Career moves

Robert M. La Forgia has been named a principal in The Atalon Group, a Las Vegas-based firm specializing in real estate operational turnaround and corporate recovery management. Mr. La Forgia was formerly executive vice president and chief financial officer of Hilton Hotels Corp. Mr. La Forgia's hotel career of over 25 years culminated with the $27 billion sale of Hilton Hotels to Blackstone and its affiliates late in 2007, the largest transaction in the hospitality industry to date, Atalon said. Mr. La Forgia was previously senior vice president and controller of Hilton Hotels. Atalon can be found online at http://www.theatalongroup.com.

Greg Genovese has been named president of the Securities Division at Thompson National Properties LLC, an Irvine, Calif.-based provider of real estate investment and asset management services to high-net-worth investors. Mr. Genovese was previously senior vice president of western markets for Grubb & Ellis Securities (formerly NNN Capital Corp.). Before joining Grubb & Ellis, Mr. Genovese held sales, marketing, and management positions at Bear Stearns & Co., Cowen & Co., and Wells Real Estate Funds. Thompson National Properties can be found on the Web at http://www.tnpre.com.

Glen Esnard has been named to the newly created position of president of capital markets at Grubb & Ellis Co., a real estate services and investment firm based in Santa Ana, Calif. Mr. Esnard will join Grubb & Ellis effective June 23 and will be responsible for directing its investment brokerage business, including its Institutional Investment Group and Private Capital Investment Group, G&E said. Mr. Esnard was most recently president of brokerage services at Colliers International. He was previously a partner at FORT Properties Inc. and one of five principals responsible for the development of the tenant-in-common firm. Mr. Esnard also spent 23 years at CB Richard Ellis in a variety of brokerage and leaderships roles. G&E can be found online at http://www.grubb-ellis.com.

Mortgage Network Inc., Danvers, Mass., has announced plans to expand its wholesale operations in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama. The company also announced the hiring of mortgage veteran Thomas Palmer as its national wholesale manager. Mr. Palmer was most recently senior vice president and channel executive for correspondent lending at Bank of America Securities. He was previously senior vice president and channel director for correspondent national sales at Washington Mutual/Fleet Mortgage. Mortgage Network said it has opened eight new offices in the past 12 months and increased its staff by over 33%. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.mortgagenetwork.com.

Jeff Walton has been named chief executive officer of Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co., a troubled San Diego-based subprime lender that recently confirmed an undisclosed number of layoffs. Mr. Walton replaces Jim Moran, who has served as interim CEO since February 2008. A veteran of 25 years in the mortgage industry, Mr. Walton was previously president, CEO, and senior managing director of Bear Stearns Residential Mortgage Corp., Accredited said. Before launching BSRMC, he served as president of the mortgage division for First National Bank of Arizona and First National Bank of Nevada. Accredited, once a top-ranked publicly traded subprime lender, was sold last fall to Lone Star, a private equity fund. Accredited can be found on the Web at http://www.accredhome.com, and Lone Star can be found at http://www.lonestarfunds.com.

Michael S. Solender has been named executive vice president and chief legal officer of Washington Mutual Inc., Seattle. Mr. Solender, 44, succeeds interim CLO Stewart M. Landefeld, who is returning to private practice at Seattle-based Perkins Coie. Mr. Solender was most recently general counsel at The Bear Stearns Cos., where he managed the 500-person Legal and Compliance Department. He was previously a partner at the Washington, D.C.-based Arnold & Porter law firm and general counsel of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Theodore Foster is leaving Ginnie Mae after 19 years, and his colleague Steve Ledbetter will become the new senior vice president for mortgage-backed securities, MortgageWire has learned. Mr. Foster is heading to Minneapolis to work for Wells Fargo Bank, an industry source said. Mr. Ledbetter is currently the director of securities policy and research at Ginnie Mae. Meanwhile, Michael Frenz returned to his post as Ginnie Mae's executive vice president about four weeks ago. He had been detailed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to work in another section of the department. Ginnie's MBS business has picked up over the past four quarters, as issuance hit $15 billion in March and jumped to $21.5 billion in May.

