Career moves

Joseph Falk, a past president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers and its current legislative chair, has been named to the Consumer Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Board.The council, which meets three times a year in Washington, D.C., advises the Fed on important policy issues related to consumer financial services. Mr. Falk will serve a three-year term on the council. He is a consultant with the law firm Akerman Senterfitt, where he serves as an expert on lending, brokering, insurance, and other business issues. Mr. Falk is one of 10 new members who were added to the Consumer Advisory Council.

Martin J. Levine, co-founder, executive vice president, and chief operating officer of Opteum Financial Services, will retire March 31, according to Opteum Financial's parent company, Opteum Inc., a real estate investment trust based in Vero Beach, Fla.Opteum said Mr. Levine will continue in his EVP role pending his retirement. Mr. Levine co-founded Opteum Financial in 1999 with Peter R. Norden, and he was previously the founder and president of First Builders Financial Corp., which merged with Olde Town Mortgage in 1989 to form First Town Mortgage Corp. Opteum also announced that Robert Filiberto and G. Hunter Haas IV have been appointed co-COOs of Opteum Financial. Mr. Filiberto is senior vice president and chief servicing and technology officer at Opteum Financial, and Mr. Hunter is senior vice president and head of mortgage research at Opteum Inc. Opteum can be found on the Web at http://www.opteum.com.

Bob Repass has been promoted from senior vice president to managing director of Dallas-based Bayview First Funding, a division of Bayview Financial, a Miami-based real estate lending and investment finance company.In his new position, Mr. Repass will oversee the acquisition and servicing of seller-finance loans, Bayview Financial said. Before joining Bayview, Mr. Repass was operations vice president for the private mortgage operation of Associates Financial Services, which was acquired by Citigroup, and a national contract buyer for Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities. Bayview can be found online at http://www.bayviewfinancial.com.

A top Federal Housing Administration staffer, Meg Burns, is leaving the agency and joining Potomac Partners, a Washington consulting firm, in February.Ms. Burns is the director of the FHA's single-family program development office, and she has worked on developing legislation to revitalize the FHA mortgage insurance program. She is best known for managing the FHA's reverse mortgage program, according to Brian Chappelle, a founding partner of the mortgage banking consulting firm. "Having Meg join Potomac Partners further strengthens one of our core competencies -- government lending -- and further expands our services into the rapidly growing field of reverse mortgages," Mr. Chappelle said.

Hanover Capital Mortgage Holdings Inc., a real estate investment trust, says senior managing director George Ostendorf has resigned from the company, effective Dec. 29.Mr. Ostendorf, who concentrated his efforts on Hanover's taxable subsidiaries (which include due-diligence reviews), said he is parting on good terms. He was a co-founder of Hanover's predecessor firm, which commenced business in 1989. The REIT primarily invests in subordinate mortgage-backed securities. Company chief executive John Burchett said Mr. Ostendorf "has been a valued member of our management team and our board since inception," but noted that the firm has reduced "many activities of its taxable subsidiaries." The publicly traded Hanover is based in Edison, N.J. Its stock is trading near a 52-week low. Mr. Ostendorf told MortgageWire that he will still have a "business relationship" with the firm but is looking at other opportunities.

John A. Ward III has resigned as chairman of the board of Doral Financial Corp., San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Dennis G. Buchert, an independent director on the board, has been named non-executive chairman of Doral.Mr. Ward's decision "reflects the fact that he holds different views as to the best process to be followed by the company to meet its capital and liquidity needs and maximize shareholder value," Doral said. Mr. Ward's views on disclosure were reviewed by members of the board's audit committee, management, and outside counsel, and the audit panel's chairman has "satisfied himself" that disclosures have been appropriate, the company said. Mr. Buchert has 35 years of experience in the banking industry, including stints as chief executive officer of Credit Agricole Indosuez and president and CEO of IBJ Whitehall Bank & Trust Co., Doral reported. In September 2006, Doral announced an agreement with the SEC to pay a $25 million civil penalty in connection with a probe of its restatement of financial results for 2000-2004, which slashed $694.4 million from retained earnings. Doral can be found online at http://www.doralfinancial.com.

