Career moves

Jeffrey A. Wiseman and Kevin D. Walsh have been named co-heads of mezzanine lending at JER Investors Trust Inc., a McLean, Va.-based company that originates and acquires commercial real estate structured finance products.Mr. Wiseman was also named a director of J.E. Robert Co. and will be based in the companies' New York City office, while Mr. Walsh, who joined JER in May 2006, will continue as a director of J.E. Robert, the companies reported. Mr. Wiseman was most recently a vice president at JPMorgan, and he was previously employed by Capital Trust Inc. Mr. Walsh was previously employed for 17 years by Wells Fargo Commercial Mortgage Finance. JER can be found on the Web at http://www.jer.com.

Residential Capital Corp. chief executive Bruce Paradis will retire on June 1 and be replaced by Jim Jones, who currently serves as the firm's chief operating officer and president.ResCap is the parent company of mortgage giant GMAC Residential. Mr. Paradis, 58, helped create the holding company a few years ago. He has worked for GMAC and its affiliates for 24 years. Late last year, hedge fund Cerberus Capital bought 51% of GMAC.

Christopher C. Mortello has been named managing director of asset-backed securities at PMI Guaranty Co., a Jersey City, N.J.-based provider of credit enhancement for mortgages and other asset classes.Mr. Mortello will be responsible for origination and new business development for structured finance transactions involving mortgage-backed securities, ABS, and collateralized debt obligations, the company said. Before joining PMI Guaranty, Mr. Mortello spent 10 years at Assured Guaranty, a bond insurer, most recently as managing director, senior vice president, and co-head of consumer ABS. The company is a subsidiary of The PMI Group, which is also the parent company of PMI Mortgage Insurance. PMI Guaranty can be found online at http://www.pmiguaranty.com.

Alan H. Fishman has been named chairman of Meridian Capital Group LLC, a New York-based mortgage brokerage firm, replacing Howard J. Zuckerman, who will become vice chairman.Mr. Fishman was most recently president and chief operating officer of Sovereign Bank, Meridian said. He was previously president and chief executive officer of Independence Community Bank. Meridian Capital can be found on the Web at http://www.meridiancapital.com.

James Furash, chief executive of a depository owned by Countrywide Financial Corp., Calabasas, Calif., has left the company, according to combined news reports.At deadline time, Countrywide spokesman Rick Simon had not returned a telephone call about the matter. Countrywide's federally insured bank had $84 billion in assets at the end of March. Countrywide is the nation's largest residential funder, according to the Quarterly Data Report. Its bank holds deposits of consumers in the form of certificates of deposit and mortgage escrow accounts. The parent company places home equity loans and ARMs on the balance sheet of the bank. Countrywide can be found online at http://www.countrywide.com.

Charles A. Bowsher, a former comptroller general of the United States, has been named the private-citizen director on the board of directors of the Office of Finance, and as such, he will be chairman of the board.Mr. Bowsher was appointed to a three-year term. In addition to serving as comptroller general for 15 years after his appointment to that post in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan, Mr. Bowsher has served on several corporate boards and is currently on the advisory board of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the Office of Finance said. The Office of Finance is the debt issuance facility of the Federal Home Loan Banks. It can be found online at http://www.fhlb-of.com.

Mitch Heffernan, the former president and chief executive of the defunct Mortgage Lenders Network, recently sought an injunction in bankruptcy court to stop the Connecticut Department of Labor from pursuing criminal charges against him, according to an article published in the Hartford Courant.The office of a Connecticut state's attorney blocked the injunction and defended the department's right to seek the warrant. The department applied for an arrest warrant for Mr. Heffernan that would charge him with 61 counts of failing to pay wages to employees at MLN, which filed for bankruptcy in March. The arrest warrant for Mr. Heffernan is still pending at the state's attorney's office, said Nancy Stefans, a representative of the department. MLN was a top-20-ranked subprime lender.

Super MergerSub Inc., an affiliate of Australian property investment manager Central Properties Group, has announced the designation of five members of the New Plan Excel Realty Trust Inc. board of directors.The new board members, whose appointments were made pursuant to a previously announced merger agreement, are Andrew Scott, John Hutchinson, Graham Terry, Romano Nenna, and Anthony Torney, all of whom are members of Centro's executive committee. New Plan directors William Newman, Glenn J. Rufrano, Raymond H. Bottorf, Norman Gold, Matthew Goldstein, Nina Matis, Melvin Newman, and Gregory White have all resigned from the board, Centro reported. New Plan directors Irwin Engelman, H. Carl McCall, and George Puskar will continue to serve on the eight-member board. Centro and New Plan, a New York-based real estate investment trust, can be found online at http://www.centro.com.au and http://www.newplan.com.

CitiMortgage has renewed its partnership with America's Community Bankers' for-profit subsidiary to continue providing ACB members with secondary-market execution and services."This agreement rewards our members for delivering high-quality loans, giving them a competitive edge in the marketplace," said William Kroll, ACB Business Partners president and chief executive. In other news, ACB has appointed Barbara L. Shyoff to be senior vice president/ legislative counsel and run the trade group's lobbying shop. She was previously special counsel in the Office of Thrift Supervision's regulation and legislation division.

