Career moves

Chicago-based commercial real estate firm Sheldon Good & Co. Auctions International LLC marked the passing of its chairman and CEO, Steven L. Good - a globally-known author and philanthropist - on Tuesday by closing all its offices as it made plans to reopen Wednesday under its president's day-to-day management. Multiple news reports indicate Mr. Good's death was an apparent suicide. He had been quoted as saying, like many industry executives, that the commercial real estate market has been challenging. A spokeswoman who has worked with the family since 1976, Susan Berman Hammer, told MortgageWire that the death was a surprise to all that knew him and he had been optimistic and energized by his many business and philanthropic activities as well as his writing, and had been looking forward to chairing the National Association of Realtors' commercial alliance this year. Several family members survive Mr. Good, including his father, Sheldon Good, whom his company was named after and who also is a well-known international real estate executive. Company president Alan R. Kravets said in a statement posted on the company's website that it plans to "continue the tradition of excellence established by our founder, Sheldon Good, and expanded upon by our late chief executive" going forward. "We have a number of exciting projects currently in development. Steve enjoyed this fact," he said.

Colonial Properties Trust, Birmingham, Ala., has returned its chairman, Thomas H. Lowder to the chief executive position he held between July 1993 and April 2006. In a related move, C. Reynolds Thompson III, who replaced Mr. Lowder as CEO, has been reassigned to the positions of president and chief financial officer. In the new corporate structure, Mr. Lowder will serve as the principal executive officer and Mr. Thompson will serve as the principal financial officer. The current president and CFO, Weston M. Andress has resigned; he has entered into a one-year consulting agreement with the company. Commenting on the appointments, Mr. Lowder noted, "The board felt it would be in the best interest of our shareholders for me to take a more active role in the day-to-day operations of the company as we navigate the current economic environment." Colonial does not anticipate a material impact to net income or funds from operations per share for the full-year 2008 as a result of these management changes.

Freddie Mac has officially named Raymond G. Romano as the company's chief credit officer, responsible for enterprise-wide credit risk management activities. Mr. Romano has served as senior vice president of credit risk oversight since he joined the company in 2004. In September 2008, Mr. Romano also assumed the role as acting chief credit officer while the company conducted a nationwide search for the position. Prior to joining Freddie Mac, Mr. Romano served as senior vice president and chief credit officer and in other executive positions at different financial institutions including North American Mortgage Company, Dime Savings Bank of NY, and with Citicorp's Investment Bank.

WinTrust Financial Corp., Lake Forest, Ill., has acquired certain assets and assumed certain liabilities of the Downers Grove, Ill.-based Professional Mortgage Partners' mortgage banking business and named PMP's president to an executive post within WinTrust's mortgage subsidiary. WinTrust said a "significant portion" of the cash transaction's purchase price is conditional based upon "certain future profitability measures. The Lake Forest, Ill.-based company also said the deal is not expected to have a material effect on its 2008 or 2009 earnings per share. PMP president Barton Pitts has been named executive vice president of Wintrust Mortgage Corp. as part of the transaction. Terms of the deal were not otherwise disclosed. "The addition of the staff hired from PMP and their offices will create one of the strongest mortgage lenders in the Chicago area," said David Hrobon, president of Wintrust Mortgage Corp. "Combined we will have more than 500 employees, 27 retail offices and, based on historical results, almost $3 billion in annual mortgage originations."

The Mortgage Bankers Association has added the title of senior vice president to the title of Angela Lazear, who continues to serve as the association's chief financial officer. Ms. Lazear will be responsible for overseeing the development of the association's budgets, accounting, treasury, technology infrastructure and information systems. John Courson, the MBA's chief operating officer, said "Angela's leadership has been critical in the financial strategies and practices of the MBA during this important period for our industry." Ms. Lazear joined the MBA in 2000 and previously served as executive director for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

Hilco Real Estate LLC, Northbrook, Ill., has named Neil R. Aaronson as its new chief executive and Gregory S. Apter as its new president. Mr. Aaronson replaced Mitchell P. Kahn, 48, who has decided to pursue opportunities outside the Hilco family of companies. Most recently Mr. Aaronson had been executive vice president with Hilco Trading LLC, the parent company of Hilco Real Estate. Mr. Apter was promoted from chief operating officer and will now formally lead Hilco Real Estate's agency transactions group, managing owned and leased property disposition and lease restructuring services. Hilco Real Estate provides comprehensive real estate repositioning services. For more information about the company, visit http://www.hilcorealestate.com.

