Friday is the closing day for the 2018 HousingWire Rising Stars.

The 2017 Rising Stars represented the best young leaders in the mortgage industry – in lending, servicing, investing and real estate.

And they were an impressive bunch. Take as an example, Zach Dawson.

Dawson leads Fannie Mae’s collateral policy and strategy team, which is responsible for single-family collateral strategy as a whole. This includes both Selling Guide policy and the use of collateral technology tools such as Collateral Underwriter. Dawson also oversees the appraiser quality-monitoring program, collateral reporting and analytics, engagement with the appraisal community, and other strategic valuation initiatives. 

Considering Fannie Mae is the largest financier of home purchases in the United States, the nomination and award of a Rising Stars commemoration only helps solidify his influential role in the housing economy. Just think of all the innovation happening in both the valuation and housing finance landscape!

But while last year’s Rising Stars were very prestigious, this year’s Rising Stars will be more powerful than ever. There are more nominations of people who are changing the mortgage finance landscape in ways many of us would never dream.

We’ll be sharing those winners with you soon enough, but be warned, you have until the end of Friday before nominations close.

So, let us know if you know someone who is strong enough to rub shoulders with the Zach Dawsons of our industry.

I’m sure you do, so give it a shot. After all, with Rising Stars, even the sky isn’t the limit. Nominate now.