Career moves

Doug Lebda, president and chief operating officer of IAC, has been named chairman and chief executive officer of the company's financial services and real estate businesses, including LendingTree, HomeLoanCenter, GetSmart, RealEstate.com, Domania, and iNest. C.D. Davies, CEO of LendingTree, and Bret Violette, president of RealEstate.com, will report to Mr. Lebda, who joined IAC in 2003 after the company acquired LendingTree. IAC announced in November that it plans to separate itself into five publicly traded entities (including LendingTree). The company said the latest announcement was the first in a series that will deal with the structure for each of the separate entities. IAC, Lending Tree, and RealEstate.com can be found online at http://www.iac.com, http://www.lendingtree.com, and http://www.realestate.com.

Tom Fiddler and John Manglardi have been named executive vice presidents of sales growth and development at Countrywide Financial Corp., Calabasas, Calif.The company said they will work together on strategic initiatives in Countrywide’s retail division, including enhancing technology and pricing strategies and spearheading growth in the government loan program segment. Mr. Manglardi served most recently as president of retail east sales for American Home Mortgage, where he shared sales and operations management responsibilities with Mr. Fiddler. He previously served as founder and president of First Home Mortgage, which he co-owned with Mr. Fiddler. Mr. Fiddler was most recently executive vice president for American Home Mortgage. In addition to co-owning First Home Mortgage with Mr. Manglardi, he also previously owned his own brokerage firm, Legacy Financial Inc. Countrywide can be found online at http://www.countrywide.com.

Michael Commaroto, who oversees the mortgage group at Deutsche Bank (including its whole-loan trading desk), is leaving the firm effective Jan. 1, according to industry sources.At deadline time, Mr. Commaroto, who is listed in Securities and Exchange Commission documents as president of Deutsche Mortgage Securities, had not returned a telephone message. A spokeswoman for DB also could not be reached. One source, requesting that his name not be used, said significant changes are coming to Deutsche Bank's mortgage trading operation. Last year, DB bought MortgageIT, a fast-growing mortgage banking firm that funded nonprime and prime loans through different production channels. Deutsche Bank can be found online at http://www.deutsche-bank.com.

The ailing NovaStar Financial, one of the last of the remaining subprime shops, says its co-founder, chief executive, and chairman Scott Hartman will resign effective Jan. 3.Also departing is Greg Metz, senior vice president and chief financial officer. Lance Anderson, another co-founder who serves as president and chief operating officer, will assume the CEO and chairman duties. Vice president Rodney Schwatken will assume the CFO duties. Messrs. Hartman and Anderson founded the publicly traded real estate investment trust in 1996. NovaStar recently sold its $15 billion servicing portfolio (estimated) to an affiliate of Morgan Stanley & Co. for $175 million in cash. NovaStar is no longer funding subprime loans and, like many nonconforming funders, has laid off most of its production staff. It can be found online at http://www.novastarmortgage.com.

Guy Arnold has been named president of Dividend Capital Total Realty Trust Inc., a Denver-based real estate investment trust.Mr. Arnold replaces Jim Giuliano, who had been serving as president on an interim basis. In addition, John Biallas has resigned as chief operating officer and been named chief financial officer. Before joining Dividend Capital, Mr. Arnold was a partner and managing director of Cherokee Investment Partners and co-managed the firm's Denver office. He was previously vice president of Colorado & Santa Fe Land Co., a commercial real estate company.

Former mortgage bond executive Jeff Kronthal has returned to Merrill Lynch as a consultant, the company has confirmed.Mr. Kronthal will be advising the firm on issues that include portfolios in the subprime mortgage and collateralized debt obligation areas, a spokeswoman said. He left the company in 2006 in the wake of subprime mortgage concerns.

