Jody 
Shenn

 

20+ years at the heart of the global financial system and a public track record of delivering important and unique insights on key issues in the markets and economy

 

For more on Jody's work at Moody's (where he's been a senior analyst on securitizations, consumer credit, housing, Fintech/AI and other hot topics), Bloomberg (where he covered mortgages, MBS/CDOs and other issues at the center of the '07-09 global financial crisis and its clean-up as a prolific reporter), American Banker (where he warned of the coming crisis), The Wall Street Journal (for whom he wrote on stocks, sports and newsmakers, working for its nascent website amid a contested election, dotcom crash, 9/11, audit scandals and war) or elsewhere... see his LinkedIn, resume or below. 

 

Jody has a reputation for having a deep and often unparalleled understanding of a wide range of the most complicated topics, especially in financial markets, and particularly things related to mortgages and securitizations (or, nearly everything). He's explained such complex but crucial issues in various ways to people across Wall Street, Washington and worldwide. And, he's been known as consistently ahead of others on emerging opportunities and risks. 

 

At Moody's, he's been quoted by publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNBCThe Bond Buyer, National Mortgage News, Barron's, Business Insider and Asset Securitization Report. His journalism was cited by The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, NBC's Meet the PressColumbia Journalism Review, Grant's Interest Rate Observer, DealBreaker's Matt Levine, SalonZeroHedge, Naked Capitialism, New York Observer, Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and in courts, reports, papers (a dissertation), regulatory items and remarks by trade/consumer groups and officials. He did Bloomberg TV/radio with hosts like Tom Keene, Kathleen Hays, Carol Massar and Erik Schatzker. 

 

He's been an agenda-setting writer and an office "guru" or "nerd" on tricky nuances even in sophisticated environments. But, he's also down-to-earth and loyal, and always striving to make achieving goals enjoyable. Indeed, he's sought to lift up others more than anything and proven most valuable in teams, repeatedly featuring in award-winning group efforts beside journalists and credit analysts, and forging long relationships with colleagues and others, with acknowledgments or citations in books by top journalists and professionals, such as Mary Childs, Bob IvryChristine RichardJoshua Rosner/Gretchen MorgensternWilliam A. Frey and Janet M. Tavakoli.

I believe there's an interesting story about my track record in journalism. At Bloomberg News, where I was last writing, I focused on US mortgage-backed securities and related topics, acting as the beat reporter on many of the largest fixed-income and lending sectors at the top business data and information firm during a period of historic global market events. Yeah, it was interesting.

 


Below there are links to some articles from Bloomberg and earlier that I remember being good or important, though many are behind paywalls.

At Bloomberg, I say I:

 

➔ regularly broke news and published other market-moving stories on housing, mortgages, RMBS, CDOs, ABS, CMBS, ABCP, agency debt, covered bonds, banks, hedge funds, insurers, non-bank lenders and other financial institutions, via long-form deep dive features, “scoops,” and news analysis under immediate deadlines, often publishing 5-10 items weekly.

 

➔ usually had work that was among the most-read/most-shared Terminal articles on a daily/weekly basis for a nearly decade, as I was prescient in identifying important trends and events as a global financial crisis first emerged, then deepened, and finally receded, including seeds of future market challenges. I succeeded by often collaborating across news and other Bloomberg teams, including on award-winning articles,, and was considered a trusted internal authority and proud mentor.

 

➔ forged hundreds of relationships and sourced information from junior to very senior levels at major to boutique financial institutions, investment firms, law firms, technology vendors, industry and political groups, regulators and other government entities, and elsewhere.

 

At American Banker, I ended as the Deputy Editor for Consumer Finance, while continuing to report on the expanding bubble. I say I was a newsroom leader, serving as a reporting editor who wrote features, broke news and helped manage a team covering mortgage and consumer lending for one of the oldest US trade newspapers during unprecedented changes for the industry. I sometimes say I: 

 

➔ developed wide contacts across banks, insurers, other financial services companies, investment firms and vendors, covering all aspects of consumer and real estate finance including risk management, sales and marketing, operations, servicing, secondary marketing, accounting, corporate finance, compliance, business process outsourcing and technology.