Deutsche Bank has announced that Doug Naidus, chairman and chief executive officer of MortgageIT Holdings Inc., will become head of mortgage origination in the bank's residential mortgage-backed securities group now that Deutsche Bank's acquisition of MortgageIT has been completed.Mr. Naidus will also hold the title of managing director. Deutsche Bank said the purchase price of the acquisition was $430 million, or $14.75 a share. A real estate investment trust, MortgageIT Holdings owns MortgageIT Inc., a residential mortgage lender that employs 2,100 full-timers in 47 branches and is licensed to originate mortgages in all 50 states. "Expanding our origination platform provides us with access to a steady source of product for distribution into the mortgage capital markets," said Phil Weingord, head of Global Markets in the Americas at Deutsche Bank. The bank can be found online at http://www.db.com.

Richard J. Wrensen has been named president and chief executive officer of Capital Alliance Income Trust Ltd., a real estate investment trust based in San Francisco.The board of directors of the mortgage REIT, a specialty residential lender, also unanimously approved the company's transition to the status of a self-advised REIT. The company said its move to self management has resulted in "significant transition and termination expenses." The REIT's former adviser received a termination payment of approximately $500,000, CAIT reported. The company estimated that its net loss for the year will exceed $900,000, including one-time transition and termination expenses. CAIT can be found on the Web at http://www.calliance.com.

Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson is planning to stay on as head of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to news reports.Since the November elections, rumors have been circulating that Secretary Jackson would resign to avoid facing hostile questioning by Democrats who now control Congress and the committees that oversee HUD. However, Mr. Jackson told Reuters that he has no plans to resign and expects to have good relations with the Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee, including the incoming chairman, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.

Feldman Mall Properties Inc., Great Neck, N.Y., has announced the resignation of Wayne Snider as executive vice president of development to pursue private real estate investment opportunities.Feldman said the resignation of Mr. Snyder, 65, will take effect in mid-January. The real estate investment trust said it plans to name someone to replace Mr. Snyder in the EVP position. The REIT can be found online at http://www.feldmanmall.com.

Frank Korzekwinski has been named executive vice president and chief of real estate lending at Flushing Savings Bank FSB, a subsidiary of Flushing Financial Corp., Lake Success, N.Y.Mr. Frank, 44, will assume responsibility for residential mortgage and servicing operations and will retain his responsibilities with the Commercial Real Estate Department, Flushing said. Before joining Flushing Savings Bank in 1993, Mr. Frank was a vice president and mortgage officer at Bankers Federal Savings Bank and vice president of secondary marketing for a mortgage banking company. Flushing can be found on the Web at http://www.flushingsavings.com.

Radian Group Inc., the Philadelphia-based parent company of mortgage insurer Radian Guaranty, has announced the promotions of Scott Theobald and David Rockwell to positions as senior vice president.Mr. Theobald was named SVP of corporate risk and capital management at Radian Group, and Mr. Rockwell was named SVP of risk management at Radian Asset Assurance Inc. Mr. Theobald joined Radian in 1997 as director of costing analytics and was appointed vice president of structured transactions in 1999 and vice president of enterprise risk in 2002, the company said. Before joining Radian, he served at Freddie Mac in a variety of analyst positions. Mr. Rockwell joined Radian in 2004 as vice president of risk management. He previously held senior posts managing risk at Marsh & McLennan, Chubb Financial Solutions, and American International Group. Radian can be found on the Web at http://www.radian.biz.