Larry Goldstone, president and chief operating officer of Thornburg Mortgage Inc., has been promoted to president and chief executive officer.Garrett Thornburg, previously chairman and CEO of Thornburg Mortgage, will remain chairman of the board and continue to be actively involved in the company, Thornburg Mortgage said. Before co-founding Thornburg Mortgage, the 53-year-old Mr. Goldstone was senior vice president and treasurer of Downey Savings and Loan. He previously held a variety of positions at Great American Bank, including senior vice president. Thornburg Mortgage, a real estate investment trust that focuses mainly on the jumbo segment of the adjustable-rate mortgage market, can be found online at http://www.thornburg.com.

Cassius Cade IV has been named senior vice president and western regional sales manager for Capital Markets Cooperative, a provider of consulting and risk reduction services based in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.Mr. Cade will be responsible for opening up the U.S. West Coast to CMC, the company said. Mr. Cade has more than 20 years of mortgage banking and capital markets experience. He served for six years as vice president and regional sales director for ABN Amro Mortgage Capital Markets Group. From 1998 to 2000, Mr. Cade was regional sales director for Tuttle & Co., and from 1994 to 1998, he served as first vice president in institutional sales for Principal Financial Securities Inc., according to CMC.

Irwin Financial Corp., a mortgage banker and home equity lender based in Columbus, Ind., has announced that it will eliminate the position of executive vice president held by 31-year company veteran Thomas D. Washburn as of Dec. 30.As of that date, the 60-year-old Mr. Washburn will assume the title of vice chairman to help the company shift his responsibilities to others by June 30, 2008, Irwin said. His current direct responsibilities as chairman of the company's three lines of business will be transferred on Dec. 30 to Irwin chairman and chief executive William I. Miller. The company said Mr. Washburn's separation agreement includes payment to him of approximately two times his current base salary and target bonus, among other things, and is expected to cost the company approximately $1.1 million. The company can be found online at http://www.irwinfinancial.com.

CapLease Inc., a New York-based real estate investment trust, has announced the retirement of mortgage industry veteran Lewis Ranieri as its chairman, citing "family circumstances."Paul McDowell has been elected chairman and will continue as CapLease's chief executive officer, the REIT reported. Mr. Ranieri, widely viewed as the father of the mortgage-backed security, will continue as a senior adviser to the company. He had been chairman of the company and its predecessor entities since 1995.

John Fisk has been named chief executive officer of the FHLBanks Office of Finance, the debt issuance facility of the Federal Home Loan Banks, effective Jan. 1.Mr. Fisk has served as the No. 2 executive in the Office of Finance since May 2004, and is currently responsible for managing all day-to-day functions. He will succeed CEO and managing director John K. Darr, who has led the Office of Finance since 1992 and plans to retire on Dec. 31. Mr. Fisk will also become chief operating officer and president of both the Financing Corp. and the Resolution Funding Corp. on Jan. 1. Before joining the Office of Finance, Mr. Fisk was executive vice president of strategic planning at MGIC, and he previously held various capital market and mortgage positions over 17 years at Freddie Mac. By the time he left in 2000, he was executive vice president for the single-family mortgage business.

The Mortgage Bankers Association has announced the promotion of Steve O'Connor to senior vice president of government affairs, the post previously held by Kurt Pfotenhauer, who is leaving the MBA to become chief executive officer of the American Land Title Association.Mr. O'Connor will be responsible for managing the public policy and advocacy efforts of the association. He was previously senior vice president of public policy. Mr. Pfotenhauer will take the reins at ALTA on Jan. 7. The organizations can be found on the Web at http://www.mortgagebankers.org and http://www.alta.org.

Metrocities Mortgage LLC, a mortgage lender based in Sherman Oaks, Calif., has announced that its founder and chief executive officer, Paul Wylie, will step down.Dick Loeffler, chief operating officer of Prospect Mortgage Co., will serve as interim CEO upon Mr. Wylie's departure, and executives Lynette Hale-Lee, Virginia Martinez, Anna Ruotolo, and Harry Tomlinson will collectively manage the sales organization, Metrocities said. Mr. Wylie founded Metrocities in 1989. The company said he was instrumental in arranging the strategic investment in Metrocities by Sterling Partners, a private equity fund based in Chicago and Baltimore, which recapitalized the company and gave a majority interest to Prospect Mortgage, a portfolio company of Sterling. Metrocities can be found online at http://www.metrocities.com.

