Career moves

Joseph H. Badal will retire as senior executive vice president and chief lending officer of Thornburg Mortgage Inc., Santa Fe, N.M., effective Dec. 31.Mr. Badal, who will also leave his position as one of Thornburg's directors, will be succeeded as senior EVP and chief lending officer by Paul Decoff. Mr. Badal joined Thornburg as a founding director in 1993 and was named to his current positions in 2001, the company said. Mr. Decoff joined Thornburg in January 2007 after 13 years at Countrywide Financial Corp., where he was most recently managing director and chief operations officer at Countrywide Bank. Thornburg, a real estate investment trust, can be found on the Web at http://www.thornburgmortgage.com.

Luminent Mortgage Capital, San Francisco, a struggling real estate investment trust that invests in mortgage-backed securities, says its chief financial officer has resigned effective Dec. 31.The resignation comes a few weeks after Luminent disclosed that Deloitte & Touche had quit as its independent auditor. The company said Christopher Zyda, its CFO and senior vice president, resigned because he did not want to relocate to Philadelphia when Luminent closes its San Francisco headquarters and moves its operations there. Luminent has already named vice president and controller Karen Chang to replace Mr. Zyda. Meanwhile, Luminent recently sued HSBC Capital, alleging that the lender wrongfully confiscated about $24 million in mortgage bonds that served as collateral for lines of credit. Luminent says HSBC seized the bonds this summer in regard to what it calls an "unreasonable" $5.75 million margin call. HSBC "confiscated the bonds for itself at an artificially steep discount by exploiting an aberrational market," Luminent says. HSBC has declined to comment on the lawsuit. The REIT can be found online at http://www.luminentcapital.com.

The CtW Investment Group, a nonprofit pension fund advisory group, wants Angelo Mozilo to resign as chairman and chief executive of Countrywide Financial Group, saying his "insider" stock sales have destroyed shareholder confidence in him.CtW advises union pension funds affiliated with Change to Win, which has 6 million union members. William Patterson, executive director of CtWIG, wrote to Countrywide lead director Harley Snyder, calling on the company's board to fire Mr. Mozilo. Change to Win unions hold about 3.5 million shares of Countrywide stock. The Securities and Exchange Commission recently opened an informal investigation into Mr. Mozilo's stock sales, which have totaled about $300 million over the past three years. In past interviews, Mr. Mozilo has defended his disposition of stock, noting that all sales have been disclosed and pre-arranged. At deadline time, Countrywide's spokesman Rick Simon had not returned a telephone call and e-mail message about the matter.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an informal investigation into the stock sales of Countrywide Financial Corp. founder, chairman, and chief executive Angelo Mozilo, according to combined news reports.The company has declined to comment on the matter. Over the past three years Mr. Mozilo has exercised options and sold shares, but last fall he made changes in his stock selling program to accelerate sales. The stock sales have been made under a planned program referred to as 10b5-1. The North Carolina state treasurer -- on behalf of state pension funds that own Countrywide stock -- recently asked the SEC to investigate Mr. Mozilo's stock sales. This spring, in an interview with National Mortgage News, the Countrywide CEO addressed critics who had questioned his massive selling. He said if he kept all the shares, he'd have to pay taxes on them. "These critics expect me to hold my shares forever?" he said. Countrywide can be found online at http://www.countrywide.com.

The Mortgage Bankers Association has announced the leadership of its 2008 Commercial Real Estate/Multifamily Finance Board of Governors, which focuses on commercial/multifamily real estate finance policy issues and initiatives.The officers of the 30-member COMBOG are: Steven K. Graves, chief operating officer of Principal Real Estate Investors, chair; Daryl J. Carter, chairman and CEO of Avanath Capital Partners, vice chair; and David A. Roberts, president and CEO of Collateral Real Estate Capital LLC, vice chair. The announcement was made at the 94th Annual Mortgage Bankers Association Convention & Expo in Boston.

Robert H. Griffith, senior vice president at Bank of America, Charlotte, N.C., has been elected chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association's Residential Board of Governors, and Timothy C. Dale, executive vice president of BB&T, Wilson, N.C., has been elected vice chairman.The MBA also elected nine new members of RESBOG, the 57-member governing body for the MBA's residential/single-family members, which is responsible for identifying legislative and regulatory policies on single-family residential lending and for making recommendations to the MBA's board of directors. The announcements were made at the association's 94th Annual Convention & Expo in Boston. The MBA can be found online at http://www.mortgagebankers.org.