 

➔ documented the credit bubble and began escalating warnings in 2004-05 period, including on potentially historic severity of upcoming collapse
 

I also had a lot of success and fun writing about business, governments, markets, people and other things at The Southampton Press: Western EditionThe Wall Street Journal Online and elsewhere. Here's some articles:

 

Mortgage Risk Debate Heating Up, May 2005


Where's Mortgage Risk? New Answers Emerging, May 2005

Amid Housing-Bubble Din, Something Different?, April 2005

More Pressure Seen on Loan Standards...., November 2005

 

Told They Don't Belong, Families Agree, August 2000

IAEA's ElBaradei Believes Iraq Isn't Mission Impossible, December 2002

HUD Taking Closer Look at GSE Report Accuracy, May 2004

 

Contributor to Gerald Loeb Award-winning Bloomberg News series in 2007, Wall Street's Faustian Bargain 

 

Countrywide Adding Staff to Boost Purchase Share, January 2004

 

New CitiMortgage Primed for Nonprime, July 2006

 

Merrill Loaded for Bear in Mortgage Market That Humiliated HSBC, February 2007

 

Hedge Funds Ask SEC to Look for Subprime Manipulation, June 2007

 

Bear Stearns's 'Friends' Reject Hedge Fund Resue in LTCM Redux, June 2007

 

Subset of ARMs set to 'detonate', February 2008

 

Pimco, NY Fed Said to Seek BofA Mortgage Repurchases, October 2010

 

Mortgage Investors Urge End of Damaging Practices, Lawyer Says, July 2010

 

Toxic CDOs Given Up for Dead Coming to Life With Pension Funds, July 2008

 

AIG 100-Cents Fed Deal Driven by France Belied by French Banks, January 2010

 

How Lucido Helped AIG Lose Big on Goldman Sachs CDOs, April 2010

 

Home Buying Gets Tougher as Lenders Restrict FHA Loans, November 2010

 

Ranieri Says Housing Market in US Is Reaching Bottom, May 2012

 

Banks Averting Bonds Losses With Accounting Twist, February 2014

 

What lurks in subprime auto loans is anybody's guess, October 2014

 

You Don’t Need to Be Perfect to Get a Mortgage Anymore, October 2014

 

Risky Mortgage Bonds Returning Under a New Name, January 2015

 

How Banks Are Using Accounting Shift to Prepare for an Interest Rate Rise, June 2015

 

Shopping in CMBS Prompts Changes to Derivative Indexes, January 2015

 

Basketball Mourns as Jordan Says Farewell in Philadelphia, April 2003

 

Rainy Days Not Really a Washout, August 2000

 

Letting Their Feet Do the Talking, November 1999

 

Historian's Card Collection Has Collective History of It Own, September 1999

 

Is Choice or Necessity Driving Option Arm Use?, August 2005

 

ARM Lenders Prep for Wave of Teaser Rate Expirations,”  January 2006

MBS Pioneer Has Concerns: RiskPassing, GSE Reforms, Commercial Realty, June 2006

 

Bear Sterns Funds Own 67 Percent Stake in Everquet IPO, May 2007

 

Overlapping Subprime Exposure Mask Risks of CDOs, Moody's Says, April 2007

 

AIG Subprime Debt May Cost $2.3 Billion, Analysts Say, August 2007

As a financial analyst and journalist tackling sensitive and globally important issues, Jody hopes he's proven his approach to be thoughtful, thorough, in good faith and without bias to a large spectrum of individuals with differing interests and diverse worldviews, using his extreme work ethic and directness as needed. A graduate of Cornell University with an English degree (with courses including investment theory and honors physics with Brian Greene, and a London semester), he connects with all sorts of people, and has learned high level academic and practical theory in many challenging fields via extensive reading, experiences and chats across seniority ranks and job types.