Career moves

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.

Craig Kolasinski has been named to the newly created post of executive vice president for business development of First Bank of Beverly Hills, the banking subsidiary of Beverly Hills Bancorp Inc., Calabasas, Calif.In his new role, Mr. Kolasinski will service the bank's real estate clients, handle special loan opportunities, and develop "an aggressive program of loan participations and co-venturing with other lending institutions," the parent company said. The bank also announced that Eric Rosa, formerly the chief lending officer of ChinaTrust Bank (U.S.A.), has been hired as executive vice president and chief lending officer. Beverly Hills Bancorp can be found on the Web at http://www.bhbc.com.

Ralene Ruyle, chairman and chief executive officer of EMC Mortgage Corp., Lewisville, Texas, has announced that she will begin to transition out of a day-to-day role in the company and will officially retire from EMC at the end of next May.Ms. Ruyle was hired in 1987 by The Bear Stearns Cos., the parent organization of EMC, and she started EMC Mortgage in 1990 while working from a small office in Irving, Texas, with a staff of three, the company said. She was named president and CEO of EMC in 2002, and she also holds the title of senior managing director at Bear Stearns.

John Parsley has been named senior vice president of strategic business development at PMI Mortgage Insurance Inc., Walnut Creek, Calif., and Pete Pannes has been named to take his place as SVP of field sales and national accounts.Mr. Parsley joined PMI in 1983, and has also served as the company's vice president of sales for the Central/Western United States, national account director for the East, and area sales director for the Northeast Region, the company said. Mr. Pannes joined the company in 1990 as an account representative. He was part of the PMI management team that formed CMG Mortgage Insurance Co. in 1994, a joint venture with CUNA Mutual. He held several positions with CMG from 1994 to 2001, at which time he joined CUNA Mutual as senior vice president and general manager of CMG. Mr. Pannes rejoined PMI in 2004. PMI can be found on the Web at http://www.pmigroup.com.

Kymberly Wright has been named director of the correspondent lending division of First Magnus Financial Corp., Tucson, Ariz.Ms. Wright has more than 15 years of experience in mortgage lending, including 13 years with specific responsibility for correspondent lending, First Magnus said. She served as western national account manager in national correspondent sales at Washington Mutual Bank from 2001 to 2006, and she was previously with Chase Manhattan and Fleet Mortgage.

The PMI Group, a residential mortgage insurer based in Walnut Creek, Calif., has announced the promotion of Thomas H. Jeter to senior vice president, chief accounting officer, and corporate controller, and of Andrew D. Cameron to SVP and deputy general counsel.Mr. Jeter, who joined PMI in 2002, has been vice president and corporate controller since 2005. He was previously a senior manager in the Financial Services Division of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Mr. Cameron joined PMI in 1998 and has been vice president and assistant general counsel since 2003. He was previously senior counsel in the Enforcement Division of the Securities and Exchange Commission. PMI can be found online at http://www.pmigroup.com.

Kenney Hayes has been named chief operating officer of Mortgage Banking Services Direct, a management consulting company specializing in mortgage banking, broker licensing, and lending-related technology. Ms. Hayes has 37 years of mortgage industry experience, the company said. Before joining MBSD, she developed joint venture relationships that combined mortgage operations with real estate companies in Oregon, Idaho, and Washington. Among her other positions was senior vice president in charge of mortgage lending at Bank of America. MBSD can be found online at http://www.mbsdgroup.com.

Robert L. Levy has been named chief financial officer of American Mortgage Acceptance Co., a New York-based real estate investment trust, and of New York-based CharterMac, AMAC's external adviser.Mr. Levy, who has been CharterMac's director of capital markets since 2001, will replace Alan P. Hirmes, who will remain chief operating officer of CharterMac and a member of AMAC's board, the companies said. Mr. Levy was previously a vice president in the real estate equity research and investment banking departments of Robertson Stephens, San Francisco. CharterMac can be found online at http://www.chartermac.com, and AMAC can be found at http://www.americanmortgageco.com.

ComplianceEase, San Francisco, has promoted its executive vice president, David Girling, to the position of president and chief executive officer.The compliance and risk management automation company's co-founder and former CEO, John Vong, will remain as chairman of the board, while another co-founder, Anita Kwan, will become chief operating officer and retain responsibility for finance, business operations, and administration. In his new position, Mr. Girling will be charged with expanding the company's already extensive roster of partnerships with loan origination systems and loan document providers as well as with Wall Street firms and other mortgage market participants. He brings over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, including leadership positions with Shearson Lehman Mortgage, GE Capital Mortgage Corp., and PricewaterhouseCoopers. ComplianceEase can be found on the Web at http://www.complianceease.com.