Citing "feedback" from shareholders, Seattle-based Washington Mutual Inc. has announced that it will separate the roles of chairman and chief executive officer, elevating independent director Stephen E. Frank to the post of board chair long held by Kerry Killinger. Mr. Killinger will remain as chief executive officer and will serve as a director of the troubled thrift. The board also adopted a majority-voting standard and made several changes to the composition and leadership of certain committees, including the appointments of retired Starbucks CEO Orin C. Smith to chair its finance committee and Dallas Mayor Thomas C. Leppert to head its governance panel. "The actions today by the board are a result of a deliberate review of how best to enhance WaMu's corporate governance policies and practices," said Mr. Frank, 66, who has served on the WaMu board since 1997. "They also reflect the board's commitment to listening to feedback from our shareholders." In February, CtW Investment Group warned that certain directors of WaMu and other top financial institutions might face an election challenge if they did not provide a satisfactory explanation of what they did to protect shareholders from "excessive mortgage-related risk" in the past two years. WaMu can be found on the Web at http://www.wamu.com.

Ken Thompson, who was removed from his position as Wachovia Corp.'s chairman in May, is now out as chief executive of the corporation as well. Lanty Smith, who replaced Mr. Thompson as chairman and will now be the interim chief executive officer as well, said in a statement that "no single precipitating event" caused the decision, but that "a series of previously disclosed disappointments and setbacks" have hurt the company and its performance. In the first quarter, Wachovia lost $350 million. A good deal of its problems stemmed from its May 2006 purchase of Golden West, a thrift holding company known for originating payment-option adjustable-rate mortgage loans. Wachovia boosted its provision for credit losses to $2.8 billion in the fourth quarter, citing more severe deterioration in the housing market than had been anticipated, particularly in California and Florida. Investors reacted negatively to the news, driving down Wachovia's common stock price by $0.90 per share as of midday June 2 to $22.90 a share. Wachovia's 52-week low, according to Yahoo!, is $23.13. Wachovia, based in Charlotte, N.C., can be found on the Web at http://www.wachovia.com.

1st Reverse Financial Services LLC has hired former regulator Dennis Thomas to be its new chief financial officer. Mr. Thomas will be responsible for all fiscal matters and reporting activities for 1st Reverse, a subsidiary of Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB. Previously, Mr. Thomas was director of internal audit for the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago where he directed the GSE's staff in a variety of audits, including the Mortgage Partnership Finance, derivatives and hedging strategies. He also served as a regional accountant for the Office of Thrift Supervision.

Union Mortgage Group Inc., Bowling Green, Va., has hired Herbert W. Engler as president and chief executive. "We are pleased to add Herb to our team as we navigate through the difficult times the mortgage industry is facing. Herb has significant industry and leadership experience and we look forward to working with him to address the challenging issues and opportunities ahead," said D. Anthony Peay, executive vice president and chief financial officer of parent company Union Bankshares Corp. Mr. Engler most recently was president of Prosperity Mortgage Co., Fairfax, Va. Prior to joining Prosperity, he worked for Waterfield Financial Corp. in the Maryland/ Washington D.C. area.

American Home Bank, Mountville, Pa., has announced the combination of its Northeast and Southeast wholesale units and the promotion of mortgage veteran William J.S. "Bill" Kelley to head the division. The company said it is expanding its whole product offerings and delivery systems at a time when "many major wholesalers are withdrawing from the third-party origination business." Mr. Kelley, whose title will be president of the wholesale division, will be based in Jacksonville, Fla. He previously held positions at Travelers Mortgage Services, Anchor Mortgage Services, Tucker Federal Bank, and FNB Bank. The AHB wholesale division can be found on the Web at http://www.bankahbwholesale.com.

