Career moves

Three key Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee have criticized Fannie Mae and its regulator for approving a 25% pay raise for the government-sponsored enterprise's president and chief executive officer, Daniel Mudd, who received $14.4 million in compensation last year."We are quite surprised that the board of Fannie Mae would sign off on this compensation package at a time when they have paid $1.4 billion in accounting and consulting fees to clean up their financial mess, and they are still two years behind in financial reporting," says a statement issued by GOP Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, John Sununu of New Hampshire, and Mel Martinez of Florida. (Sen. Martinez is a former housing secretary.) Mr. Mudd received base pay of $950,000 in 2006, plus a $3.5 million bonus and 176,506 shares of restricted common stock. (In recent days Fannie's stock has been trading at $56. Based on that figure, the restricted stock would be worth $9.8 million.) "We are equally surprised that the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight approved this pay raise," the three said. The senators have asked OFHEO for an explanation.

John Vella has been named president and chief executive officer of EMC Mortgage Corp., Lewisville, Texas, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Bear Stearns Cos.Mr. Vella, who joined EMC as president and chief operating officer in March 2006, replaces former chairman and CEO Ralene Ruyle, who announced her retirement in December. (Ms. Ruyle will officially retire at the end of May.) Before joining EMC, Mr. Vella served as the president and COO of Aames Investment Corp., chief sales officer and chief administrative officer of Option One Mortgage Corp., and managing director of GMAC/RFC. He also held executive posts at Freddie Mac, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corp. EMC can be found online at http://www.emcmortgagecorp.com.

Edward F. Lange Jr. has been promoted from chief financial officer of BRE Properties Inc., San Francisco, to executive vice president and chief operating officer.Mr. Lange, 47, has been CFO since 2000 and will continue in that post until a successor is named, the real estate investment trust said. He was previously CFO of Health Care REIT Inc. and a senior vice president at Mediplex Group Inc. and affiliated companies. BRE Properties, an apartment REIT, can be found on the Web at http://www.breproperties.com.

Ron Duff of Fiserv Lending Solutions has been elected to chair the Governance Committee of the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization, taking over from David Barkley of Freddie Mac, who has chaired the panel since its inception in 2000.Nancee Gorenstein of MGIC and Lisa Bolelli of First American Real Estate Information Services were elected vice-chairs. The committee also re-elected the following members: Chris Anderson of Gallagher Financial Systems; Jim Cooke of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll; David Erkes of GMAC Residential Holding Corp.; Roger Gudobba of VMP/Wolters Kluwer; Michael Levine of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage; Shannon Lloyd of Fannie Mae; Kelly Romeo of the American Land Title Association; and Wendy Sadeh of Bridger Commercial Funding. The Governance Committee consists of 20 MISMO subscriber organizations that serve two-year terms, with half the seats up for election each year. MISMO, which was established by the Mortgage Bankers Association, develops electronic commerce standards for the mortgage industry. The organization can be found online at http://www.mismo.org.

Fannie Mae president and chief executive officer Daniel Mudd received a 27.5% increase in take-home pay and bonuses in 2006 largely due to a $3.5 million bonus.Mr. Mudd received a $950,000 salary last year along with the bonus. The company's board of directors also awarded Mr. Mudd 176,506 shares of restricted common stock. He currently holds 492,206 restricted shares, according to a Jan. 25 Securities and Exchange Commission filing. In 2005, the Fannie Mae president and CEO received a $908,121 salary and a $2.6 million bonus. The board also increased his 2007 salary by $40,000, to $990,000. The government-sponsored enterprise can be found online at http://www.fanniemae.com.

A senior member of the Senate Banking Committee, Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., is expected to be the new housing subcommittee chairman, according to sources, although it has not been officially announced.The housing subcommittee has jurisdiction over the housing government-sponsored enterprises, and the New York senator has fiercely opposed Bush administration efforts to substantially cut the size of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's mortgage portfolios. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., was the ranking Democrat on the housing subcommittee last year, but he is going to chair the securities and investment subcommittee. Sen. Reed is the author of a proposal that would require Fannie and Freddie to contribute 5% of their profits toward an affordable housing fund.

