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Howard Yaruss is an accomplished real estate expert. He teaches in this field as an Adjunct Professor at NYU, as well as practicing as an expert witness in Mortgage, Financial Guaranty and Title Insurance. He formerly served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Responsibility Officer, and member of the five-person management team of Radian Group Inc. (NYSE: RDN), one of the nation’s largest insurers of mortgage and municipal debt.

Radian provides mortgage insurance for residential first and second lien mortgages, home equity loans, and securitized commercial and residential mortgages in connection with capital market transactions.  In particular, Mr. Yaruss was responsible for approving all material mortgage and municipal risk insured by the company and was the company’s principal contact with all domestic and foreign regulators.

 

Mr. Yaruss also oversaw Radian’s development of insurance for undisclosed real estate liens, the company's alternative to title insurance.  He subsequently served as a Managing Director at White Mountains Insurance Group, where he continued his work on this issue, which included responsibility for developing a new and innovative title insurer.

 

Prior to Radian, Mr. Yaruss served as Assistant General Counsel of Capital Re Corporation (now, Assured Guaranty Ltd.), a reinsurer which specialized in financial guaranty and mortgage insurance coverages.  He was previously associated with the law firms of Baker McKenzie and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP.

 

Since leaving the corporate sector, Mr. Yaruss has taught courses in real estate, investments, economics, finance and statistics, and has served as an expert witness for several major law firms.  He currently teaches real estate economics at NYU’s Schack Institute of Real Estate and a real estate principles course at CUNY’s Zicklin School of Business/Baruch College.  He is the author of Understandable Economics (Prometheus Books, 2022), an Amazon bestseller and winner of Axiom Business Book Award's 2023 Bronze Medal for Economics.

 

Mr. Yaruss has a B.S. degree in Applied Math and Economics, magna cum laude, from Brown University and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.  He also studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science.  He is a member of the New York bar.

EXPERTISE


 

Mortgage Insurance

Financial Guaranty and Bond Insurance

Credit Enhancement for Mortgage-Backed Securities

Financial Guaranty and Mortgage Reinsurance

Title Insurance Alternatives

Insurance Regulation

 

EDUCATION


University of Pennsylvania Law School

Juris Doctor

1983


Brown University

Economics and Applied Mathematics

1980


The London School of Economics and Political Science

General Course

1979

WORK HISTORY


SEDA Experts

Managing Director

2024-Current


New York University

Adjunct Assistant Professor

2018-Current


Independent Consultant and Expert Witness

2011-Current


White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd.

Managing Director

2008-2010


Radian Group Inc.

Executive Vice President

General Counsel

Secretary

Corporate Responsibility Officer

1997-2006


Capital Re Corporation (now, Assured Guaranty, Ltd.)

Vice President and Assistant General Counsel

1991-1997


Baker & McKenzie

Associate

1984-1990


Willkie Farr & Gallagher

Associate

1983-1984

Mortgage Insurance and Financial Guaranty Expert Witness

Contact Form
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Contact

Howard Yaruss

1185 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036

+1 646-626-4555

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