BioMed Realty Trust Inc., a San Diego real estate investment trust focused on providing real estate to the life science industry, today announced that Kent Griffin has been promoted to president and chief operating officer. He will oversee the day-to-day operational activities while continuing to serve chief financial officer. Alan Gold, BioMed's chief executive said, remarked, "I am very pleased that the board has chosen to recognize the contributions that Kent has made to BioMed, originating with him playing a key role in the company's successful initial public offering in August 2004. As our chief financial officer since 2006, Kent has been a critical member of our leadership team, developing and executing key financial strategies, while also taking an increasingly integral role in managing the growth of our organization and overseeing our operations."

L. William Seidman, a past chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., has been named senior advisor to SecondMarket, New York, and plans to help the company with expansion plans into such areas as mortgage-backed securities. --> "Bill's experience and expertise will prove critical as SecondMarket expands to fill the market void left by the shift of government funds away from purchasing illiquid assets under the Troubled Asset Relief Program," said SecondMarket CEO Barry E. Silbert. During his long career Mr. Seidman served as an economic advisor to Presidents Reagan and Ford, and ran the Resolution Trust Corp., the S&L bailout agency.

Republic Mortgage Insurance Corp., Winston-Salem, N.C., has handed over the keys to its mergers and acquisitions unit to its founder, Larry Charbonneau. Mr. Charbonneau said the former Republic Strategic Advisory Inc., Houston, will now carry the name Charbonneau & Associates. He said there was no animosity between him and RMIC but that the company wants to concentrate on its core business of mortgage insurance. Besides M&A work, Charbonneau & Associates will focus on advisory work and warehouse lending consulting. Last decade, Mr. Charbonneau ran a well-regarded M&A boutique called Charbonneau-Klein Inc. He joined RMIC four years ago. The MI is a subsidiary of the publicly traded Old Republic International of Chicago. On Thursday, Old Republic paid its regular quarterly dividend of 17 cents a share.

Wilshire Enterprises, Inc., Newark, N.J., has appointed Kevin B. Swill as president and chief operating officer. Mr. Swill joins Wilshire after serving since 2001 as president of Westminster Capital, the financing arm of The Kushner Companies, and president of Kushner Properties. "With his extraordinary combination of directly relevant industry experience, intimate knowledge of the properties and people in the New York and New Jersey real estate markets, and well-established network of senior-level contacts in real estate finance, we expect Kevin to play a major role in helping Wilshire take advantage of the current turmoil in our industry to build long-term value for our shareholders," said Wilshire chairman and chief executive Sherry Wilzig Izak. In 2000, Mr. Swill was an executive director of originations for CIBC World Markets, with responsibility for review and approval of real estate transactions for the commercial mortgage-backed securities market. Earlier, he was senior originator for the Northeastern United States at Deutsche Banc Mortgage Capital LLC, and originator in the Conduit Group at Merrill Lynch Real Estate Investment Banking. On Dec. 4, the proposed merger between Wilshire and NWJ Apartment Holdings Corp. was terminated when Wilshire was informed by NWJ that in the current economic and lending environment, it was not able to secure the financing of the residential properties required to close the merger.

The KKR-controlled Capmark Financial Group - one of the nation's largest commercial mortgage banking firms - has hired Jay N. Levine as its new president and chief executive. He replaces William F. Aldinger III, who resigned his positions as president, chief executive and chairman. Mr. Aldinger, who once ran subprime giant Household Finance, will serve as a consultant to Capmark. Mr. Levine formerly was president and chief of RBS Global Banking & Markets, North America. He also served as chief executive officer of RBS Greenwich Capital with responsibility for the company's institutional, banking and fixed-income businesses in the United States. Dennis D. Dammerman was named chairman of Capmark. Capmark, formerly known as GMAC Commercial Holding Corp., was acquired in March 2006 by an investor group led by affiliates of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Five Mile Capital Partners LLC, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and Dune Capital Management LP.

Fifth Third Bank has named Steven Alonso as executive vice president and head of the company's mortgage and consumer lending lines of business. Mr. Alonso previously was founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Oakstreet Mortgage LLC, Indianapolis. Prior to that he served as president and CEO of Bank One's Consumer Finance Group. At Fifth Third, Mr. Alonso will develop strategy for the mortgage, consumer lending, student loan and collections areas and will work with his direct reports to implement that strategy.

