Career moves

Walker & Dunlop LLC said that Dale Brem has joined the company as vice president and deputy chief underwriter of its FHA finance department.

General Growth Properties Inc. appointed Michael B. Berman as its new executive vice president and chief financial officer, effective Dec. 15.

NeighborWorks America, a congressionally chartered nonprofit and one of the nation's largest community development corporations, appointed Sarah McGraw Greenberg as director of the development division.

CCG Catalyst named James Defrantz and Wes Ware as practice group managers and senior consultants to manage the risk and compliance practice of the company.

Craig Cole, a former mortgage production chief who recently retired from Union Bank, San Francisco, has launched a new consulting firm to advise clients on their jumbo lending and execution strategies.

The deadline to nominate industry professionals to serve on MISMO's residential governance committee is today.

Attorney General Eric Holder this week appointed Michael Bresnick as the new executive director of President Obama's financial fraud enforcement task force, which includes mortgage oversight.

Matt Morris, who was recently appointed as chief executive of Stewart Information Services Corp., Houston, has created an executive team at the company.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency this week hired Manoj K. Singh as principal examiner for risk, in charge of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Bank of America is continuing to lose top retail loan officers and managers to the competition, the latest departure claiming a handful of employees in the Columbia, S.C. area.

This week's showdown over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will likely be the first of many as Democrats prepare to make consumer protection a top campaign issue in the 2012 election.

Supreme Lending, a Dallas-based mortgage banker, has hired James E. Iley Jr., as the company's new senior vice president, national production manager.

Mike Hartman, the sales director of Allonhill for the past two years, has left the due diligence firm to "pursue other opportunities," the company said.

Rep. Barney Frank, the lead Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, said late last week that the ongoing stalemate over the confirmation of a director at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will not be resolved until at least 2012.

The law firm Ballard Spahr announced Monday that it has added a new mortgage banking practice, tapping three partners and one associate from Patton Boggs.

First Guaranty Mortgage Corp. added Mark Mayhook as managing director, capital markets.

HFF said that its Austin office has expanded with the addition of Robert Wooten as an associate director in the debt placement group and Kelsey Roop as an associate director in the investment sales group.

Real Estate Mortgage Network Inc. hired Justin Tucci in its Myrtle Beach office in the role of mortgage loan originator.

Lisa Lautner, Heidi Brunet and Nicole Perri have joined Berkadia Commercial Mortgage's senior housing and health care team.

CBRE Group Inc. said that Jim Rice and Nick Santangelo have joined CBRE Capital Markets, creating a new debt and equity finance team in Portland.