Appraisal Subcommittee Head Departs Amid Trouble At The Agency
Matt Ponzar is out as the head of the Appraisal Subcommittee, capping off a week of tumult at the chief regulator of the U.S. appraisal industry.
Ponzar had been acting director at the ASC since January, but he exited his role on Friday as a Bisnow investigation into the agency was set to publish.
Two days earlier, a bipartisan pair of U.S. senators sent a letter to the chair of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council — which oversees the ASC — expressing concerns about the government agency. The ASC's board was cc'ed on the letter, which Bisnow obtained. Ponzar was not.
He has been removed from the subcommittee's website, and emails sent Friday afternoon and Monday morning received automatic replies stating that he was “unavailable” and directing senders to Luke Brown, the ASC's acting chair.
Ponzar was in his role and responding to emails on Friday morning.
Brown now holds the titles of vice chair, acting chair and acting executive director, according to the automatic reply message and the ASC's website. He is also an associate director at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
Ponzar didn't respond to a request for comment via LinkedIn. Bisnow was unable to reach him otherwise. Brown didn't respond to multiple requests for comment.
The ASC is responsible for monitoring state regulators to ensure that appraisers are compliant with federal standards, along with The Appraisal Foundation, which creates testing and certification materials for the industry. It also maintains a national registry of licensed appraisers.
This year, it has clawed back grant funding promised to states that was intended to bring more people into the industry, which is facing a labor shortage as the median appraiser is 60 years old and 80% are over 50, according to the National Association of Realtors.
It has also failed to maintain consistent access to the national appraiser registry, lost 30% of its staff and scaled back its compliance reviews of state regulators, Bisnow reported. The issues were flagged by Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds, who wrote to FFIEC Chair Michelle Bowman Wednesday seeking more oversight of the ASC.
“The long-term stability of the ASC is critical to the residential and commercial real estate markets,” Cortez Masto said in a statement to Bisnow last week. “I hope to hear very soon from FFIEC Chair Bowman outlining a plan to curb the chaos at this vital agency.”
Ponzar joined the ASC as general counsel in 2024 after more than two decades with the Department of Defense. He took over as executive director on a temporary basis after James Park retired from the agency at the beginning of this year. It is unclear if Ponzar will remain as general counsel.
A current employee, speaking to Bisnow on the condition of anonymity, said that as of Monday morning, the ASC's remaining staff have received no official communication about leadership changes.
