Career moves

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.

Digital Risk LLC, a risk mitigation firm based in Maitland, Fla., has named former Credit Suisse conduit and credit products group founder Bruce Miller as the head of its structured finance consultancy practice in New York. Mr. Miller was most recently managing director and group head at ING Capital Markets. Before his post at Credit Suisse, he headed the securitization group at The Daiwa Bank, Ltd., where he ran the firm's U.S. securitization business.

Christopher Mortello has been named managing director of structured finance surveillance overseeing the asset-backed and residential mortgage-backed securities portfolios of Assured Guaranty Corp., New York. Mr. Mortello, who previously spent over 10 years at Assured underwriting structured finance transactions, has over 18 years of experience in financial services, 14 of which were in asset securitization, the company said. Most recently, he was head of ABS at PMI Guaranty Co. Assured, a subsidiary of Assured Guaranty Ltd., can be found on the Web at http://www.assured guaranty.com.

Peter Reisert, a 15-year veteran of real estate finance, has been named senior vice president of capital markets at Arbor Commercial Mortgage LLC, Uniondale, N.Y. In the newly created position, Mr. Reisert will oversee the day-to-day operations of the Capital Markets Department and be responsible for identifying new lending partners and developing new lending programs, the company said. Before joining Arbor, Mr. Reisert served as director of capital markets with Centerline Capital Group. He previously held posts with CharterMac Mortgage Capital, PW Funding Inc., and BankAmerica Mortgage.

Lee Y. Moriwaki has been promoted from executive vice president to senior executive vice president of mortgage banking at Bank of Hawaii Corp. and will become a member of the bank's Managing Committee. Mr. Moriwaki, who is responsible for consumer lending as well as mortgage banking, reports to Peter S. Ho, who has been promoted to president of the bank, the company said. Mr. Moriwaki has been with the bank for more than 25 years and has served in management positions in retail banking, finance and investments, trust operations, and information systems and technology. The bank can be found on the Web at https://www.boh.com.

Thomas Marano, former senior managing director and global head of mortgages and asset-backed securities for Bear Stearns & Co., has been named nonexecutive chairman of Residential Capital LLC, the parent of GMAC Mortgage and its other residential affiliates. Mr. Marano succeeds former chairman Michael Rossi, who recently resigned from the board for medical reasons. In addition to joining the ResCap board, Mr. Marano has been appointed to the company's executive committee, where he will serve with ResCap chief executive Jim Jones.

Sarah Hulbert, former chairwoman of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association, has been named president of Senior Financial Corp., Rocklin, Calif. Ms. Hulbert "will lead a team of industry experts in the expansion of SFC into a nationwide leader of reverse mortgage retail banking," the company said. SFC currently operates in eight states. Ms. Hulbert was most recently senior vice president and director of wholesale lending for EverBank Reverse Mortgage LLC. She is a 16-year veteran of the reverse mortgage banking industry, SFC said. The company can be found online at http;//www.sfcreverse.com.

Cohen & Steers Inc., New York, has announced the hiring of a team to manage a private global real estate fund of funds. Stephen M. Coyle, who has 19 years of experience in commercial real estate investing, will head the team, which also includes Dev Subhash as a vice president and assistant portfolio manager. Mr. Coyle was previously chief investment strategist and fund of funds portfolio manager with Citigroup Property Investors. Cohen & Steers said its global real estate fund of funds will invest in commercial real estate through institutional, value-added, and opportunistic private real estate funds. The company can be found online at http://www.cohenandsteers.com.

Simon Turner has been named president of global development at Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., White Plains, N.Y. Starwood said Mr. Turner has "extensive experience in global hotel development and investment management, as well as expertise" in various areas, including hotel acquisitions and dispositions. Before joining Starwood, Mr. Turner spent more than 10 years as a principal for Hotel Capital Advisers Inc., a hotel investment advisory and asset management firm, Starwood said. Before 1996, he was a director of investment banking at Salomon Brothers. Starwood can be found online at http://www.starwoodhotels.com.

Pamela Dent has been hired as a senior vice president to manage the Global Services Surveillance Group of Capmark Finance Inc., Horsham, Pa. Ms. Dent was previously a senior vice president at Moody's Investors Service, where she most recently supervised the surveillance group for commercial mortgage-backed securities and commercial real estate collateralized debt obligations. Capmark can be found on the Web at http://www.capmark.com.

