Dr. Christopher Mayer has led Longbridge’s growth from a startup company in 2013 to the third largest securitizer of newly issued HECM reverse mortgages. He has guided the construction and funding of new proprietary reverse mortgage products. From 2018-2021, Chris helped manage an 8x increase in the volume of funded loans, propelling the company to the industry’s fastest growing major reverse mortgage lender.
Previously he served as Senior Vice Dean and Director of the Milstein Center for Real Estate at Columbia Business School, where he continues to teach today. Dr. Mayer received his PhD in Economics from MIT and has held positions at the University of Pennsylvania and the Federal Reserve. Chris has spent his career writing on housing and mortgages, publishing in top academic journals and receiving funding from the National Science Foundation. During the Financial Crisis, he often engaged with policy makers, testifying six times before Senate and House Committees and writing for the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. He is often quoted in the press, including The New York Times, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, and new media such as Vice Media and Yahoo Finance. A true innovator and “Industry Changemaker,” Chris is committed to bringing the value of reverse mortgages to today’s older Americans, with a responsible approach that helps ensure a more secure retirement.
