Career moves

At the first trimester meeting of 2010 of the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization, overall attendance was at a two-year high and volunteers of the technology data standards body elected a new chairman and vice chairman. Harry Gardner, the chief strategy officer at SigniaDocs, was elected to the MISMO governance committee. Shortly after his seat on governance was secured, he also was elected chairman of the standards group, replacing Ron Duff of Fiserv. Mr. Gardner also will be the liaison between MISMO's governance body and the board. Taking on a leadership role within MISMO is actually old hat for Mr. Gardner -- he was in charge of MISMO when he served as the vice president of industry technology for MBA. Early last year, Mr. Gardner and the entire industry technology staff at MBA were laid off as MBA opted to outsource the management of MISMO to MERS instead of relying on internal, paid staff to do the job.

State Bank of North Carolina is acquiring cross-town mortgage lender Affiliated Mortgage LLC of Raleigh for an undisclosed sum. The agreement calls for the purchase to close on or before February 12, 2010, at which time Affiliated will become a new division of the bank called North State Bank Mortgage. Ken Sykes, Affiliated's managing partner, will serve as president. "Simply put, we are in the relationship banking business," said North State president and chief executive Larry Barbour. "Being able to provide residential mortgages for our customers is a critical part of our commitment to serving them." Affiliated opened its doors in 1994 as a mortgage broker but subsequently became a mortgage banker. "The staff at Affiliated offers excellent service, and culturally our two firms are well-aligned, which is extremely important as we work together," Barbour said. Mr. Sykes noted that both entities serve same clientele.

Clayton Holdings, Shelton, Conn., has hired Raymond Redlingshafer as senior managing director. Mr. Redlingshafer brings more than 25 years of experience to Clayton Holdings including trading MBS and whole loans, managing a fixed-income institutional sales force, founding a mortgage REIT and taking the company public. At Clayton he will focus on expanding the firm's relationships with secondary market participants and on business development and promotion of its core products. "Although the secondary markets have been in turmoil, there remain opportunities in the market," said Paul Bossidy, Clayton's chief executive officer. "Investors need more than data; they need useful information and insights. Ray brings the market acumen and experience to enable Clayton to help our clients succeed."

Ginnie Mae has experienced tremendous growth in the last few years, therefore it faces operational challenges, according to Theodore Tozer, President Obama's nominee to be the agency's new president. Mr. Tozer told the Senate Banking Committee at his confirmation hearing that Ginnie Mae has become a major player in the mortgage-backed securities market and it has to address counter-party risk with its MBS issuers. "Ginnie has a good foundation and dedicated staff and I look forward to working with them, if confirmed, to move the agency to the next level and make it a very solid operation that can support the housing market," he told the senators. It appears that the full Senate, according to lobbyists, will confirm Mr. Tozer. The nominee has worked at National City and now at PNC Financial Services Group as a capital markets executive. Mr. Tozer has been involved in issuing Ginnie Mae MBS since 1986. Ginnie Mae issued $414 billion in MBS last year, up from $97 billion in 2007.

Mortgage brokers are hopeful that the newly elected Senator from Massachusetts — a closing attorney who once worked with loan officers — could come to their aid. State Senator Scott Brown, a Republican, on Tuesday won the open Senate seat created by the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) "He understands how things work," said Marc Savitt, president of the National Association of Independent Housing Professionals. A spokeswoman for Mr. Brown confirmed that he has worked as a closing attorney but said it is too early for him to start talking about where he stands on such issues as the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, and tighter regulation for loan officers and loan brokers. Still, some mortgage brokers are optimistic on the possibilities. "It certainly can't hurt that he used to do closings," said Mr. Savitt. Richard Shapiro, principal in Asset Mortgage Group of Natick, Mass., said he has not closed loans with Mr. Brown but said one of his staffers has. "He's a small local guy," he said of Mr. Brown. Mr. Shapiro said he is hopeful that if Mr. Brown becomes a member of the Senate Banking Committee he might be able to help brokers with some of the hefty licensing fees they are now being charged.

