Executive Director Sarah Carpenter announced that Mark Westergard of South Burlington has joined Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) as General Counsel. He directs and administers all legal matters for the Agency, including: real estate closings; federal and state housing program activities; work associated with the issuance of bonds and other funding sources; litigation, including foreclosures; and legal aspects of VHFA's corporate matters. "We're impressed by Mark's long list of accomplishments handling complex financial transactions," Carpenter said. "We're certain he's an excellent choice to help VHFA through the challenging times many financial organizations currently find themselves in." Westergard worked for the past 18 months as a Trial Court Law Clerk for the Addison Superior Court in Middlebury. Before that he spent nearly 25 years as a bond attorney in the Dallas, Texas, office of Fulbright & Jaworski LLP, one of the largest law firms in the United States, finishing as a Senior Partner in 2006.
Westergard holds a Juris Doctor degree from the Baylor University School of Law in Waco, Texas, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Baylor Law Review; as well as a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from the University of Nevada, Reno. He's a member of the Bar of the Supreme Court of Vermont, Vermont Bar Association and State Bar of Texas, as well as a Life Fellow of the Dallas Bar Association.
VHFA was created by the Vermont Legislature in 1974 to finance and promote affordable housing opportunities for low- and moderate-income Vermonters. Since its inception, the Agency has helped approximately 26,500 Vermont households with affordable mortgages and financed the development of 7,700 affordable rental units.