John Fisk has been appointed chief operating officer of the Office of Finance, the debt issuance facility of the Federal Home Loan Banks.Mr. Fisk was previously deputy managing director of the Office of Finance, overseeing debt issuance, servicing, and strategic planning. Before joining the Office of Finance, he was executive vice-president of strategic planning at Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. He previously held a series of capital market and mortgage positions over 17 years at Freddie Mac, the Office of Finance reported. By the time of his departure in 2000, Mr. Fisk was executive vice-president, responsible for all single-family mortgage business. The Office of Finance can be found online at http://www.fhlb-of.com.

Raymond R. Christman will retire on Jan. 31 as president and chief executive officer of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, according to the FHLBank.Mr. Christman oversaw the bank during a period in which it grew from $50 billion to $144 billion in assets and increased its affordable housing program grants, the FHLBank said. The bank said its board of directors has named William Ott as interim president and CEO. Mr. Ott is president of PEAC Ventures Inc., a firm that advises corporate boards and executives. He previously held senior positions at First Data Corp. and Bank of America. The FHLBank can be found on the Web at http://www.fhlbatl.com.

The National Association of Mortgage Brokers has announced that its president, Harry Dinham, will serve on Fannie Mae's National Housing Advisory Council.The NHAC, consisting of 46 members from the housing, mortgage finance, and government sectors, meets with Fannie Mae's senior management three times a year to help the company "address industry challenges and maximize market opportunities," the association said. Council members serve two-year terms, with approximately half of the membership rotating off at the end of each year. "Serving on the council gives me the opportunity to further advance the cause of both mortgage brokers and homeowners on a national scale," said Mr. Dinham. NAMB can be found on the Web at http://www.namb.org.

Troy Gotschall has resigned as executive vice president and chief production officer of ECC Capital Corp., a real estate investment trust based in Irvine, Calif., as a result of the company's decision to exit the mortgage origination business.The mortgage REIT noted that the decision was to exit the origination business after the consummation of a proposed transaction with Bear Stearns Residential Mortgage Corp. Mr. Gotschall will serve as a consultant to ECC to assist in the transition of his responsibilities, the company said. The REIT can be found online at http://www.encorecredit.com.

Scott C. Harvard, president and chief executive officer of Shore Bank, has been elected chairman of the board of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta.Mr. Harvard, who is serving his second three-year term on the board, was originally elected by member financial institutions in Virginia. He has served as president and CEO of Shore Bank and its holding company, Shore Financial Corp., Onley, Va., since 1985, the FHLBank said. The Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta provides services to financial institutions in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. The FHLBank can be found on the Web at http://www.fhlbatl.com, and Shore Bank can be found at http://www.shorebank.com.

Ron Wilsie has been named chief operating officer of Preferred Financial Group Inc., a private mortgage lender based in Burlingame, Calif., and Gary Plooster has been named chief production officer.Mr. Wilsie was most recently president of WestWorks Mortgage in Southern California, which was formed in 1997 as a division of Western Financial Savings Bank, Preferred Financial said. Mr. Plooster was previously executive vice president for national wholesale production and operations at United Financial Mortgage Corp. Preferred Financial said it plans to expends its wholesale mortgage franchise into new geographic markets this year by adding production offices in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, and Oregon. It can be found on the Web at http://www.preferredmortgage.com.

David Lowman, Chase's chief executive officer of Global Mortgage, has been given additional responsibilities in the areas of home equity, servicing, and default that combine all the company's consumer real estate lending businesses into one organization.Before joining Chase in November, Mr. Lowman was president and CEO of CitiFinancial International. Chase said he was previously chief servicing and technology officer for Citigroup's U.S. mortgage business; president and chief operating officer of CitiMortgage; and chief financial officer (among other positions) of Prudential Home Mortgage. Chase can be found online at http://www.chase.com.

