Career moves

Victor L. Pepe has been named executive vice president and chief information officer of EMC Mortgage Corp., a Lewisville, Texas-based company specializing in the acquisition, servicing, and disposition of residential mortgage loans.Mr. Pepe has held CIO and chief technology officer positions for the past nine years, most recently with Lehman Brothers, where he was CIO and executive vice president of Aurora Loan Services, a Lehman Brothers subsidiary. He was previously CIO and EVP of SIB Mortgage Corp. EMC, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Bear Stearns Cos., can be found on the Web at http://www.emcmortgage.com.

Patricia "Trish" Kauker has been named vice president of WSFS Financial Corp.'s newly created reverse mortgage business unit.The Wilmington, Del.-based company said Ms. Kauker was most recently head of AIG Bank's reverse mortgage initiative. She was previously employed by Beneficial National Bank, Norwest Mortgage, and Financial Freedom. WSFS said it has been involved in the reverse mortgage business since the early 1990s. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.wsfsbank.com.

C.D. Davies, president of Wachovia Mortgage, Charlotte, N.C., has resigned from the company, effective Oct. 31, MortgageWire has learned.Mr. Davies had been with the bank-owned lender for 18 years. As part of a reorganization, the bank named Jim Judd head of its retail mortgage and credit group. Mr. Judd joined Wachovia from World Savings/Golden West Financial of Oakland, a thrift the bank recently purchased. Mr. Judd was president and chief operating officer of World Savings, a subsidiary of Golden West. Three senior officials at Wachovia Mortgage -- David Pope, Tim Wilson, and Rich Fikani -- will report directly to Mr. Judd. Messrs. Fikani and Wilson, like Mr. Judd, came from Golden West. Wachovia can be found online at http://www.wachovia.com.

Michael I. Wirth, chief financial officer of New York Mortgage Trust Inc., will resign Nov. 3 and be replaced on an interim basis by Steven R. Mumma, the company's chief investment officer and chief operating officer.Mr. Wirth, 48, is resigning "to pursue another opportunity," the company said. Mr. Mumma, 47, has been the company's COO since November 2003 and its chief investment officer since July 2005. He was previously vice president of Natexis ABM Corp. and vice president of mortgage-backed securities trading at Credit Agricole. NYMT, a real estate investment trust, can be found online at http://www.nymtrust.com.

Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp., a privately held wholesale mortgage lender based in Ocala, Fla., has announced the formation of a nationwide correspondent lending group.Doug Miller, who formerly served as manager of correspondent programs at Washington Mutual, Citicorp, and HSBC, has been named executive vice president of the new division. TB&W can be found on the Web at http://www.taylorbean.com.

Taj S. Bindra has been named executive vice president and chief financial officer of New Century Financial Corp., a real estate investment trust and mortgage finance company based in Irvine, Calif.Mr. Bindra will assume the EVP post on Nov. 6 and the CFO position on Nov. 15, New Century said. He will replace Patti M. Dodge, who is scheduled to take over as executive vice president of investor relations on Nov. 15. Mr. Bindra was most recently executive vice president of mortgage banking, capital markets, and servicing operations at Washington Mutual Inc. New Century can be found online at http://www.ncen.com.

Sean Burton has been named chief operating officer of CityView, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based discretionary housing investor headed by former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.Mr. Burton was most recently managing director at CityView, and he will continue to serve on the company's governance and investment committees, CityView said. Mr. Cisneros, who was secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development during former President Bill Clinton's first term, is chairman of CityView. The company said it helps create housing for working families by offering a flexible source of combined debt and equity and providing homebuilder partners a one-stop resource for land acquisition, entitlement support, governmental assistance, marketing, community outreach, and project insurance. CityView can be found online at http://www.city-view.net.

Bob Lewis has been named president of the Fifth Third Mortgage Co., Cincinnati.Mr. Lewis joined Fifth Third in 2005 as senior vice president and director of the residential mortgage wholesale channel. Before that, Mr. Lewis was wholesale national sales manager in the institutional lending division of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. He previously managed Wells Fargo's correspondent banking business. Fifth Third Mortgage is a subsidiary of Fifth Third Bank, which can be found on the Web at https://www.53.com.

Tim G. Henley and David Shaffer have been named regional lender representatives at Stewart Lender Services, Houston.Mr. Henley will be responsible for lender assistance and sales in the Midwest, and Mr. Shaffer will cover the Mountain states and the Pacific Northwest, the company said. Mr. Henley most recently served as area sales manager for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. Mr. Shaffer was most recently in charge of sales of collateral valuation products and analytics for First American Real Estate Solutions. Stewart Lender Services can be found online at http://www.stewartlenderservices.com.

Robert Steel, the new Treasury under secretary in charge of policies and legislation on government-sponsored enterprises, has pledged to work with all key participants to get results."The reality is that success on these difficult issues will be characterized by collaboration and compromise," Mr. Steel said during a formal swearing-in ceremony. The new under secretary for domestic finance's first challenge will be to forge a compromise on long-stalled GSE legislation that strengthens the regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson called Mr. Steel the "ultimate team player" who is "always willing to subjugate his own ego to get something done." The two men were colleagues at Goldman Sachs. Mr. Steel was vice chair when he left the Wall Street firm in 2004, and Mr. Paulson was chairman.

