Career moves

SunTrust Mortgage hired former MetLife Home Loans executive Linda Steiner as a regional wholesale manager based in the Pacific Northwest area.

First American Title Insurance Co.’s mortgage services division named Eric Friedman chief operating officer for its default services group.

Paul M. Herron, who founded the Washington Bureau of National Mortgage News in the early 1980s, died this past weekend. He was 91.

Gary Carlson, a founder of Eagle Home Mortgage in Bellevue, Wash., has joined Mason McDuffie Mortgage Corp. as a senior vice president.

James Freis was dismissed from his position as director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network last week after refusing to step down, a person familiar with the situation confirmed Monday.

Susan Carlson, a founder of Eagle Home Mortgage in Bellevue, Wash., has joined Mason McDuffie Mortgage Corp. as senior vice president.

You remember the HARP program, don’t you? Originally, the idea was to refinance current but high LTV Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac borrowers into new, lower-rate loans—provided they were current. Home values (and lack of equity) reeked havoc on the concept so Uncle Sam took the LTV girdle off.

For No. 3 producer Shelly Logemann, it is being responsive to her clients, plus having the proper work/life balance which is important to her success as an originator.

Wilson & Associates, a real estate and default services law firm operating in Arkansas and Tennessee, appointed Ted Cummins associate partner.

Quicken Loans Mortgage Services, a unit of Quicken Loans that provides services to banks, credit unions and mortgage originators, said it is going to add more than 75 people by the end of the year.

Bay Equity Home Loans hired Spencer Richardson as its director of Northwest production.

John Robbins has created mortgage production platforms from scratch before, most notably with American Residential Mortgage and American Mortgage Network.

Truckloads of Realtors – more than 10,000 of them, according to their leader – will swarm Capitol Hill Thursday with this familiar message for lawmakers: Housing is key to the economic recovery.

An answer to why people hold their job in the mortgage marketplace or elsewhere does not come by so easily. Do people work simply to survive, or because it’s enjoyable and meaningful? The world of work is in a state of transition. It is now facing a new direction.

John Robbins has created mortgage production platforms from scratch before, most notably with American Residential Mortgage and American Mortgage Network. But his latest venture, he admitted, was in at least one way a little more difficult because of how the industry environment has changed in the past few years.

Matt Zames, the head of capital markets for JPMorgan Chase's mortgage banking division, as well as co-head of global fixed income in its investment bank, has been named the new chief investment officer for the company.

LendingQB, Costa Mesa, Calif., named Holt Crowder to its business development team.

Donna DeMaio, most recently the president and chief executive of MetLife Bank, has joined United Guaranty Corp. as its chief operating officer.

A major shake up in the senior ranks at Arch Bay Capital has taken place with several departures from the company, according to three nonperforming loan investors that have conducted business with the firm.

Freddie Mac's new chief executive, Donald Layton, urged critics to keep an open mind about the troubled government-sponsored enterprise and pledged to focus on "the nuts and bolts" to improve efficiency.