Mark Savitt, the immediate past president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers — and who recently launched a new trade group — has resigned from NAMB's board of directors, effective immediately. Mr. Savitt said his resignation from NAMB was his own decision but declined to comment further except to say this week he is meeting with government representatives on two key issues facing the industry: the Home Valuation Code of Conduct, and yield spread premiums. Mr. Savitt's new trade group is called the National Association of Independent Housing Professionals. He is president and CEO of the group, which officially launched two weeks ago. At NAMB, George Hanzimanolis, who was the organization's president in 2007- 2008, has been appointed to fill out Mr. Savitt's term and will serve as chairman of NAMB's nominating committee. No reason was given in a statement issued by NAMB.

Morgan Stanley said John Klopp is joining the company as head of Americas real estate investing and global real estate debt, investing effective February 1. Mr. Klopp is a 30-year veteran of the real estate industry, recently serving as CEO of the investment management and real estate finance firm he co-founded, Capital Trust. During his career he was also a founder and managing partner of private merchant banking boutique Victor Capital Group, a specialist in workouts and distressed debt.

The American Securitization Forum has ended its administrative relationship with the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and said its acting executive director will now permanently assume that post. "The ASF has been self-funded and self-governed since its inception in 2002 but has utilized certain operational resources of SIFMA," the former trade group said. "That relationship has ended and the ASF will now independently serve the securitization markets to restore credit flow to Main Street." The group has been particularly focused on setting industry guidelines aimed at restoring new issuance in the residential mortgage-backed securities market. The ASF's board unanimously chose Tom Deutsch to permanently serve as the group's executive director. Previous to serving as acting executive director, Mr. Deutsch had been deputy executive director. Executive director George Miller resigned in December, saying he planned to remain professionally connected to the business but in a different capacity.

Mortgage Cadence Inc., Denver, has hired John Levonick as its chief legal and compliance officer. In his previous positions, he worked with creditors, servicers, secondary market participants and technology vendors to provide guidance on compliance with various laws and regulations that affect the industry. At Mortgage Cadence, Mr. Levonick will work closely with clients to identify and manage compliance risk, help interpret compliance requirements, develop risk mitigation strategies and implement the requisite controls in the company's technology platform.

Chuck Greener, Fannie Mae senior vice president of communications, has left the GSE to take a position with Walgreen Co. in Chicago. He joined Fannie Mae in 2001 as senior vice president of communications. During his tenure, he also had served as chief of staff to the chief executive officer. A spokeswoman for the GSE said she does not know whether he will be replaced.

Amalgamated Bank, New York, named James T. Freel to the position of senior vice president and chief real estate officer in its institutional asset management and custody division. Prior to joining Amalgamated Bank, Mr. Freel was a senior vice president in KeyBank's asset recovery group. While at KeyBank, he also served as senior vice president/income property group.

Ronald Barnett joined Mortgage Access Corp., Morris Plains, N.J., as vice president and area manager. He is responsible for developing and managing loan originations in the New Jersey region. Most recently, Mr. Barnett was an area manager for JPMorgan Chase's home lending group and he also worked in a similar capacity for Washington Mutual and Bank of America.

Guild Mortgage, Seattle, appointed Dan Rivisto as district manager, Northwest region. Prior to joining Guild, Mr. Rivisto was a district manager for W.J. Bradley and an area manager for JPMorgan Chase. In 2002, he joined Countrywide Home Loans as an area builder manager for the greater Puget Sound area and was later promoted to first vice president regional builder manager for a four-state region in the Northwest.

Senate Banking Committee chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn. said he is not running for re-election in November and wants to spend his last year in office working toward passage of health care reform and financial services regulatory reform. "A year from this week our state will have a new United States Senator. In the meantime we have important work to do," Sen. Dodd said at a press conference. His decision to give up re-election makes its easier for the Connecticut senator to move to the center on regulatory reform issues. It also makes it easier for Republicans to compromise, since passage of a bill to regulate Wall Street and restructure the federal banking agencies will not be viewed as a victory for Sen. Dodd that could boost his re-election chances. One of Dodd's priorities is creating a new federal agency that is charged with protecting consumers from predatory lending and abusive financial products. Senate Banking Committee members are working on a bipartisan proposal that they want to unveil later this month. Sources indicated members are close to an agreement on a consumer protection agency that would have rulemaking authority, but leave enforcement powers with the banking regulators.

