Eric Kaplan
Eric Kaplan is a senior advisor at the Milken Institute and a recognized thought leader with more than three decades of experience spanning finance, law, public policy, and advocacy. His work focuses on bridging the gap between public- and private-sector stakeholders to advance economic empowerment, financial stability, and inclusive, well-functioning financial markets—particularly in housing, consumer finance, and emerging technologies.
Kaplan has been affiliated with the Milken Institute since 2017. He previously led the Institute’s Housing Finance and Policy Program within the Finance pillar, where he engaged government, private-sector, and nonprofit leaders on issues central to the resilience, accessibility, and sustainability of the US housing finance system.
Prior to joining the Milken Institute, Kaplan spent nearly 20 years in mortgage finance and capital markets, following five years of related legal practice. In the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis, he emerged as a leading national voice on mortgage and mortgage-backed securities reform. Among his contributions, Kaplan launched, spearheaded, and chaired the Structured Finance Association’s RMBS 3.0 Task Force—the industry’s primary private-label mortgage securities reform effort—and cochaired a working group within the US Department of the Treasury’s private-label securitization reform initiative. He remains active in the housing sector, including as a member of the Structured Finance Association (where he previously served as a board member and cochair of the Residential Mortgage Committee), the National Association of Home Builders Roundtable, and the National Housing Conference. He also serves as chair of the Fixed Income Investor Network RMBS Task Force and as a member of the senior advisory board (and former board member) of the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization.
Kaplan’s work on housing finance reform broadened over time to encompass financial capability, security, and literacy as foundational elements of household stability and economic mobility. In furtherance of that mission, he joined Operation HOPE as executive vice president and served from 2022 through the end of 2024 as the inaugural president of the nonprofit’s Financial Literacy for All initiative. In parallel, he played a central role in building and launching Operation HOPE’s AI Ethics Council, serving as its initiative-leading managing director and helping to shape responsible, inclusive approaches to AI deployment.
Kaplan has held numerous prominent advisory and governance roles across the public and private sectors. He was appointed by Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Kathy Kraninger to serve a two-year term on the bureau’s Consumer Advisory Board, serving as vice chair from 2019 to 2020 and chair from 2020 to 2021. In that capacity, he advised CFPB leadership during a period that included the agency’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He was also a member of the Mortgage Markets COVID-19 Collaborative, a standing group of industry, advocacy, government, and research stakeholders convened by the Urban Institute to develop coordinated responses to pandemic-related housing and mortgage market challenges.
In August 2020, Kaplan joined the board of directors of Kroll Bond Rating Agency and completed his five-year term, as mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act, in August 2025. He was also a partner at Ranieri Strategies LLC, a FinTech-focused private equity firm chaired by financial services pioneer Lewis Ranieri. Kaplan currently serves as an advisor to several mortgage and consumer finance, FinTech, and AI companies, and continues to support nonprofit and private-sector efforts to advance financial literacy, sound financial markets, and responsible innovation.
Kaplan holds a BA in politics from Princeton University and a JD from Boston University School of Law. Throughout his career, he has held licenses in law, securities, and mortgage loan origination.