The Hispanic National Bar Foundation is pleased to introduce the 2025 HNBF’s Corporate Leadership honoree. Please join us as we honor Carlos M. Pelayo for his outstanding achievements and his commitment to mentorship and equity for first generation and low-income high school students.
Carlos Pelayo serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer for Mr. Cooper Group Inc. with primary responsibility for advising the Company’s senior leadership on all legal and regulatory issues, as well as overseeing the organization’s Legal department and managing all corporate governance activities. He joined the company in February 2023 with more than 20 years of experience in the legal field.
Mr. Cooper’s mission is to keep the dream of home ownership alive for our more than 7 million customers nationwide. Mr. Cooper is the largest non-bank mortgage servicer in the United States and a leading mortgage originator, and through affiliated companies such as Xome they deliver innovative real estate solution to customers and investors.
Carlos has extensive expertise in financial services. Prior to joining Mr. Cooper, he served as Managing Director and Legal Executive for Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, a division of Bank of America where he was a senior advisor to business leadership providing day-to-day legal, regulatory and strategic advice to all client-facing areas of the business, including the international, institutional and ultra-high-net-worth segments. Prior to Merrill, he served as Managing Director and General Counsel for Barclays’ investment-driven private banking business in the Americas.
Earlier in his career, he worked at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP and served as a law clerk to the Honorable Jan E. DuBois of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Before law school, he worked as a management consultant with the global advisory firm Hay Group, which is now part of Korn Ferry.
Carlos holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Pennsylvania, a master’s degree in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University, and a bachelor’s degree with honors from Boston College.
Carlos is active in his communities and cares passionately about giving back. At Mr. Cooper, he is the Executive Sponsor for All-in-One, an employee resource group designed to bring together employees of all backgrounds and faiths. And while at Bank of America, he served on the Executive Advisory Board for the enterprise-wide Hispanic and Latino Organization (“HOLA”), which delivered dozens of successful volunteer and educational programs throughout his tenure. Carlos also volunteers meaningful time and energies as a member of the Gala Steering Committee for NJ LEEP, whose mission is to close the educational equity gap by partnering with first-generation and low-income students to build skills and offer experiences to achieve their college and career ambitions. He also served for many years as a Volunteer Attorney with the Manhattan Family Court Volunteer Program.
In addition, Carlos is an Adjunct Professor at Fordham University School of Law where he teaches Corporate Ethics and Compliance. He is fluent in Spanish and conversational in French.
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