Lidio V. Soriano has been named to the newly created position of executive vice president in charge of the retail banking and mortgage divisions of Oriental Financial Group Inc., San Juan, Puerto Rico.Mr. Soriano, 38, was previously head of Citibank's consumer mortgage operations in Puerto Rico. He also held several senior positions at Doral, including president of Doral Money, a New York-based subsidiary of Doral Bank specializing in commercial and construction mortgage. Oriental can be found on the Web at http://www.orientalfg.com.

Industry veteran Linda Simmons has been named to the newly created position of senior vice president of business development at Overture Technologies, a Bethesda, Md.-based developer of automated underwriting systems for the mortgage industry.Overture said the move is part of a plan to expand its market share in the mortgage segment. Ms. Simmons has over 20 years of executive experience in the mortgage banking industry. Before joining Overture, she was an associate partner for IBM Global Services' Business Consulting Services division. She was previously a partner with the Stratmor Group and a principal in Simmons Solutions. The company can be found online at http://www.overturetechnologies.com.

Lisa MacMillen has been named executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco.Ms. MacMillen has been the FHLBank's senior vice president and corporate secretary since 1998. She also served as general counsel from 1998 to 2005. The FHLBank can be found on the Web at http://www.fhlbsf.com.

Michael Pralle has joined J.E. Robert Cos., McLean, Va., as president and chief operating officer.Mr. Pralle will be responsible for driving the strategic growth of JER and managing the company's operations, as the company continues to expand its global investment platform, JER said. JER sources, underwrites, and manages real estate equity and debt investments in the United States, Europe, and some emerging markets. Mr. Pralle was most recently president and chief executive officer of GE Real Estate, managing a global portfolio of assets. His career at GE spanned 18 years. "Michael's network of relationships in the U.S., Europe, Latin America and Asia will be of invaluable importance as we continue to strategically grow our business," said Joseph E. Robert Jr., chairman and CEO of J.E. Robert.

Leading mortgage originator and industry trainer Greg Frost will now originate loans for First Houston Mortgage, Houston.He will maintain his position as president and chief executive of Albuquerque, N.M.-based Frost Mortgage, and his company will now originate loans for First Houston. He has a 9% market share in Albuquerque, and the company will retain its name for marketing purposes. Most recently, Frost Mortgage had been affiliated with the now-bankrupt First Magnus Mortgage, Tucson, Ariz. Mr. Frost is also vice president of new product development for LoanToolbox.com. "At this time of market instability, I wanted to go with a lender that has a great reputation," Mr. Frost said. "First Houston has the processes and technology that complements our own. For example, they have a truly paperless system, a wide variety of lending products, and a conversion support level that simplifies the way we do business." First Houston Mortgage can be found online at http://www.firsthouston.com.

David W. Berson, longtime chief economist at Fannie Mae, has been named chief economist and strategist of The PMI Group Inc., Walnut Creek, Calif.Mr. Berson's responsibilities will include domestic and global market research and planning, support of government relations, and public policy and strategic environmental planning, PMI said. He will also act as a PMI spokesman on topics related to global economic housing as well as mortgage market conditions and policy. At Fannie Mae, where he was vice president and chief economist since 1989, Mr. Berson advised the company on national and regional economic, housing, and mortgage policy and conditions. Mr. Berson previously held senior management positions at Wharton Econometric Forecasting Associates and teaching positions at the University of Michigan, Claremont McKenna College, and Claremont Graduate School. PMI can be found online at http://www.pmigroup.com.

Frederic R. "Rick" McGill has been named president of Downey Financial Corp., Newport Beach, Calif., and its wholly owned thrift subsidiary, Downey Savings and Loan Association FA, effective Oct. 29.Mr. McGill will replace Daniel D. Rosenthal as president of the two entities, but Mr. Rosenthal will continue as chief executive officer of Downey and the thrift, Downey said. Mr. McGill has over 30 years of experience in the finance industry, most recently as a consultant to Banco Popular North America. He was previously president and chief executive officer of Quaker City Bancorp and Quaker City Bank until the holding company's sale to Banco Popular. Downey can be found on the Web at http://www.downeysavings.com.

