Career moves

My inbox was slammed by emails from readers who said "right on" to my commentary that the White House is (wrongly) using mortgage brokers as a whipping boy for the mortgage crisis. But some larger questions still loom: Does this White House even know what a loan broker is? I would guess not.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is using its authority over non-banks to target independent mortgage servicing companies.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Richard Cordray on Thursday appointed Raj Date as the agency's first deputy director.

Valuation Partners, Sugar Land, Texas, hired Clint Reinhardt as vice president and national account executive.

Did perceived liquidity problems at PHH Corp. lead to this week's ouster of company president and CEO Jerry Selitto? I'm told that PHH doesn't have any liquidity problems and the company said as much in a recent SEC filing.

President Obama's recess appointment of Richard Cordray on Wednesday will clear the way for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to use its full enforcement and regulatory powers to police all mortgage lenders and servicers.

The Collingwood Group, a Washington-based mortgage advisory firm, has acquired GWN Consulting LLC, a specialist in FHA and GNMA risk management and quality control services.

Two more Standard & Poor's executives whose respective roles have included oversight of mortgage-backed securities ratings are leaving the company, possibly as part of an ongoing reorganization, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report.

Jerome Selitto has resigned as president and chief executive of PHH Corp., Mt. Laurel, N.J., and has been replaced by the company's chief operating officer Glen Messina.

The White House Wednesday morning signaled its intention to make former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau through a recess appointment.

Mike Anderson has resigned as vice president of government affairs for the National Association of Mortgage Brokers.

Looking to move forward after recent accounting issues forced it to restate its 2010 earnings, Suffolk Bancorp in Riverhead, N.Y., has hired a new chief executive to replace J. Gordon Huszagh.

Mike Anderson last week resigned as vice president of government affairs for the National Association of Mortgage Brokers.

BOFI Federal Bank, San Diego, is ready to kick off its new warehouse lending business, targeting correspondent lenders.

The Army Times' 2009 Soldier of the Year is now a homeowner, thanks to GMAC Mortgage.

Commercial real estate is expected to make a subtle rebound this year and some community bankers are gearing up for the return.

Patrick Thesing has been named the chief compliance officer for Houston-based Stewart Information Services Corp.

Churchill Mortgage, a Brentwood, Tenn.-based lender that provides conventional, FHA, VA and USDA residential mortgages for borrowers, has expanded its financial services operations by opening an office in Kentucky.

Mary Joine Dum, a leading expert on the use of computers in real estate appraisal and a former product reviewer for National Mortgage News and Mortgage Technology magazine, died on Dec. 15 in Brentwood, California. She was 80.

In a roundtable discussion, Lew Sichelman, senior housing correspondent for National Mortgage News, asks members of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers' executive board what they are dealing with on the legislative front.