Joe Cartellone has been named president and chief operating officer of Cleveland-based National City Corp., the parent company of National City Mortgage, Miamisburg, Ohio.Mr. Cartellone replaces Rick Smalldon, who has decided to step down from his current post to relocate to Arizona, the company said. Mr. Cartellone was most recently senior vice president and national sales manager of National City Home Equity. Before joining National City in 2000, he held various positions at Chase Manhattan Mortgage. National City can be found on the Web at http://www.nationalcity.com.

Stephen F. Bollenbach, co-chairman and chief executive officer of Hilton Hotels Corp., has been elected non-executive chairman of the board of Los Angeles-based KB Home.Before joining Hilton in 1996, Mr. Bollenbach was senior executive vice president and chief financial officer of The Walt Disney Co. KB Home said its board created the position of independent non-executive chairman in November 2006 to "enhance KB Home's corporate governance." Also in November, Bruce Karatz retired as chairman, director, and CEO of KB Home following an independent investigation into the company's stock-option granting practices, which concluded that the company used incorrect measurement dates for stock option grants from 1998 to 2005. In addition, the board at that time terminated the employment of Gary A. Ray, the company's head of human resources, and Richard B. Hirst resigned as executive vice president and chief legal officer. KB Home can be found online at http://www.kbhome.com.

American Brokers Conduit, the wholesale division of American Home Mortgage Investment Corp., has named Carl Cody branch manager in Dallas.In his new role as branch manager, Mr. Cody is responsible for overseeing and directing all branch activities for the Dallas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri markets. Prior to joining ABC, he was vice president, regional sales manager with LoanCity.

The CFO of Residential Capital, a subsidiary of GMAC Financial Services, has resigned.James Giertz will leave the company on April 13. ResCap said that parent GMAC's chief financial officer, Sanjiv Khattri, will assume interim responsibility as CFO of ResCap until a permanent successor is named.

Bob Dart has been named chairman of LendingForms.com, a provider of printed and electronic mortgage forms and related services based in Southfield, Mich.Before joining the company, Mr. Dart served as president and chief executive officer of VMP Mortgage Forms, where he worked for 17 years. LendingForms.com can be found online at http://www.lendingforms.com.

William F. Casey has been named treasurer of Residential Capital LLC, a subsidiary of GMAC Financial Services, effective April 2.Mr. Casey, 44, succeeds Louise M. Herrle, who has served as treasurer at GMAC ResCap since September 2004. Ms. Herrle, who will remain through May to assist with the transition, is leaving full-time corporate involvement to pursue personal interests, including active community work, the company said. For the past 18 months, Mr. Casey has been managing director and assistant treasurer of GMAC ResCap. Before joining GMAC ResCap, Mr. Casey was senior vice president and treasurer of GMAC Residential in Horsham, Pa., and held senior banking and treasury positions at Merrill Lynch, Union Bank of Switzerland, Smith Barney, and Mellon Bank.

Bruce Van Fleet, a mortgage industry veteran with more than 30 years' experience, has been hired as executive vice president of sales and marketing at Triad Guaranty Inc., Winston-Salem, N.C.Before joining Triad, Mr. Van Fleet held a variety of senior sales and operation management positions at Radian Guaranty Inc., most recently as executive vice president and chief sales officer. He was previously senior vice president of corporate sales at Strategic Mortgage Services, Triad reported. Triad Guaranty Inc.'s wholly owned mortgage insurance subsidiary, Triad Guaranty Insurance Corp., can be found online at http://www.triadguaranty.com.

David Brackin has been named chief operating officer of Street Resource Group Inc., a provider of technology, information, and consulting for mortgage warehouse lenders.Mr. Brackin specializes in software development and information networks for the mortgage warehouse lending industry. Before joining SRG in 2002, he held senior management positions at several major companies, including USgift.com, a business-to-business website funded by Internet Capital Group; and Supplier Capital, a factoring software company. Street Resource can be found online at http://www.streetresource.com.

Countrywide Financial Corp. chairman and chief executive Angelo Mozilo will not stand for re-election as a director to Home Depot, the nation's largest home improvement retailer.According to a Home Depot filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr. Mozilo did not cite "any disagreement on any matter" relating to the company's "operations, policies or practices." The Countrywide founder gave notice in mid-March and will serve out his term as a director, which expires in May when Home Depot holds its annual meeting. Countrywide is the nation's fourth-largest originator of home equity mortgages, a category that includes home improvement loans.

Alan P. Hirmes has retired as chief operating officer of CharterMac, New York, and as a member of the company's board.Mr. Hirmes also retired as a member of the board of trustees of American Mortgage Acceptance Corp., a mortgage real estate investment trust advised by an affiliate of CharterMac. Mr. Hirmes, a founder of CharterMac's predecessor company, Related Capital Co., said he plans to devote his time to his family and "outside community interests." CharterMac can be found on the Web at http://www.chartermac.com.

Investment banker Sandler O'Neill has suspended coverage of Countrywide Financial Corp., a bellwether stock for the mortgage industry, citing a "change in research department personnel."Sandler analyst Mike McMahon has covered Countrywide -- the nation's largest mortgage banker -- for several years. He has consistently been bullish on CFC. Mr. McMahon could not be reached for comment as of MortgageWire's deadline. His phone at Sandler did not pick up. In addition to Countrywide, Sandler suspended coverage on 18 publicly traded financial institutions, most of which are community banks.