HouseRaising Inc., a Charlotte, N.C.-based managed service provider to the custom homebuilding industry, has reported the death of its president and founder, Robert V. McLemore.Mr. McLemore died Nov. 23 at the age of 63, the company said. The cause of death was not disclosed. The company said Mr. McLemore founded HouseRaising in 1999 and invented a patent-pending custom homebuilding process that he developed into System C, a proprietary software system. Greg Wessling, the company's chairman and chief executive officer, said Mr. McLemore was "a remarkable human being, who built a strong company and a strong management team." HouseRaising can be found online at http://www.houseraising.com.

Following a national search, Doris W. Koo has been named president and chief executive officer of Enterprise Community Partners, a provider of development capital and expertise for affordable housing based in Columbia, Md.Ms. Koo, who is now an executive vice president, will succeed Bart Harvey as president and CEO on Jan. 1, at which time Mr. Harvey will assume the full-time role of chairman of the board of Enterprise Community Partners, Enterprise Community Investment, and Enterprise Community Loan Fund. The company said Ms. Koo has 30 years' experience in affordable housing and community development. Before joining Enterprise in 2001, she was deputy executive director of the Seattle Housing Authority. The company can be found online at http://www.enterprisecommunity.org.

Kenneth C. Foster has been named executive vice president of structured transactions and business development at Triad Guaranty Inc., Winston-Salem, N.C.Mr. Foster was most recently senior vice president of product and business development and general manager of structured transactions at Triad. He previously held two other SVP posts at Triad, and was a principal of Applied Mortgage Solutions from 1994 to 2001, Triad said. The company can be found online at http://www.triadguaranty.com.

Republic Property Trust, Washington, has announced that Steven A. Grigg has terminated his employment as president and chief development officer, but will continue as vice chairman of the real estate investment trust.Republic reported that Mr. Grigg "alleges that his employment has been terminated for 'good reason' and has asserted certain claims under his employment agreement. The company believes these assertions are without merit. Prior to Mr. Grigg's termination of employment, the company had been pursuing discussions with Mr. Grigg regarding a negotiated termination of his employment and his employment agreement at the direction of the company's board of directors." Mark R. Keller, Republic's chief executive officer, has temporarily assumed Mr. Grigg's responsibilities, the company said.

Chris McCullough has been named managing director of specialty lending at Countrywide, America's Wholesale Lender, a Plano, Texas-based division of Countrywide Home Loans Inc.Mr. McCullough will oversee the day-to-day operations of Countrywide's wholesale nonprime lending initiatives. Before joining Countrywide, he served as executive vice president of production for WMC Direct within General Electric Consumer Finance, spearheading the company's growth in the nonprime mortgage market, Countrywide said. The Countrywide wholesale unit can be found online at http://www.cwbc.com.

Home Loan Center, Irvine, Calif., the mortgage arm of LendingTree LLC, has dismissed its head of production, and another executive, MortgageWire has learned.A source familiar with the situation confirmed that production chief Sean Wilson has left the firm along with Peter McDonald, who was described by the source as being "just shy of executive level." A spokeswoman for LendingTree declined to comment on the situation. LendingTree, an online exchange that boasts it can get the best loan rate for consumers, bought Home Loan Center, a mortgage banker, in September 2004. Last month, a class action lawsuit was filed against both LendingTree and HLC alleging that there is no competition at LendingTree, and that the company uses the website to generate leads for HLC. LendingTree argues that the suit is without merit and has vowed to fight it vigorously. The two companies are owned by the publicly traded IAC/Interactive, New York, whose chief executive officer is media titan Barry Diller.

Balboa Insurance Group, a provider of lender-placed hazard insurance, has hired three industry veterans to help support and expand its collateral protection and insurance businesses.Balboa named Mark DeLoach executive vice president for financial institution products. Prior to joining Balboa, Mr. DeLoach spent 12 years at JP Morgan Chase & Co. in positions including head of product management and head of product development for Chase Insurance Group. He previously spent 16 years with Assurant. Gary Flowers, who brings 15 years of experience at ACS, has been named executive vice president for sales and marketing. And David Lipps, previously a senior vice president at Aegon Direct Marketing Services, has been named senior vice president for sales and product development. In addition to lender-placed hazard and auto insurance, Balboa offers collateral protection, life, credit & debt, warranty, and specialty insurance products to financial institutions. The company can be found online at http://www.balboainsurance.com.

Four industry leaders, including a former federal housing commissioner and a Freddie Mac executive, have been named to the advisory board of Pembrook Capital Management, a New York-based real estate investment management company recently founded by Stuart J. Boesky.The newly appointed board members are: Nicolas P. Retsinas, a former federal housing commissioner and former director of the Office of Thrift Supervision who is now director of Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies; Adrian B. Corbiere, a senior vice president of Freddie Mac; Lewis A. "Lee" Sachs, a partner of Mariner Investment Group; and Denise L. Kiley, a former managing trustee and former chief credit officer of CharterMac, where Mr. Boesky was formerly chief executive officer. Pembrook provides capital to developers and owners of commercial real estate through the acquisition or origination of real estate debt and preferred equity. It can be found online at http://www.pembrookgroup.com.