Career moves

Frederick Cannon, an equity researcher in the mortgage sector, has been promoted to the newly created positions of associate director of research and chief equity strategist of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. Mr. Cannon, 51, joined KBW in 2003, providing equity research on banks and thrifts specializing in the mortgage sector. He was previously executive vice president and director of investor relations at Golden State Bancorp and its subsidiary, California Federal Bank.

The Mortgage Bankers Association has promoted John Mechem to senior director of public affairs. In this capacity, Mr. Mechem will be responsible for developing and implementing MBA public affairs campaigns, serving as a primary spokesperson for the association and acting as a liaison between MBA and other industry communications representatives. "John's strategic vision and excellent communications skills have made him an invaluable asset to the MBA," said Jonathan Kempner, MBA's president and chief executive officer. "As the mortgage industry continues to evolve, we are very fortunate to have John communicating on behalf of MBA and our members." Mr. Mechem joined MBA in 2006 from the American Forest & Paper Association after serving as director of communications. He has over 12 years of experience in public and legislative affairs. His background includes serving as press secretary for Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., and previously as deputy press secretary for Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. He began his career as a legislative assistant for Rep. Jay Kim, R-Calif.

Lehman Brothers has seen a changing of the guard at the head of its global fixed income division, a market area generally hit hard by the U.S. mortgage woe-sparked credit crunch. Roger Nagioff has retired, citing personal reasons, and the firm has promoted one of the unit¹s co-chief operating officers, Andrew J. Morton, to succeed him. In addition, Lehman has named as co-heads of fixed income for Europe and the Middle East: Georges Assi, the global head of the collateralized debt obligation and structured credit businesses and head of credit products for Europe and the Middle East; and Kieran Higgins, head of interest rate products for Europe and the Middle East. Both Mr. Higgins and Mr. Assi will continue to serve in their previous roles.

Mortgage Assistance Center Corp., Dallas, has hired Dennis D. Downey as executive vice president and chief operating officer. He was the founder and chairman of Downey Capital Corp., where he handled the marketing, structuring and closing of commercial real estate financing transactions using a broad range of funding programs. In the late 1980s into the early 1990s, Mr. Downey was the southwest regional director of servicing and real estate owned activities for Freddie Mac. Mr. Downey also currently serves on the board of Lanier Capital REIT Inc.

Thomas B. Akin, the chairman of Dynex Capital Inc., Glen Allen, Va., has added the chief executive title for the company, effective immediately. "I appreciate the Board's confidence in me to lead Dynex forward as the Company grows and diversifies its investment strategies. The current investment environment is quite friendly to a mortgage REIT investment strategy, and I look forward to the opportunity. We appreciate our shareholders patience over the recent past as we waited for the investment cycle to improve. We are excited about the prospects for Dynex and look forward to growing the Company and increasing value for our shareholders," he said. Separately, Dynex's indirect subsidiary, GLS Capital Inc. received $1.625 million from Allegheny County, Pa. for the sale of substantially all of the remaining tax liens that GLS Capital previously owned in Allegheny County. Additional information about the company is available at http://www.dynexcapital.com.

Former California state treasurer Phil Angelides has joined Canyon Capital Realty Advisors, Los Angeles, as a principal of the firm and as chairman of a new fund that has ties to community development executive and former professional basketball player Earvin "Magic" Johnson. The new Canyon-Johnson Urban Communities Fund is slated to focus on acquiring, improving and "greening" residential rental and mixed-use properties in urban communities across the United States. Canyon can be found on the Web at http://www.canyonpartners.com.

David Shillington has been named senior vice president and director of agency lending at KeyBank Real Estate Capital, Cleveland. Mr. Shillington will relocate from Key's office on Charlotte, N.C., to work with the Dallas-based agency lending department, the company said. A 20-year industry veteran, Mr. Shillington has spent the past several years with the bank's Institutional Group. Before joining Key, he was the director of agency executions for Bank of America. KeyBank is a subsidiary of KeyCorp, which can be found on the Web at http://www.key.com.