LoanCity, a national wholesale lender based in San Jose, Calif., has announced that John C. Giagiari Jr. and Jeff Minch have joined the company as chief operating officer and national sales manager, respectively.For the past 10 years, Mr. Giagiari was director of subprime lending at Meritage Mortgage, a division of Netbank. Before joining Meritage, he was responsible for wholesale lending in Northern California for First Franklin Financial. Mr. Minch, who will have the title of senior vice president as well as national sales manager, has been national sales manager at Meritage since 2004. He was previously Eastern regional sales manager for Meritage, held strategy and operational posts at First Franklin, and founded OneHarbor, a financial planning service for customers of financial institutions. LoanCity can be found online at http://www.loancity.com.

Kenneth M. Duberstein -- one of the few remaining directors from the "Raines era" at Fannie Mae -- will step down on Feb. 15, according to a federal filing by the company.Mr. Duberstein has been a Fannie Mae director since 1998. He is chairman and chief executive of The Duberstein Group Inc., an independent strategic planning and consulting firm. In years past, Mr. Duberstein's lobbying firm has done work for the company. Mr. Raines was forced out of Fannie in December 2004 as the government-sponsored enterprise's accounting scandal widened. The Raines-era directors -- including Mr. Duberstein -- are defendants in a shareholder lawsuit that accuses board members (and current and former executives) of profiting from the GSE's accounting manipulations "via huge bonuses, improper stock sales and/or a web of lucrative personal" and financial interrelationships. Fannie Mae can be found on the Web at http://www.fanniemae.com.

Michael Forster has been named to the newly created position of chief financial officer at NeighborWorks America, a nonprofit community development and training organization based in Washington, D.C.Mr. Forster, who brings over 20 years of experience in accounting and management, was most recently vice president of finance and administration at the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association. He was previously a consultant to the District of Columbia government. Ken Wade, chief executive officer of NeighborWorks, said the CFO post was created because community development "is growing increasingly complex, with participants ranging from very small nonprofit organizations to global financial institutions headquartered on Wall Street."

Chito Schnupp has been promoted to executive vice president of ComUnity Lending, Morgan Hill, Calif., and will join the company's Executive Leadership Team.Ms. Schnupp, a 20-year veteran of the mortgage industry, was most recently senior vice president for capital markets. Her new position will continue to focus on capital markets but will also be "heavily involved with the company's strategic planning and vision," the company said. Ms. Schnupp was previously employed by such lenders as Olympia Funding, Medallion Mortgage/AccuBank, First Franklin/National City Mortgage, and Wells Fargo. The company can be found online at http://www.comunitylending.com.

Kevin D. Race, president, chief operating officer, and chief financial officer of Atlanta-based HomeBanc Corp., has been named chief executive officer of the company, replacing Patrick S. Flood.In addition, James B. Witherow, a director, has been named non-executive chairman of the board. During an investor conference call, Mr. Race said Mr. Flood, who was the company's chairman and CEO, left HomeBanc "to pursue other opportunities." Later, in response to a question, Mr. Witherow said there wasn't any "conflict" behind Mr. Flood's departure, but that HomeBanc is streamlining and this needs to come from the top, while Mr. Flood had built the organization for expansion. HomeBanc, which has been operating as a real estate investment trust, announced that it will focus on operating efficiencies and opportunities for growth and will not operate as a REIT in 2007. The company can be found online at http://www.homebanc.com.

Dom Cecere has been promoted to executive vice president and chief financial officer of KB Home, a Los Angeles-based homebuilder, and Bill Hollinger has been promoted to senior vice president and chief accounting officer of the company.KB Home said Mr. Cecere has been CFO since joining the company in 2002, and he previously held senior management posts with Owens Corning, including chief operating officer. Mr. Hollinger has held several positions at KB Home since joining the company in 1987. KB Home can be found online at http://www.kbhome.com.

Sally French Tyler has been named president of the National Commercial Services Division of First American Title Insurance Co., Santa Ana, Calif.A 20-year veteran of the title insurance industry, Ms. French succeeds Curt Johnson, who was recently named president of First American Title. Working closely with Ms. Tyler will be Joseph J. Ghilardi, who has been named senior executive vice president and chief operating officer of National Commercial Services, the company said. First American Title is a subsidiary of The First American Corp., which can be found on the Web at http://www.firstam.com.