Anthony Hsieh, an entrepreneur who previously created and sold LoansDirect and Home Loan Center, has started a new online mortgage company, loanDepot.com which is based in Irvine, Calif. The backers for loanDepot include San Francisco-based private equity company Parthenon Capital Partners. Mr. Hsieh has ambitious plans for the company, projecting the creation of over 1,000 jobs by 2013. Right now it is licensed in 18 states, with plans to be approved nationwide by the end of this year. In support of its business plan, loanDepot cites two studies, including one from National Mortgage News that shows 80% or more of all mortgages originated have touched the Internet at some point in their process. It also pointed to Deloitte Consulting research which found 93% of those who applied for a loan online started their research online, 71% of telephone applicants started their research online and 60% of face-to-face applicants started their research online. The company has already been approved by the Federal Housing Administration as a non-supervised lender.

In lieu of cash bonuses for 2009, the board of Wells Fargo & Co., San Francisco, Calif., has approved multimillion-dollar retention performance shares for three key executives, including the head of Wells Fargo Home and Consumer Finance, Mark Oman. Mr. Oman, a senior executive vice president, and Howard Atkins, also a senior EVP as well as well as the company's chief financial officer, both got approved for a target of 189,800 shares having a current value of about $5 million. The board approved for John Stumpf, president and chief executive officer, a target of 379,600 shares having a current value of about $10 million. "These retention performance shares, which are not a form of cash compensation or annual incentive bonus, are forfeited if the executive receiving the shares leaves the company to work for a competitor," Wells said. The shares will vest after three years of service only if the company meets specified performance goals. A portion of all shares earned by executives as compensation must be held for as long as they remain employed by the company. Steve Sanger, chair of the board's human resources committee and retired chairman and CEO of General Mills Inc., said the executives receiving the compensation have been "leading the company through the largest merger integration in U.S. banking history and they have played key roles in generating record profits in the first three quarters of 2009, despite the challenging economy." Commenting on the rationale behind the performance shares, he noted that given those accomplishments and "the current challenges impacting the banking industry, Wells Fargo executives, at all levels, are being increasingly and aggressively recruited by competitors."

Dorado Corp., San Mateo, Calif., said that Dave Parker has been promoted to vice president, business development. In his new role, Mr. Parker will oversee all aspects of Dorado's business development efforts including technology and value-added reseller partnerships. He previously served as director of business development. In prior roles, he has served as director, sales platform development at Wells Fargo and chief executive officer at Praxis Technology Group. Before Wells Fargo, Mr. Parker served as chief operating officer at MortgageHub.

Barbara Alexander, one of three Freddie Mac directors the Federal Housing Finance Agency left in place after the company was placed into a conservatorship, will step down from the GSE's board once her term ends in March. She is currently chairwoman of the business and risk committee and serves on the compensation and executive committees. Since 2004, Ms. Alexander has been an independent consultant. Before that, she was a senior advisor at UBS Warburg LLC and managing director of the North American construction and furnishing group in the corporate finance department at UBS. She is also an executive fellow at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University.

Loan Value Group LLC, Rumson, N.J., has named a chairman and, separately, a managing partner. Richard Santulli, former founder and chairman/chief executive officer of Woodbridge, NJ.-based fractional aircraft ownership firm NetJets Inc., has joined the company's board as chairman. In addition, Michael Goodman, former CEO of structured settlement and annuity payments purchaser J.G. Wentworth and founding partner of Corridor Quadrant, has joined the board through CQ's ownership position in the company. Mr. Goodman also has been named managing partner at LVG. LVG is working with owners of mortgage risk and servicers to influence consumer behavior to help reduce the risk of borrowers choosing to default on their loans because of negative equity.

Marc Savitt, the recent past president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers, has launched a new trade group and hopes to have 100,000 new members signed up within a year. "I'm only charging $50 a year membership dues," he said in an interview with National Mortgage News. Mr. Savitt, who owns and operates his own loan brokerage in West Virginia, stressed that he will not be competing against NAMB (he continues to head its HVCC task force) but will gear the efforts of the upstart National Association of Independent Housing Professionals strictly toward government affairs and lobbying outreach. He plans to officially launch the NAIHP next week and already has "a few hundred" committed members. "This organization will be run like a business," he said. Mr. Savitt has been a vocal critic of the Home Valuation Code of Conduct and is pushing for immediate changes to how lenders and brokers order and manage appraisals.