James Pereda has been named president of Bryco Realty, the real estate subsidiary of Bryco Funding Inc., a San Francisco-based mortgage lender.Mr. Pereda has been with Bryco for two years, and was its No. 1 loan officer last year, the company said. Bryco Funding "caters to all borrowers, across the entire spectrum of credit grades," the company said. It can be found online at http://www.brycofunding.com.

Theodore L. Chandler Jr. has been promoted from president and chief executive officer to chairman and CEO of LandAmerica Financial Group Inc., Richmond, Va., effective Jan. 1.The current chairman, Charles H. Foster Jr., will continue to serve on the board and will assume the honorary title of chairman emeritus. Mr. Foster said the roles of chairman and CEO were separated two years ago "because it made sense for our leadership transition. Today, we believe combining those roles recognizes the confidence the board has in Ted's leadership and his governance...." LandAmerica also announced the appointment of Eugene P. Trani, president of Virginia Commonwealth University, to the newly created position of lead director, effective Jan. 1. LandAmerica can be found on the Web at http://www.landam.com.

The Mortgage Bankers Association has announced the leadership of its 2007 Commercial Real Estate/Multifamily Finance Board of Governors, which focuses on commercial/multifamily real estate finance policy issues and initiatives.The COMBOG officers are: Edward Padilla, chief executive officer of Minnesota-based NorthMarq Capital Inc., chair; Daryl J. Carter, CEO of CharterMac Mortgage Capital, vice chair; and Steven K. Graves, chief operating officer of Principal Real Estate Investors, vice chair. The MBA also announced the addition of four new members to the 30-member board: E.J. Burke, executive vice president and group head of KeyBank Real Estate Capital; Jan S. Sternin, senior vice president of Midland Loan Services Inc./PNC Real Estate Finance; Mark Talgo, senior managing director of New York Life Investment Management LLC; and Eric Von Berg, principal of Newmark Realty Capital Inc. The announcement was made at the 93rd Annual Mortgage Banking Association Convention & Expo in Chicago. The MBA can be found online at http://www.mortgagebankers.org.

The Mortgage Bankers Association has announced the election of Robert E. Story Jr., president of Seattle Financial Group, as chairman of its Residential Board of Governors and Robert H. Griffith, senior vice president at Bank of America, Charlotte, N.C., as vice chairman.The MBA also named 22 newly elected members of RESBOG, the 60-member governing body for the MBA's residential/single-family members, 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 93rd Annual Convention & Expo in Chicago.

Ralph P. Melbourne has been named senior vice president of the Consumer Direct Division of Home123 Corp., a retail lending subsidiary of New Century Financial Corp., a real estate investment trust based in Irvine, Calif.Mr. Melbourne has nearly 25 years of experience in the mortgage industry, most recently as director of strategic initiatives for Washington Mutual Inc. He was previously director of retail lending at WaMu, and spent 13 years at Citibank in various senior management roles, New Century said. The company can be found online at http://www.ncen.com.

Michael Edwards, group executive vice president and treasurer of Citizens Bank of Rhode Island and Citizens Financial Group Inc., has been elected to the board of directors of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston.Mr. Edwards was elected to a three-year directorship that had been redesignated by the Federal Housing Finance Board from Connecticut to Rhode Island effective Jan. 1, 2007. The Finance Board redesignated one of the two Connecticut seats, creating a second Rhode Island seat, in response to an increase in proportionate shareholdings of the bank's Rhode Island members, the FHLBank said. The bank can be found on the Web at http://www.fhlbboston.com.

David Lowman has been named chief executive officer of the Global Mortgage business of JPMorgan Chase & Co. and a member of the Executive Committee.Mr. Lowman, a 25-year veteran of the lending and mortgage industries, has been president and CEO of CitiFinancial International since 2004. Chase said Mr. Lowman will work with other executives to develop an international consumer finance strategy. The company can be found online at http://www.chase.com.

Angelo R. Mozilo, chairman and chief executive officer of Countrywide Financial Corp., has agreed to continue as chairman and CEO through the end of 2009, the company has announced.The terms of the new contract were not disclosed. Stanford L. Kurland, who was once considered a possible heir to Mr. Mozilo as CEO, resigned from the company recently as president and chief operating officer and was replaced by David Sambol, a 21-year veteran of Countrywide. Mr. Mozilo had indicated that he planned to stay on as chairman, but it was unclear whether he would remain as CEO beyond the end of this year. The company can be found online at http://www.countrywide.com.

Michael A. DeVico, executive vice president and chief information officer of Salt Lake City-based Zions Bancorporation, has been elected to the board of directors of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle.Mr. DeVico will serve a three-year term, as will two other directors who were re-elected to the board. They are Craig Dahl, president and chief executive officer of Alaska Pacific Bank in Juneau, Alaska, and Russell J. Lau, vice chairman and chief executive of Finance Factors Ltd., Honolulu. The Seattle FHLBank can be found on the Web at http://www.fhlbsea.com.

Regina Lowrie, outgoing chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association, has joined The Prieston Group, a Novato, Calif.-based provider of mortgage fraud insurance, as a principal.Ms. Lowrie, a 29-year veteran of the mortgage banking industry, is currently president and chief executive officer of RML Investments Inc., a consulting firm. She was previously the founder and president of Gateway Funding Diversified Mortgage Co., Horsham, Pa. "I believe mortgage fraud against lenders is one of the most troubling issues facing our industry today and that TPG's promotion of industrywide best practices is a key component in addressing this problem," Ms. Lowrie said. TPG, which also provides fraud-related training and loss mitigation, can be found on the Web at http://www.priestongroup.com.