Structured Finance Association Welcomes Walt Cronkite as Director of Communications
WASHINGTON, March 7, 2024 – The Structured Finance Association (SFA), a leading trade association representing the structured finance and securitization industry, today announced the appointment of Walt Cronkite as Director of Communications. Cronkite will lead SFA’s communications, media relations, and social media. He brings extensive experience in communications and media to his new role.
“We are thrilled to welcome Walt to the growing SFA team,” said SFA CEO Michael Bright. “Walt is a trusted public affairs professional with a proven record in policy communications, media relations, and persuasive writing. With his significant experience in the Washington policy and media landscape, he is well-suited to lead our communications program and advocate for the structured finance community.”
“I am delighted to join the exceptional team at the Structured Finance Association to support a healthy and robust securitization market,” Cronkite said. “I look forward to collaborating with colleagues to advance SFA’s policy agenda of helping the economy grow by safely enabling greater credit access to industry, consumers, and investors.”
Cronkite has spent the last 13 years in the communications field in Washington, D.C. He most recently handled public relations for global law firm Latham & Watkins. Prior to that, Cronkite worked in public affairs and government relations for FTI Consulting, helping clients navigate crises, congressional investigations, and litigation.
He began his career at CBS News. As a congressional producer, he covered legislation, hearings, and high-level confirmations. In 2017, he was elected by his peers as Chairman of the Radio and Television Correspondents’ Association, the organization tasked by Congress with credentialing journalists, overseeing Capitol Hill briefing rooms, and advocating for press access.
He co-edited the book Cronkite’s War, a compilation of his grandfather’s letters home from World War II, published by National Geographic Press in May 2013.
Cronkite graduated from Hamilton College in Clinton, NY with a B.A. in Government.
About the Structured Finance Association
With more than 370 member institutions comprised of accounting firms, broker/dealers, diversified financial intermediaries, investors, issuers, IT vendors, law firms, mortgage insurers, other small financial institutions, rating agencies, servicers, and trustees, SFA is the leading voice for the securitization industry.
SFA is focused on helping grow the real economy and improving the lives of individuals, families, businesses, and communities across the nation; helping make credit more affordable and available to people who need it to finance some of life’s biggest goals — education, car purchases, starting a business, buying a home — or reduce their debt through consolidation loans; safeguarding essential protections for consumers and the financial system; facilitating valuable dialogue among the financial services market, its practitioners, policymakers and the broader public; and recognizing that all finance entails risk, but it should not involve recklessness.