Kinecta Federal Credit Union of Manhattan Beach, Calif., has hired Jess Lederman, a former Bear Stearns executive who recently departed as chief risk officer of Countrywide Financial Corp. According to a press release issued by the CU, Mr. Lederman will serve as senior vice president and chief credit officer. On July 1 CFC was bought by Bank of America. Mr. Lederman will oversee Kinecta's credit policy, analytics, and loan underwriting for commercial, real estate and consumer lending. He also will have responsibility for portfolio management and secondary marketing.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has made several key appointments in its effort to oversee Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks. James Lockhart, director of the FHFA, said the new agency, which combines resources from the former Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, the Federal Housing Finance Board, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development's government-sponsored enterprise mission team, has great challenges amid the turmoil in the nation's housing markets. "As a new regulatory body, we will be working together to create a new and stronger regulator that will enhance market confidence in the 14 GSEs by ensuring that their oversight is both robust and authoritative," he said. OFHEO veterans Edward DeMarco has been named chief operating officer and deputy director for housing mission and goals; Stephen Cross has been named deputy director of the division of Federal Home Loan Bank regulation; Chris Dickerson has been named deputy director for the division of enterprise regulation, and David Lee has been named the FHFA's chief administrative officer.

The Mortgage Bankers Association has named Catherine Cruz Wojtasik associate vice president of legislative affairs. Among other duties, Ms. Wojtasik will focus her efforts on commercial mortgage issues as they affect MBA's members. She joins the trade group from Popular, Inc. where she served as vice president and director of government affairs. She will report to Francis Creighton, MBA's vice president and chief lobbyist.

National Consumer Cooperative Bank of Washington has promoted Munevver Yolas to senior vice president of capital markets. In her new position Ms. Yolas will manage multiple private, agency, Small Business Administration and commercial real estate loan sales up to $250 million. She also will oversee the bank's capital markets department, keeping an eye on gain-on-sale profits and working with investors and the rating agents.

Former Mortgage Bankers Association chairwoman Regina M. Lowrie has joined the advisory board of Salient Business Solutions, a leading provider of business process outsourcing services based in Gurgaon, India. Ms. Lowrie is currently the president and chief executive of Vision Mortgage Capital LLC, as well as RML Investments Inc., a consulting firm serving the financial services industry. Prior to forming Vision Mortgage Capital, she was president of Gateway Funding Diversified Mortgage Services. "The addition of Ms. Lowrie to the advisory board is a signal to the mortgage industry that Salient is developing a significant presence in the market," said Manoj Malhotra, chief executive of Salient Business Solutions. "The advisory board members regularly provide us with their domain expertise, and our executive team draws upon that experience when making strategic decisions and developing our road map for the expansion of the company. As we seek to expand our presence in the mortgage industry, Ms. Lowrie's insight will prove to be invaluable."

Edmund Hoyt has been named interim chief financial officer of General Growth Properties Inc., a Chicago-based real estate investment trust. Mr. Hoyt, who has served as senior vice president and chief accounting officer of the company since 2000, succeeds Bernard Freibaum, who is no longer employed by the REIT. GGP announced that all continuing executive officers have informed the company that they have repaid in full all margin loans, and therefore "there will be no further sales of company stock by those executive officers to satisfy margin calls." Citing the uncertainty and volatility in the capital markets, the shopping center REIT said its board has decided to suspend the payment of common stock dividends.

Michael A. Gerber has been appointed acting president and chief executive officer of the Washington-based Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp., succeeding Henry D. Edelman. Mr. Gerber will continue to serve as CEO of Farm Credit of Western New York, an association in the Farm Credit System. In conjunction with Mr. Gerber's appointment, the board of Farmer Mac has formed an Executive Committee of the Board consisting of Mr. Gerber; Lowell L. Junkins, acting chairman of the board; and Dennis A. Everson, president of the Agri-business Division of First Dakota National Bank. Farmer Mac said the committee will work closely with Mr. Gerber and others at the government-sponsored enterprise regarding the company's operations, capital structure, and the search for a permanent CEO. The GSE can be found online at http://www.farmermac.com.

Two mortgage industry veterans from The Murrayhill Co., a 1990s-era third-party credit risk management firm, have reunited to form a new due-diligence venture supportive of whole loan trading and bond-buying decisions. Murrayhill founder Sue Allon will serve as chief executive officer of Allon Financial, the new Denver-based venture. Daniel Gallery has been named the new company's president. Allon Financial also has acquired Edison Mortgage Decisioning Solutions, a due-diligence and data/analytics reporting company, including the mortgage analysts from EMDS's staff and EMDS's proprietary due-diligence technology.