Fannie Mae president and chief executive Daniel Mudd will receive total compensation of over $12.2 million for 2007, the vast majority of it coming from a performance bonus and incentive award, Fannie Mae has announced. The government-sponsored enterprise said its board of directors has established Mr. Mudd's 2007 bonus at $2,227,500 and his 2007 long-term incentive award at $9 million. Added to his base salary of $990,000, the bonus and incentive award bring his total compensation to $12,217,500 for last year. Fannie said Mr. Mudd's compensation for 2006 totaled $14,449,947. The GSE can be found online at http://www.fanniemae.com.

Dana Dillard has been promoted to executive vice president of the Office of the Customer at EMC Mortgage Corp., Lewisville, Texas. Ms. Dillard will manage a staff of 200 and oversee the departments of customer care, customer advocacy network, customer research, and customer communication, the company said. With eight years at EMC Mortgage and more than 21 years of industry experience, Ms. Dillard previously served as vice president of customer service and training at Lomas Mortgage USA and vice president of customer service at Bank of America Mortgage, among other posts.

Angelo Mozilo, Countrywide Financial Corp.'s chairman and chief executive, has announced that he will voluntarily relinquish his rights to about $37.5 million in compensation in connection with the proposed merger of Countrywide and Bank of America. The compensation, in the form of severance payments, post-closing consulting fees, and continued perquisites, is provided under his employment agreement with Countrywide and the related consulting arrangement, Countrywide said. The company added that Mr. Mozilo will not receive any cash payments in the merger or upon any related termination of employment other than "amounts that he has already earned in full," such as retirement benefits and deferred compensation. "I believe this decision is the right thing to do as Countrywide works toward the successful completion of the merger with Bank of America," Mr. Mozilo said. The company can be found online at http://www.countrywide.com.

David Pope has been named president of Wachovia Mortgage and Retail Credit, according to Wachovia Corp., Charlotte, N.C. Mr. Pope will be responsible for leading the daily sales, fulfillment, retention, service, and operational aspects of the mortgage and retail credit businesses, the company said. A 20-year veteran of Wachovia, he was most recently head of Wachovia's Business Banking Group. Wachovia can be found on the Web at http://www.wachovia.com.

Jack Kemp, who was secretary of housing and urban development in the George H.W. Bush administration, is becoming a spokesman for Generation Mortgage Co., an Atlanta reverse mortgage specialist. "A strong advocate of the housing industry, Jack is a natural fit for us as he was deeply enmeshed in affordable housing issues, housing finance, and home ownership when he served as U.S. housing secretary from 1989-1993," said Jeffrey Lewis, chairman of Generation Mortgage. Mr. Kemp ran for vice president in 1996, was a member of the House of Representatives from 1971 to 1989, and prior to that played quarterback for a number of National Football League and American Football League teams, most notably the Buffalo Bills.

Walter Buczynski, a former top executive of Fieldstone Mortgage, jumped to his death over the weekend from the Delaware Memorial Bridge after allegedly killing his wife, authorities say. Among subprime firms, Columbia, Md.-based Fieldstone ranked 23rd, according to the Mortgage Industry Directory. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in November. According to combined news reports, police said marital problems led Mr. Buczynski to kill his wife, not the financial woes of the now-defunct lender. In February 2007, C-BASS bought Fieldstone, a publicly traded real estate investment trust, for $260 million. (Last summer, in the wake of the margin calls, MGIC and Radian wrote down their interest in C-BASS by $1 billion.) The Burlington County (N.J.) prosecutor's office said the former executive, 59, left a suicide/murder note inside his car indicating that his wife could be found in their home in Southern New Jersey. Authorities said their two sons were safe.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association has announced the appointment of Sean Davy as managing director in the mortgage-backed securities and securitized products division in New York. He will act as a staff adviser and be responsible for the division's legal, regulatory and market practice initiatives. Mr. Davy brings experience in the securitization and structured products markets, especially in the MBS area, SIFMA said. He was most recently a director and global relationship manager with Deutsche Bank AG's global banking division.

