Dr. Michael Lea is a principal of Cardiff Consulting Services. During his career, Dr. Lea has extensive academic, consulting, financial services industry, and government experience. He has over 30 years of financial services industry experience, including more than 25 years of international advisory work in 30 countries spanning 6 continents. He has provided advice on a wide variety of mortgage and securitization topics as a consultant to international development agencies, government-sponsored enterprises, trade groups, regulatory agencies and major private and public sector financial institutions. Dr. Lea has also served in senior executive positions at several major U.S. financial institutions.
Dr. Lea is an internationally known authority on housing and mortgage finance with more than 80 publications. He has taught at Cornell University, San Diego State University, the University of California, San Diego and the Wharton International Housing Finance Program at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.