Mortgage Forbearance and Modification Issues

Alice L. Whitten is managing counsel and senior vice president in the Wells Fargo Legal Department in its Irving, Texas, office. She leads a team that provides guidance and support for consumer bankruptcy operations across the Wells Fargo enterprise, including mortgage, automobile, credit cards and student lending, and supports FCRA, SCRA & MLA across the consumer lending enterprise. She has been with Wells Fargo since 2014.

Prior to joining Wells Fargo, Ms. Whitten served as a standing chapter 13 trustee in the Northern District of Texas for four years and was senior vice president – associate general counsel with AmeriCredit Financial Services Inc. (now known as GM Financial), where she provided legal support for bankruptcy and default services operations.

Ms. Whitten is admitted to practice in Texas and co-chairs the NACTT Automobile Committee, and she is a board member for the NACTT Academy. She was a council member of the Bankruptcy Law Section Counsel of the State Bar of Texas from 2013-15, and a committee member of the Committee on Case Administration and the Estate for the ABI Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy (2018-19).

Ms. Whitten received her J.D. cum laude from St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio and a degree from the University of Minnesota – Carlson School of Management.

Maria Tsagaris Starks is a partner with McCalla Raymer Leibert Pierce, LLC in Roswell, Ga., and manages the firm’s national proof-of-claim portfolio. She routinely advises real estate and mortgage banking professionals regarding laws affecting creditor rights in the areas of bankruptcy, loss mitigation and other areas of the default servicing industry.

Ms. Tsagaris Starks works with top servicers and lenders to provide on-site training courses on bankruptcy laws affecting the mortgage industry. She received her undergraduate degree in 2002 from Vanderbilt University and her J.D. in 2005 from Mercer University Law School.

O. Byron Meredith III is the standing chapter 13 trustee in the Southern District of Georgia in Savannah, appointed in December 2006. Prior to that time, he served as the managing bankruptcy partner for a firm in Atlanta primarily representing banks, credit unions, mortgage servicers, government agencies, and corporations within the financial industry. He is a former judicial law clerk for Hon. John S. Dalis (ret.) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Georgia.

Mr. Meredith is a former president of the National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees (NACTT). He continues to serve on the NACTT advisory board and as chair of both the NACTT Mortgage Committee and the NACTT Public Relations Committee. He also serves as NACTT liaison officer with the National Association of Bankruptcy Clerks. He is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, ABI, the W. Homer Drake, Jr. Georgia Bankruptcy American Inn of Court and the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys. He speaks frequently on bankruptcy topics for several professional organizations.

Mr. Meredith received his A.B.J. and J.D. from the University of Georgia.

Hon. Laurel M. Isicoff is Chief Judge for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami, initially appointed on Feb. 13, 2006, and named chief judge on Oct. 1, 2016. She also serves on ABI’s Board of Directors. Judge Isicoff is president-elect of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges and an ABI Board member. She also is a member of the Pro Bono Committee of the American College of Bankruptcy, as well as chair of its Judicial Outreach Committee.

Judge Isicoff currently serves as judicial chair of the Pro Bono Committee of the Business Law Section of the Florida Bar and is a member of the Florida Bar Standing Committee on Pro Bono.

Prior to becoming a judge, she specialized in commercial bankruptcy, foreclosure and workout matters, both as a transactional attorney and litigator, for 14 years with the law firm of Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton after practicing for eight years with Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, now known as Squire Patton Boggs. In private practice, she also developed a specialty in SEC receiverships involving Ponzi schemes.

After graduating from law school, Judge Isicoff clerked for Hon. Daniel S. Pearson at the Florida Third District Court of Appeal before entering private practice. She is a past president of the Bankruptcy Bar Association (BBA) of the Southern District of Florida and, until she took the bench, served as the chair of the Pro Bono Task Force for the BBA. Judge Isicoff speaks extensively on bankruptcy around the country, and is committed to increasing pro bono service, diversity in the bankruptcy community and financial literacy.

Judge Isicoff received her J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law in 1982.