MBA marketers call the sessions "the premier industry event of the year and the largest gathering of its kind in the nation."

John Major, former prime minister of Great Britain, will update an estimated 4,000 attendees on global politics and how the international situation is affecting the commercial real estate finance community.

Major is the featured speaker at the Feb. 4 morning opening of the event's general session. He will be introduced by MBA chairman James M. Murphy, chairman/CEO, New England Realty Resources Inc., Boston.

Shekar Narasimhan, managing director, agency and funds division, Prudential Mortgage Capital Co., will lead a panel in mid-morning, discussing political realities faced by the Millennial Housing Commission, which supports federal housing assistance for moderate income families.

Other morning panels will discuss rating agency criteria and mezzanine real estate loans. At noon, MBA's research department will release survey data on last year's loan originations and present an industry outlook for 2002.

Afternoon roundtable discussions will highlight the allocation of capital by insurance companies to commercial real estate; the evolving effects of terrorist attacks on the commercial real estate finance community; the future of healthcare lending; and the value of mortgage banking relationships in commercial real estate finance transactions.

Anthony J. "Tony" Pierson, managing director, TimesSquare Real Estate Investors Inc., Hartford, CT, kicks off the morning session Feb. 5 with an outlook for the commercial real estate industry in major U.S. markets.

Morning panel discussions will cover Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA creative housing concepts for the elderly; and the progress of electronic technology on the mortgage banking industry.

Two afternoon roundtables will present EPMOT, the experimental prototype mortgage of tomorrow and how new technologies will change the way commercial mortgages are made and serviced in the near-future.

A discussion on foreign companies' continued interest in U.S. commercial real estate markets will highlight a separate panel gathering.