Bio

Debbie Hoffman is an executive leader, board member and professor who has built, led and provided instruction in the areas of financial services, legal, compliance and technology innovation. Debbie is a Law Professor at Cleveland State University College of Law with a focus in the areas of business law, entrepreneurship and legal technology, including blockchain. Debbie serves on the boards of Elphi, DomiDocs and The Masters Conference, and is a member of the ECPI University Cyber Advisory Boards. She is the founder of Symmetry Blockchain Advisors, Inc. advising on cryptocurrency and blockchain endeavors with a focus on the mortgage industry. 

Debbie was the Managing Associate General Counsel at Western Union, overseeing Legal M&A, Procurement, Real Estate and Corporate Governance. She also served as Head of Legal, North America, for Mphasis and the Chief Legal Officer of Mphasis’ wholly owned subsidiary, Digital Risk, LLC. Debbie spent a decade of her career as a real estate finance attorney at the law firm Thacher Proffitt & Wood, representing lenders in the origination of commercial mortgage loans. In addition to her current role at Cleveland State University College of Law, Debbie has also been a Professor of Law at Albany Law School, Barry University School of Law, Florida A&M Law and the University of Central Florida, College of Business. 

Debbie’s awards include: Money 20/20 USA RiseUp 2022 Cohort; ACC Value Champions 2022; Western Union 2021 CLO Award – Resource Management; 2020 Blockchain Ecosystem Leader finalist by Enterprise Blockchain Awards; 2019 American Bar Association Woman of Legal Tech; 2019 Winner of Women With a Vision Award by 20/20 Vision for Success and Mortgage Women Magazine; 2018, 2016 and 2014 Woman of Influence by Housingwire Magazine; 2018 NAWRB Roaring Thirty Winner in the category of “The Visionary;” 2017 Top General Counsel by the First Chair Awards; 2017 Honorable Mention as a Leading Lady in the MReport’s Women in Housing issue; 2017 “Hot 100” in Mortgage Professional America; 2015 Stevie® Award, Woman of the Year and a 2014 Stevie® Award, Female Executive. 

Debbie is a frequent author in periodicals, speaker at conferences and events and guest lecturer at universities of higher education. Debbie founded Orlando’s Blockchain Technology and Business Meetup in 2018. In 2019-2020, Debbie served as the Education Chair for the Mortgage Banker Association MISMO’s Blockchain Community of Practice. From 2017-2018 Debbie served as the Chair of the Association of Corporate Counsel Financial Services Committee and was involved in the ACC initial blockchain initiative.