Carla Gallas has been promoted to senior vice president of claims at Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp., the Milwaukee-based primary subsidiary of MGIC Investment Corp. MGIC said Ms. Gallas will be responsible for the company's loss mitigation efforts as well as maximizing its efficiency in claim operations. Ms. Gallas has been with MGIC for 24 years and has held various positions in sales and underwriting, most recently as vice president of field operations.

Jason Gillespie has been named senior vice president and mortgage purchase credit manager in the National Mortgage Purchase Division of Dallas-based Southwest Securities FSB. Mr. Gillespie has nearly two decades of experience in finance and mortgage banking, Southwest Securities said. His background includes production, secondary marketing, operations, credit management, and compliance. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.swsgroupinc.com.

A consultant and veteran mortgage- and asset-backed securities researcher has been named chief credit officer of Standard & Poor's in one of a series of executive appointments at the company. Mark Adelson, a former researcher for Nomura Securities International and Moody's Investors Service, has been named to the chief credit officer post as a managing director. In addition, former S&P chief credit and quality officer Clifford Griep has been named executive managing director of ratings risk management; and Neri Bukspan, previously the company's chief accountant, has been named chief quality officer and managing director.

After suffering huge mortgage-related losses, Wachovia Corp. has announced the separation of its chairman and CEO functions. At the close of business on May 8, Ken Thompson relinquished his title as chairman but remains as president and chief executive officer. Lanty Smith, Wachovia's "lead" director, was named chairman. The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank has suffered large writedowns because of its collateralized debt obligation business. In a new report, Sandler O'Neill notes that Wachovia is suffering more than most because of its purchase of Golden West Financial, Oakland, Calif., a large player in the payment-option adjustable-rate mortgage market.

Cantor Fitzgerald LP, New York, has announced the formation of Cantor Real Estate LLC and named Andrew N. Stark to lead the group. Cantor said it plans to create a real estate fund focused chiefly on opportunistic investments in various sectors, including dislocated assets. Mr. Stark, who will be executive managing director of Cantor RE, was previously president of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions of WCI Communities Inc. after starting his career as a real estate attorney at Lord Day & Lord, Barrett Smith. Cantor can be found on the Web at http://www.cantor.com.

Regions Financial Corp., Birmingham, Ala., has announced that David H. Rupp will join the company on May 19 as senior executive vice president and head of consumer services, which includes its mortgage business. Mr. Rupp, who had been the sales, service, and execution executive for Bank of America's global consumer and small business bank, will lead Regions' consumer banking and mortgage lines of business, its largest business segment by revenue. He will also be a member of Regions' Executive Council, its highest-level management committee. Mr. Rupp succeeds Candice Bagby, who is retiring after a 38-year banking career. Ms. Bagby will remain with the company through a transition period. Mr. Rupp, 44, led BoA's home equity business and was previously its chief financial officer for consumer real estate. He has also worked for Wachovia Bank as controller for consumer products and structured products.

KBW, a New York City-based investment bank, has announced the addition of two principals and an associate to its recently formed Real Estate Investment Banking Group. The new hires are principals Michael Hawkins and Robert Woomer and associate Christopher Hanley. Mr. Hawkins will focus on client coverage and Mr. Woomer will head KBW's real estate private equity team. All three join KBW from the Real Estate Investment Banking Group of Wachovia Securities. KBW, the parent company of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc., can be found on the Web at http://www.kbw.com.

Jonathan Polansky, group managing director of the Asset Finance Group at Moody's Investors Service, has been named to the rating agency's newly created position of structured finance global surveillance coordinator. Mr. Polanksy will work closely with the rating agency's surveillance and line-of-business managers to enhance the monitoring of Moody's-rated structured deals, Moody's said. "Over the past several years, as the number of rated deals outstanding has grown rapidly, so has our investment of resources in the monitoring of those ratings," said Moody's executive vice president Noel Kirnon. "We have transferred a significant number of analysts and management resources to surveillance teams globally, and this latest appointment is another example of our commitment to this important area." Moody's can be found online at http://www.moodys.com.