Career moves

John Robbins, the former chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association, has yet another new mortgage banking venture up and running.

There was a lot of shock, sadness, and yes, grief here at SourceMedia at the recent passing of Neil Morse. We knew Neil as a gifted mortgage writer, an indefatigable road warrior, a thoroughly professional public relations executive, and finally as a colleague for his work with our conference group. He died way too soon (he was 62). But he had an impressive life.

Gleacher & Co. Securities hired two veteran MBS traders who, respectively, worked for The Royal Bank of Scotland and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

Genworth Financial Inc. reported first-quarter net income of $47 million, compared to a profit of $59 million one year prior.

The message at the 2012 Regional Conference of Mortgage Bankers Associations in Atlantic City from many of the speakers at the first residential lending general session and at a roundtable hosted by National Mortgage News/Origination News was there is a lot of uncertainty regarding the future direction of the industry. And that is because it is waiting on a definition of what will constitute a qualified mortgage. Yet, attendees at the show were upbeat that the worse times are behind them.

Freddie Mac executive Anthony Renzi has accepted a senior mortgage job with Citigroup, after weighing a position with Wilbur Ross’ fast-growing mortgage empire.

Michael D. Fraizer, chairman and CEO of Genworth Financial, resigned Tuesday afternoon, two weeks after the firm’s stock was hammered because of accelerating losses in its Australian mortgage insurance business.

ISGN Corp., Melbourne, Fla., hired Matthew Mesmer as associate general counsel with a focus on regulatory compliance, corporate compliance, ethics, risk management and operational compliance.

Experience 1 Inc., a holding company for two title insurance providers, named former LPS executive Eric Swenson chairman.

Industry veteran Tony Renzi, who joined Freddie Mac last spring as part of a major organization at the GSE, has resigned from the company effective May 11, according to a new SEC filing.

Neil Morse, a career journalist and communications specialist who found his niche in the mortgage space, died April 27 of liver cancer.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency hired Denise Dunckel as a senior associate director for the office of congressional affairs and communications.

By now, thousands of readers have viewed our coverage (both in print and online) of eWarehouseOne, the mysterious warehouse lender that appears to have collected at least $250,000 in application and good faith checks, and doesn’t have a whole lot of lines of credit to show for it. After two months of investigating the company and talking to roughly 20 sources, we’ve come to the conclusion that the man running the show is Tom Reynolds, once listed as EVP in charge of warehouse lending. The problem is this: none of the account executives hired by the company (some of whom have left) have ever met Reynolds, though they’ve spoken to him on the phone.

Former federal housing commissioner Brian Montgomery is one of three new nominees to the Radian Group’s board of directors.

LendingQB, Costa Mesa, Calif., named Brian Smith to its business development team.

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s director of industry standards is leaving the trade group, less than six months after the MBA resumed running the day-to-day operations of the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization.

Ellie Mae said that Cathleen Schreiner Gates has joined the company as senior vice president of sales and client services.

ISGN Corp., Melbourne, Fla., hired Jennifer Fulks and as associate general counsel with a focus on regulatory compliance, corporate compliance, ethics, risk management and operational compliance.

Brent Wessel joined commercial real estate lender Red Mortgage Capital as a managing director, commercial/multifamily loan originator based in the firm's Newport Beach, Calif., office.

The past is coming back to haunt former Fannie Mae chief executive James A. Johnson.