Robert K. Cole will retire as chairman of New Century Financial Corp., Irvine, Calif., and Fredric J. Forster will assume the role of non-executive chairman of the board on Jan. 1, New Century has announced.Mr. Cole, who co-founded the real estate investment trust in 1995 with Brad Morrice and Ed Gotschall, will continue as a member of the board. "Now that there has been a smooth transition of the chief executive officer role to Brad, I plan to retire from my position as chairman of the board at the end of this year," Mr. Cole said. Mr. Forster, New Century's lead independent director, has been a board member since 1997. He was formerly president and chief operating officer of H.F. Ahmanson and Co. and its subsidiary, Home Savings of America. New Century can be found on the Web at http://www.ncen.com.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight has filed charges against three former Fannie Mae executives, including Franklin Raines, for manipulating earnings to maximize bonuses and for leading the mortgage giant into a $6.3 billion accounting scandal.Along with a notice of charges, OFHEO is seeking $100 million in civil money penalties and disgorgement of $115 million in 1998-2003 bonuses paid to Mr. Raines, a former chairman and chief executive officer; former chief financial officer Timothy Howard; and former comptroller Leanne Spencer. "The notice explains how they submitted six years of misleading and inaccurate accounting statements and inaccurate capital reports that enabled them to grow Fannie Mae in an unsafe and unsound manner," OFHEO Director James Lockhart said. "The misconduct cost the enterprise and shareholders many billions of dollars and damaged the public trust." An attorney representing Mr. Raines said the charges are "false" and called the OFHEO director a "fatally biased regulator."

U.S. Bancorp's president and chief operating officer has officially stepped up to the post of chief executive officer.The new CEO, Richard K. Davis, succeeds Jerry A. Grundhofer in the post as part of a pre-existing succession plan. Mr. Davis will retain his title of president and Mr. Grundhofer will remain with U.S. Bancorp as chairman of the board. The two men have worked together since 1993.

Michael J. Wheeler has been named a senior vice president and manager of the West region of American Home Mortgage Retail Lending Division.The company, the retail lending division of American Home Mortgage Investment Corp., said Mr. Wheeler will be responsible for helping build the sales region in California, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, and Washington. For the past eight years, Mr. Wheeler served as a district manager for National City Mortgage. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.americanhm.com.

CIT Commercial Real Estate, a unit of CIT Group Inc., has announced the appointments of Greg Geletka, Bruce Quinn, Jerome Sanzo, Natalie Wilensky, and Timothy Zietara as managing directors and senior executives.Mr. Geletka, a former managing director at Deutsche Bank Berkshire Mortgage, was named a managing director and chief investment officer. Mr. Quinn, a former president and chief executive officer of Cushman & Wakefield Net Lease Trust Inc., was named managing director and head of sale-leaseback financing. Mr. Sanzo, formerly a senior vice president at GE Capital Markets Inc., where he managed the real estate loan syndications and sales team, was named a managing director and head of real estate capital markets. Ms. Wilensky, formerly a principal and member of Hilco Real Estate LLC, has been named a managing director and serves as a senior investment banker for the advisory group. Mr. Zietara, who was formerly a senior vice president and regional manager of Wells Fargo's Real Estate Group, was named a managing director and head of real estate structured finance.

Jeff D. Thompson has been named to the newly created post of executive vice president and head of construction lending management at United Western Bancorp Inc., Denver.Mr. Thompson was most recently senior vice president and real estate and construction lending manager at Colorado Business Bank, Denver. He was previously a senior vice president in various capacities at FirstBank Holding Co., Lakewood, Colo. United Western can be found on the Web at http://www.uwbancorp.com.

Mitch Freifeld has announced his resignation as president of Global Branch Solutions to start Branch Management Solutions, Clearwater, Fla., which will provide guidance on recruiting, marketing, and training.The move "represents the culmination of years of work in the mortgage industry," Mr. Freifeld said. "My company's core focus will be to represent and market an innovative, new branch organization that will be making its debut in early 2007." Mr. Freifeld previously served for over 20 years as president of United Shelter Homes. He said he will maintain "a strong focus" on his work with the Coalition Against Broker Fraud, which he co-founded early this year in response to mounting fraud-related losses at mortgage firms.

Former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating has been named an advisory director of Stewart Information Services Corp., the Houston-based parent company of Stewart Title Co.Mr. Keating is president and chief executive officer of the American Council of Life Insurers, a post he took in January 2003 after serving two terms as governor of Oklahoma. Stewart noted that Mr. Keating "won national acclaim in 1995 for his compassionate and professional handling of the Oklahoma City bombing." He also served in various federal posts under former presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Stewart can be found on the Web at http://www.stewart.com.