Renan Levy has been named president and chief operating officer of Intellidyn Corp., a Boston-based provider of direct response marketing and multichannel database marketing systems.Intellidyn said Mr. Levy worked most recently with n2N Commerce developing advanced electronic commerce systems for large e-retailers including The Limited. He was previously a partner at Halo Group International, and COO and chief executive officer of KaBloom. Intellidyn CEO Peter Harvey touted Mr. Levy's "strong background in business analytics and intelligence practices, and vast experience within the retail, e-commerce, online services, and multichannel contact center industries." The company can be found on the Web at http://www.intellidyn.com.

National City Corp. has announced that Paul "Buck" Bibb will retire as chief executive officer of National City Mortgage Co. in the first quarter of 2008 and will be succeeded by Joe Cartellone, currently president of National City Mortgage.Mr. Bibb joined National City Mortgage as executive vice president and national production manager in 1997 and was named CEO in 2004. He began his mortgage banking career in 1973 with the Commonwealth Corp. in Tallahassee, Fla. Mr. Cartellone joined National City Mortgage in April of this year when he was named president and chief operating officer. He was previously senior vice president and national sales manager of National City Home Equity, a division of National City Corp. that has since merged into National City Mortgage. Mr. Cartellone has more than 26 years of experience in mortgage banking and consumer lending, and held various positions at Chase Manhattan Mortgage.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight has promoted its chief examiner, Christopher H. Dickerson, to head the agency's supervision division.Mr. Dickerson is a 10-year OFHEO veteran, and during that time Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's top executives were ousted due to accounting scandals and the two mortgage giants have rebuilt their accounting systems and internal controls. "Chris's in-depth knowledge of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- the people, problems, and progress -- will enhance OFHEO's efforts to ensure the future safety and soundness of these important institutions," OFHEO Director James Lockhart said. The new supervision director replaces Len Reid, who retired recently.

American Securitization Forum associate director Tom Deutsch, an attorney with a background in residential mortgage-backed securities, has been promoted to deputy executive director of the group.Prior to joining the forum, Mr. Deutsch served as a lawyer in the capital markets department of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, where he represented issuers and underwriters in various structured finance offerings, including RMBS deals. He also previously served as an associate at McKee Nelson LLP, where he focused on RMBS. The ASF can be found on the Web at http://www.americansecuritization.com.

Morgan Stanley co-president Zoe Cruz, who rose in the firm through the fixed-income business segment that includes mortgage-backed securities, is departing the firm as part of a leadership reorganization in the wake of subprime mortgage-related writedowns at the company.Ms. Cruz, 52, has been considered one of Wall Street's more notable women executives and a one-time rising star at the firm. Also in connection with the reorganization, Walid A. Chammah and James P. Gorman are becoming co-presidents, and Robert Scully is joining a newly created Office of the Chairman. In addition, Michael "Mitch" Petrick is to oversee the firm's trading business and serve as co-head of institutional securities sales and trading, alongside Jerker Johansson; and Neal Shear has been named chairman of the firm's commodities business.

John P. Barnes has been named group vice president for residential services of LandAmerica Financial Group, a provider of real estate transaction services based in Richmond, Va.Mr. Barnes is an 18-year veteran of the mortgage industry who served most recently as executive vice president of sales at Dexma Inc., a mortgage software provider whose mortgage origination technology subsidiary he previously managed, LandAmerica said. He has also held positions at various other companies, including director of mortgage technology services at Freddie Mac. LandAmerica Financial can be found on the Web at http://www.landam.com.

Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp., Ocala, Fla., has hired Stuart L. Scott as its chief operating officer.Mr. Scott previously was the chief information officer for Microsoft and held several executive roles with General Electric Co. TBW is a wholesale mortgage lender.