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28 | TH E M R EP O RT Meg Burns Meg Burns SVP for Mortgage Policy // Financial Services Roundtable Some people are fortunate enough to know exactly what they want to do in life as soon as they get their first taste of it—and in Meg Burns' case, that's exactly what happened. Burns, SVP for Mortgage Policy at Financial Services Roundtable, is responsible for addressing pri- ority policy issues that Washington, D.C., is grappling with, whether it's on regulatory front work with the Treasury Department, the CFPB, FHFA, FHA, or whether it's legislative. Burns came into government under George H. W. Bush's Administration. She was working at a policy shop in a budget office developing briefing materials and speeches for executive leaders when she found herself writing a speech for Jack Kemp, for- mer U.S. Secretary of Housing & Urban Development. It was the end of George H. W. Bush's term and Bill Clinton had just won the election. Burns thought the political climate was incredibly interesting and she wanted to see how the transition of power between parties worked. From there, she continued her career in policy, supporting the design and execution of numerous programs as well as writing speeches and testimony for a variety of HUD and FHA officials. She then made the leap to FHFA to direct the OCAC, but quickly found her way into a policy role as the head of an organization formed to support the GSE conservatorships, the Office of Housing and Regulatory Policy. A quality Burns possesses that makes her so successful is the fact that she puts the difficult times at the back of her mind—a way to not be timid in whatever she does next. When she began her career, she felt she was the only woman in the room. Though it may still be that way at some conferences, it has been changing in recent years. Burns said the reason there are barriers now could be because of the lack of role models initially. "One of the things that I most admire in strong women is those who command atten- tion, but without being aggressive and without being loud," Burns said. "They use their intelligence with a level of precision and they know when to step in and insert them- selves in a conversation in a way that will have the most impact. There are plenty of people who talk too much, and there are plenty of people who are pushy, but the ones who can command attention because what they have to say is relevant, well informed, and intelligent—those are my role models."