Shawn Matthews and Scott Moore have been promoted to senior managing directors and co-heads of Cantor Fitzgerald's mortgage-backed securities sales and trading business.The company said the promotions were made in conjunction with a "renewed commitment" to the MBS market. Mr. Matthews is based in New York, and Mr. Moore is based in Chicago. "The dislocation of the mortgage-backed securities market is a tremendous opportunity to capitalize on Scott's and Shawn's superb capabilities," said Howard W. Lutnick, chairman and chief executive officer of Cantor Fitzgerald. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.cantor.com.

Jeffrey M. Peek, chairman and chief executive officer of CIT Group Inc., has resigned from the board of directors of Freddie Mac, citing a desire to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest in connection with a proposed purchase by Freddie of securities backed by CIT mortgages.CIT Group has announced an agreement to sell Freddie Mac $3.5 billion to $4.2 billion of triple-A rated securities backed by approximately $6 billion of residential mortgages. Richard F. Syron, chairman and CEO of Freddie Mac, expressed disappointment that Mr. Peek would be leaving the board and praised his "experience and insight," which he said have been "enormously valuable to Freddie Mac." The government-sponsored enterprise can be found online at http://www.freddiemac.com.

Peter Muriungi has been named senior vice president at EMC Mortgage, Lewisville, Texas, and he will head the company's Financial Analytics and Structured Transactions (F.A.S.T.) and business information teams.Since joining EMC in 1999, Mr. Muriungi has been involved with the development and deployment of default risk models, deal performance analytics, and other valuation models as part of the F.A.S.T. and business information groups. EMC, a subsidiary of Bear Stearns, developed the F.A.S.T. system.

James Ferris has been named executive director of NeighborWorks Capital, the newly formed real estate development financing arm of NeighborWorks America.Mr. Ferris, 50, joined the organization from the Fannie Mae Foundation, where he had been senior director of national initiatives since 2004. He is based in Washington, D.C. NeighborWorks Capital is the result of a recent merger of Neighborhood Capital Corp. and RNA Community Builders, which served NeighborWorks organizations enrolled in specific initiatives such as multifamily real estate development and rural housing and community development. In contrast, NeighborWorks Capital will serve the full range of real estate development activities, including affordable rental housing, affordable homeownership housing, and commercial projects, NeighborWorks America said. It will also offer new products to serve its expanded market. The parent organization can be found online at http://www.nw.org.

Peter DiMartino, a well known research analyst, has been named senior managing director and asset-backed and mortgage credit strategist at Bear, Stearns & Co.Mr. DiMartino was most recently the chief asset-backed security/mortgage credit strategist at RBS Greenwich Capital for four years. He was previously employed for 14 years at Citigroup (formerly Salomon Brothers), where he was a director and head of the ABS and Mortgage Credit Research group, Bear Stearns said. Bear can be found on the Web at http://www.bearstearns.com.

Landon V. Taylor has been named president of the Strategic Markets Division of First American Title Insurance Co., Santa Ana, Calif.Mr. Taylor, who has also been appointed to First American Title's board of directors, will head "an aggressive, national market-penetration strategy" aimed at advancing the company's position in the multicultural real estate market, First American Title said. He has been responsible for the company's "strategic markets business strategy" since 2003, and held other executive posts since joining First American 10 years ago as a branch manager. Mr. Taylor was also "instrumental in the formation" of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals and the Asian Real Estate Association of America, among other organizations, the company said. First American Title is the largest subsidiary of The First American Corp., which can be found online at http://www.firstam.com.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's top supervisor, Leonard Reid -- who has been overseeing Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's efforts to correct their accounting problems -- is retiring, according to the agency.Mr. Reid joined OFHEO in 2001 and became the agency's first director of supervision in March 2006. "I am very grateful for his stewardship during the completion of the special examination of Fannie Mae and his leadership in overseeing the remediation efforts under way at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac," OFHEO Director James Lockhart said. In other personnel news, Freddie Mac said it has hired Patti Saylor to be vice president with responsibilities for multifamily customer and product strategy. Ms. Saylor was previously a managing director at Centerline Capital Group, New York.