Danny Prosky has been named executive vice president of acquisitions at Grubb & Ellis Healthcare REIT Inc., Santa Ana, Calif. Mr. Prosky had served as vice president of acquisitions since the inception of the real estate investment trust's initial public offering in September 2006, Grubb & Ellis said. The REIT can be found on the Web at http://www.grubb-ellis.com.

Sean Burton has been named president and chief operating officer of CityView, a national institutional real estate investor based in Los Angeles. Mr. Burton previously served as managing director and chief operating officer for the company. Before joining CityView, he was vice president of corporate business development and strategy at Warner Bros. and was also an attorney at O'Melveny & Myers LLP. CityView can be found on the Web at http://www.cityview.com.

Michelle Korsmo has been named senior vice president for marketing and member programs at the American Land Title Association, the national trade association for the title insurance industry. Ms. Korsmo was most recently executive vice president of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group dedicated to educating citizens about economic policy. Before joining the foundation, Ms. Korsmo served three years as deputy chief of staff to U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. ALTA can be found on the Web at http://www.alta.org.

Teji Singh and Melinda Napoli have been named executive vice presidents at EMC Mortgage Corp., Lewisville, Texas. Ms. Singh will concentrate on the development of EMC's proprietary servicing default system and will be based out of the company's office in Irvine, Calif., EMC said. She has more than 17 years of mortgage and financial industry experience and previously served as EVP and chief loan administration officer for ResMae Mortgage Corp. and senior vice president and chief servicing officer at Option One Mortgage Corp. Ms. Napoli, also based in Irvine, will focus on re-engineering the operation of EMC's real estate owned department, the company said. Ms. Napoli previously served as SVP of continuous improvement at ResMae and held various posts with Option One, First Union Bank, and Associates Financial Services. EMC also appointed Katherine "KC" Reynolds vice president in the company's Customer Relations Division. The company can be found online at http://www.emcmortgage.com.

Deutsche Bank managing director Michael Commaroto, who has overseen the foreign bank's whole-loan trading operation for much of the decade, has left the company, industry sources have confirmed to MortgageWire. A few months back Paul Mangione, managing director in charge of subprime trading and asset-backed securities for the bank, also departed. He was Mr. Commaroto's deputy. A spokeswoman for Deutsche Bank declined to comment. Mr. Commaroto's departure has been the subject of rumors since December. Sources say he is looking at employment opportunities in the "scratch-and-dent" market. (For full details, see the April 7 issue of National Mortgage News.)

Teresa A. "Terri" Dial has been named to the newly created post of chief executive officer of Citi Consumer Banking in North America, which includes oversight of CitiMortgage, and to the post of global head of Citi consumer strategy. As CEO of consumer banking, Ms. Dial will oversee Citi's Retail Branch Network, CitiFinancial, CitiMortgage, and all other consumer businesses with the exception of Citi Cards, the company said. She will report directly to Citi CEO Vikram Pandit. Ms. Dial previously headed the consumer banking operations of Wells Fargo Bank in the United States and of Lloyds TSB UK Retail Banking.

Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson is "stepping down" on April 18 after being dogged by allegations of using his office to help friends and Bush supporters as well as recent calls for his resignation by two senators that oversee the Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD officials said they didn't know whether the White House is ready to appoint Mr. Jackson's successor. Under normal circumstances, Deputy Secretary Roy Bernardi, a former mayor of Syracuse, N.Y, would be in line to become the acting secretary. At a HUD news conference, Mr. Jackson said he is stepping down to attend to "personal and family matters" and abruptly left the room without taking questions from the news media. In testifying before two Senate panels, the secretary refused to answer questions about a lawsuit by the Philadelphia housing authority, which alleges that HUD tried to punish the agency for refusing to sell land to one of Mr. Jackson's friends. Sens. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., called for the secretary's resignation on March 21 after he declined to answer questions about his conduct. At a time when the country is facing a national housing crisis, the "allegations of cronyism and favoritism against Secretary Jackson are a worsening distraction at HUD," Sen. Murray said. "It is time for Secretary Jackson to go." Sen. Murray chairs a HUD appropriations subcommittee.