HomeFree-USA Leadership
Our executive team combines experience, vision, and passion to drive our mission forward. Learn more about the leaders guiding our organization.
HomeFree-USA Leadership
Our executive team combines experience, vision, and passion to drive our mission forward. Learn more about the leaders guiding our organization.
Executive Leadership
Marcia Griffin
Founder & CEO
Marcia Griffin is a nationally recognized entrepreneur, speaker, and financial empowerment leader whose career spans decades of advancing sustainable homeownership in underserved communities. She has guided tens of thousands of families toward financial stability, earning national recognition for achieving a 0% foreclosure rate among graduates of her programs. In 2017, she founded the Center for Financial Advancement® (CFA), now serving 16 Historically Black Colleges and Universities and over 10,000 students with financial literacy, leadership training, and career pathways. As host of $mart Money Moves, Marcia shares practical wealth-building strategies with a broad audience. Serving on numerous boards and advising across sectors, she is celebrated for her ability to inspire, innovate, and deliver measurable results.
James Griffin
Executive Vice President and Co-Founder
Jim (James) is the Executive Vice President and Co-Founder of HomeFree-USA. He also founded the first African-American Mortgage Servicing company, and served as a financial advisor and public housing policy consultant to HUD, U.S.A.I.D., World Bank, and numerous city, state and foreign governments. Jim’s career spans more than 55 years in mortgage banking with a focus on affordable housing and direct experience in mortgage lending, management of specialized loan programs, inner city real estate development, housing consulting, and the provision of transitional housing and support for homeless families.
Board of Directors
Michael Waldron
President,
Compatibility Solutions
Michael Waldron is the President of Compliability Solutions, an advisory services and staffing company where he delivers strategic direction to management teams on legal/compliance issues and corporate governance matters. He advises on creating cost-effective risk mitigation structures that support the clients’ direction and growth. With over 25 years of experience, Michael has advised and represented hundreds of financial services companies both in-house and as outside counsel.
Gwendolyn Garnett
EVP, Managing
Director of Center for Financial Advancement®
Gwendolyn Garnett is Managing Director for HomeFree-USA’s Center for Financial Advancement®. In that role, she provides financial, leadership and professional development training for students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Gwendolyn is the former Neighborhood Lending executive for the Consumer Real Estate division of Bank of America and is the recipient of many awards for her work in diversity and mentoring.
Joseph Ohayon
SVP, Head of State & Local
Government Relations, Wells Fargo
Joe Ohayon is Head of State & Local Government Relations at Wells Fargo. In that role, he leads Wells Fargo’s outreach strategy with government officials and agencies. Joe also oversees community outreach and initiatives with national and local housing and credit counseling agencies to promote homeownership education and home preservation efforts and stimulate growth and stability in distressed areas. His team has helped more than 45,000 homeowners facing financial hardship.
Efe Aghimien
Chief Financial Officer,
SWBC Mortgage
Efe Aghimien serves as SWBC Mortgage Corporation’s Chief Financial Officer, where he oversees the company’s day-to-day financial activities, planning, and reporting. With more than 20 years of experience in the accounting field, Efe is a CPA and holds his Mortgage Bankers Association Certified Mortgage Bankers (CMB) and Accredited Mortgage Professional (AMP) accreditations. Before joining SWBC, Efe served as Vice President of Accounting and Controller at Stonegate Mortgage Corporation and Director of Dealer Services for Moorehead Communications.
Paul Koches
President, Mortgage
Policy Advisors, LLC
Paul Koches is President of Mortgage Policy Advisors, LLC, a business consulting firm. Having practiced law for more than 35 years, Paul has broad experience in regulatory, corporate, finance, mergers and acquisitions, international, and intellectual property matters. Paul has also held executive positions for mortgage companies including tenures as General Counsel and Senior Advisor for Government and Community Relations.
Milan Griffin
EVP, Chief
Operations Officer
Milan Griffin is Chief People Officer at HomeFree-USA, where she runs all facets of the company with a focus on operations management, strategic growth, and marketing. Milan also co-founded the Center for Financial Advancement®, a national financial preparation, talent development and recruitment program at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Milan has led multiple companywide campaigns to show communities of color how to move from renting to owning, while connecting them with resources to get prepared for mortgage approval.
Megan O. Moore
Partner, FGS Global
Megan Moore is a Partner in the Government Affairs, Policy and Advocacy division at FGS Global, where she provides strategic counsel on policy, politics, and process to clients in a range of industries. Prior to joining FGS Global, Megan was a Special Advisor to Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt, she served as the Acting Senior Associate Director for the Office of Congressional Affairs and Communications, and she worked at the U.S. Department of the Treasury as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing, Small Business and TARP in the Office of Legislative Affairs.
Wil Lewis
Chief Diversity, Inclusion
and Belonging Officer
Wil Lewis is Experian’s Global Chief Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Officer. In that role, he drives innovation in product development by building on the company’s culture of belonging and attracting talent that represents the communities in which Experian operates. Wil also serves on the board of Disability: IN, which includes more than 50 Fortune 500 companies committed to driving equality for individuals with disabilities.
Simone Griffin Taylor
EVP, Managing Director
of Affiliate Network
Simone Griffin Taylor is Vice President of Affiliate Relations for HomeFree-USA, where she oversees compliance, federal and private funding, and Congressional advocacy for 50+ affiliate organizations nationwide. Since 2009, Simone has additionally managed the Project Rebound program, which acquires, renovates and sells foreclosed homes to low-to–moderate income families and has placed over 412 first time homebuyers into newly refurbished homes. In previous roles, Simone served as Executive Director of the HomeFree-USA Homeownership Center in Atlanta, Georgia, and as Director of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Student Homeownership Opportunity Program.
Frank Sims
Retired Corporate Executive
Frank L. Sims is the former corporate vice president of Cargill, Inc., where he led major U.S. and international business segments, including serving as president of Cargill’s North American Grain Business. In addition to three years on the Fisk University Board of Trustees, his leadership experience includes chairing the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank Board, serving on advisory committees to the U.S. Secretaries of Transportation and Agriculture, and 15 years with the Chicago Board of Trade. He currently serves on the boards of South Jersey Industries, United Theological Seminary, PACT, Inc., and the Forum for Theological Exploration. A 1972 cum laude graduate of Paul Quinn College, Sims later received an honorary doctorate in 2013.