APRIL 8 • 2021 | 39
first official job in politics
working for the Democratic
Congressional Campaign
Committee.
He started off as a research
analyst for the committee,
then worked for the U.S.
House of Representatives as a
legislative correspondent and
research assistant. “Breaking
in [to the field] can be diffi-
cult and takes a bit of luck,”
Feldman says. “Once you
break into the Hill, you have a
lot of ability to succeed.”
This was the case for
Feldman. He then returned
to the committee, where he
worked as a research coordi-
nator before being promoted
to senior research analyst and
later deputy research director.
Serving in a leadership role in
politics prepared him to take
on his next job as Peters’ chief
of staff, where he remained
until this year.
His tenure with Peters
marked a time in politics
where monumental moments
and changes occurred. “When
Gary got elected to Congress,
it was during the beginning of
the Great Recession and the
auto crisis,” Feldman recalls.
“It was amazing watching
someone who had just got-
ten to Congress play such a
significant role in helping to
save the auto industry, and
specifically helping to save
Chrysler.”
PROTECTING JEWS
One area of his work hit
particularly close to home.
At the beginning of 2017
when Jewish community
organizations were receiv-
ing bomb threats, including
Jewish Community Centers,
Feldman worked alongside
Peters to secure support
and physical security for the
organizations. Growing up
as a member of Adat Shalom
Synagogue in Farmington
Hills, BBYO and University
of Michigan Hillel, Feldman
is proud of the help his team
was able to provide for the
local Jewish community.
Peters helped lead the
Senate to a win that saw all
100 senators signing in favor
of having all efforts possible
from the federal government
being used to investigate the
threats against Jewish organi-
zations, which in the first two
months of 2017 alone saw at
least 98 incidents.
Now, Feldman is looking
forward to beginning a new
chapter in life and continu-
ing to influence positive
change.
“Eric has extensive experi-
ence working with lawmak-
ers and policy leaders on
both sides of the aisle,” writes
Laphonza Butler, Airbnb’s
head of public policy in
North America, in a press
release. “He understands the
complex policy issues that
are critical to the success of
our host community.
“We are proud to have Eric
join our team as we continue
to advocate the economic
benefits of home sharing cre-
ated for hosts and the com-
munities they call home.”
and safety precautions permit,
Ishbia says employees who had
been working from home will
be returning. “Hey, we’ve got to
follow the governor’s orders,
”
he said. “Most of the team is
asking, begging to come back.
”
STIFF COMPETITION
Today, as the chief executive
officer of UWM Holdings
Corp. (ticker symbol UWMC),
Ishbia is locked in a high-pro-
file competition for top spot as
the nation’s top mortgage lend-
er. The current No. 1 is Detroit-
based Rocket Companies Inc.,
also known as Quicken Loans,
headed by Dan Gilbert, anoth-
er Jewish kid from the suburbs
who attended Michigan State.
United Wholesale Mortgage
was originally known as Shore
Mortgage, a 12-person compa-
ny founded in 1986 by his dad.
It now employs 8,500.
In January, UWM emerged
as a $16 billion publicly traded
corporation via a merger with
a SPAC — special purpose
acquisition company — con-
trolled by Alec Gores, brother
of Detroit Piston owner Tom
Gores. The innovative tech-
nique for converting compa-
nies to public ownership lately
has seized the stock market’s
imagination. It’s a financing
method in which investors
first buy shares of a so-called
“blank check” company that
afterward acquires its target —
in this case, United Wholesale
Mortgage — the renamed
company subsequently trading
under the target’s name.
UWM and Rocket (ticker
symbol RKT), both originate
home loans, though their
approach is different. Rocket,
roughly three times the size
of UWMC in terms of market
capitalization, specializes in
retail lending directly to those
buying or refinancing a house;
UWM focuses on mortgage
brokers, who shop for mort-
gages on behalf of homebuyers.
“Now, things are a little more
center stage because we’re
Numbers 1 and 2,
” Ishbia said.
Back in the day “they [Rocket]
were No. 10 and we were No.
30, in terms of loan origina-
tions.
”
As a relative newcomer
to media scrutiny, the stock
market and the responsibilities
of being a billionaire, Ishbia
appears to be enjoying himself
and settling in comfortably.
He likely isn’t finished with
athletics, though. When I asked
him if he wouldn’t like to one
day own a sports franchise, he
replied: “I’m very blessed and
lucky to have the means to
be able to buy a sports team,
which is always a dream. I
wasn’t good enough to play for
one, so maybe I should own
one, right? One day will I look
at doing that? Absolutely, I will.
“Basketball is obviously my
passion, so that’
d be my first
one, but I love all sports.
”
WORKING FOR SEN. PETERS
“WAS A REALLY INCREDIBLE
OPPORTUNITY.”
— ERIC FELDMAN
FROM THE HILL continued from page 37
degree from Central Michigan
University in 2017, majoring in
hospitality and minoring in
business information systems.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has
appointed Ryan Hertz,
the president and
CEO of Light-
house, to the
Michigan Intera-
gency Council on
Homelessness.
Hertz, a resident
of Huntington Woods, joins a
council designed to develop,
adopt and update a dec-
ade-long plan to end home-
lessness in Michigan. The plan
includes “evidence- based
improvements to programs
and policies that will ensure
services and housing are
provided in an efficient,
cost-effective and productive
manner,” the governor’s office
said. Hertz became CEO of
Lighthouse in January 2019.