Terry Lindsey, a division manager at Chase since 2005, has been promoted to national sales manager of correspondent sales. Chase also reported that it recently hired Tim Bernard to serve as the producing sales manager for its Pacific Northwest region. In addition, the company announced the promotion of the following account executives to regional sales managers for their territories: Drew Parrish, Carolinas and Georgia; Rob Porges, Florida; Nicole Williams, Texas; Dan Sheehy, Mid-Atlantic; and Holly Rittenhouse, California.

Countrywide Financial Corp., which is slated for sale to Bank of America, has lost its chief information officer, Richard K. Jones -- a 12-year veteran of the lender -- to technology giant Fiserv Inc. On Friday Fiserv said it had hired Mr. Jones to be its CIO and executive vice president. At Countrywide, Mr. Jones also held the title of managing director. A publicly traded company, Fiserv sells information and technology systems to mortgage lenders, servicers, and other types of financial institutions. The companies can be found online at http://www.countrywide.com and http://www.fiserv.com.

Countrywide Financial Corp. chairman, chief executive, and founder Angelo Mozilo is entitled to a severance package of about $112 million if he leaves the company, according to a report put out by Equilar, an executive compensation company. Last week Bank of America agreed to buy the nation's largest lender and servicer for $4 billion. To date, no mention has been made about Mr. Mozilo's role with a Countrywide-owned BoA. His Countrywide employment contract stipulates that his reign as CEO will end in 2009, but he would remain as a nonexecutive chairman. If BoA decides not to keep him on as CEO, or he chooses to retire, his severance package would kick in. Basing its information on a year-old proxy statement, Equilar says Mr. Mozilo is entitled to a severance package of $88 million plus retirement benefits of $24 million. At deadline time, Countrywide could not be reached for comment. Over the past few yeas Mr. Mozilo has sold well over $300 million worth of Countrywide stock, converting options into cash. His stock sales are the subject of an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. In past interviews he has maintained that all his stock sales were disclosed and done according to SEC rules.

David W. Lindstrom, president and chief executive officer of Franklin Bank, has been elected to a two-year term as chairman of the board of the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York. In addition, Michael M. Horn has been elected to serve the remaining term, through Dec. 31, of the current vice chair. Mr. Lindstrom has been serving as vice chair since 2005. Mr. Horn has been a partner since 1990 in the Newark, N.J., office of the McCarter & English LLP law firm, the FHLBank said. The New York FHLBank provides services to financial institutions in New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It can be found on the Web at http://www.fhlbny.com.

Gregory S. Tornquist, president of Cenlar FSB, has been named to the additional position of chief executive officer of the savings bank, which specializes in subservicing mortgages and home equity lines of credit. Mr. Tornquist, who is also president of Cenlar Capital Corp., joined Cenlar in 1987. He became chief financial officer in 1998, executive vice president in 2004, and president in 2006, the company said.

James Cayne, the chairman and CEO of Bear Stearns -- once a major player in the subprime mortgage market -- is expected to relinquish his chief executive title. As of MortgageWire's deadline, a spokesman for Bear had not returned a telephone call about the matter. A few weeks ago, Bear laid off all remaining account executives who once worked in the Irvine, Calif., office of Encore Credit Corp., a subprime wholesaler that it had merged into its mortgage group. Among those let go was Shabi Asghar, who served as president of ECC. Mr. Cayne, according to combined news reports, is expected to remain as chairman. In years past Bear has been a top-ranked securitizer of subprime loans and, like many investment banking firms, has taken large writedowns on its holdings. This past summer, two subprime-related hedge funds managed by Bear filed for bankruptcy protection. Bear Stearns can be found online at http://www.bearstearns.com.