management for John Wiley & Sons, Inc. His policy and research interests include GSE reform, housing finance reform , bank capital issues and implications of Dodd-Frank on banking.
Associate Professor of Law; Director, Community Economic Development Clinic
Albany Law Schoolaccess to justice, Business Law, Economic Development, Housing Policy
Professor Edward W. De Barbieri teaches courses in community economic development law and directs the Community Economic Development Clinic, which focuses on community-based transactional skills and advocacy. His scholarship examines ways the public can engage in land use approvals and economic development activities and how that engagement can lead to reforms in economic and social systems. His articles have appeared or are forthcoming in the Fordham Law Review, Florida State University Law Review, Cardozo Law Review, Fordham Urban Law Journal, and Journal of Affordable Housing & Community Development Law. Prior to joining the Albany Law School faculty in 2016, Professor De Barbieri directed a community economic development clinic at Brooklyn Law School, and was an Adjunct Professor of Clinical Law at New York University School of Law. His background also includes work as a legal services attorney at the Community Development Project of the Urban Justice Center, beginning as an Equal Justice Works fellow. He spent his final year of law school conducting research in Ireland as a Fulbright fellow, and is a graduate of Yale Divinity School, where he concentrated in religious ethics. LL.M. National University of Ireland, Cork, MAR Yale Divinity School, J.D. Brooklyn Law School
City Planning, Community Development, community planning, Housing, Housing Policy, Landlords, Neighborhoods, Planning, Poverty, rental housing, Urban Affairs
Jane Rongerude's research interests focus on the role of housing within urban systems of poverty management. Within these systems, she investigates how poverty is being dispersed, shifted and reformed within the urban landscape. As a result, she has developed a strong foundation of expertise in the areas of housing needs, housing policy, neighborhood revitalization, and community development. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she shifted her research to focus on the problem of rental housing instability. This work seeks to understand the role of landlord decision-making as it relates to rental housing outcomes. It investigates landlord characteristics, impacts, and responses to the pandemic.