Career moves

RBC Capital Markets has announced the launching of its Real Estate Mortgage Capital business in the United States and the appointment of 20-year industry veteran Dan Smith to head the group.The new division will focus initially on providing commercial mortgage-backed securities loans, and plans to offer other commercial products, such as collateralized debt obligation loans, as the business develops, the company said. Mr. Smith was most recently at GE Real Estate, where he ran that company's North American real estate financing programs for 10 years. RBC Capital's CMBS platform in Canada closed $655 million of securitization volume last year, accounting for 20% of the Canadian CMBS market, the company said. In related news, RBC Capital Markets announced the appointment of Dan LePage as head of U.S. Real Estate Corporate Banking and the hiring of Kevin Stahl and Bryan Maher to its Real Estate Investment Banking Group.

Sheryl Heffernan has been named senior vice president of the West region of American Brokers Conduit, the wholesale division of American Home Mortgage Investment Corp., a mortgage real estate investment trust.Ms. Heffernan joins ABC with more than 20 years of experience in mortgage production and operations, the company said. She was most recently executive vice president of Guaranty Bank's National Wholesale, Correspondent and Consumer Direct Division. ABC said its West region includes several branches in California as well as one in Reno, Nev. The company can be found online at http://www.abconduit.com.

Kathy Reese has been named president and county manager of Cuesta Title, San Luis Obispo, Calif., an affiliate of Stewart Title Co.Ms. Reese has more than 30 years of experience in the title and escrow industry, Cuesta said. She was most recently a vice president at the company, and spent 15 years in the human resources department of Ticor Title/Chicago Title. Stewart Title is a wholly owned subsidiary of Houston-based Stewart Information Services Corp., which can be found online at http://www.stewart.com.

Jim Brady has been named senior vice president of national title operations at Lenders First Choice, a provider of settlement services and title insurance headquartered in Simi Valley, Calif.The company said Mr. Brady was most recently a division manager for Commerce Title Co., a division of Centex, and previously held executive positions with The Associates/CitiGroup, First American, and LandSafe. Lenders First Choice can be found on the Web at http://www.lendersfirstchoice.com.

The CSI Cos., a Jacksonville, Fla.-based staffing firm, recently announced the addition of mortgage industry veteran Deane W. Hall to its board of directors.Mr. Hall has more than 30 years of experience in the mortgage industry, including senior management positions with Fannie Mae, CSI said. He retired from JP Morgan Chase in April 2006 after 17 years of management responsibility with its mortgage subsidiary, Chase Home Finance, including service as an executive vice president and a member of the board. CSI said it works with a wide range of companies nationwide and has been "particularly successful" in working with the mortgage/banking industry in the Southeast. It can be found online at http://www.thecsicompanies.com.

Steve Bredeson has been named director of home equity lending at Greystone Residential Funding Inc., a mortgage banking company based in Middleton, Wis.Mr. Bredeson has more than 25 years of experience as a banking executive in Chicago and elsewhere in the Midwest, Greystone said. He was most recently the manager of Banco Popular's Broker Home Equity Program. Greystone can be found on the Web at http://www.greystonerf.com.

Bruce Legan has been named senior managing director of consulting services at Clayton Holdings, a Shelton, Conn.-based provider of information-based analytics, consulting, and outsourced services for lenders, servicers, and other financial firms.For the past four years, Mr. Legan led Ernst & Young's residential mortgage advisory practice as senior manager of its Structured Finance Advisory Services Group. Before joining E&Y, he was a managing director at MBIA Insurance Corp. and he worked for GMAC Mortgage, setting up its third-party residential mortgage special servicing division, Clayton said. Mr. Legan also worked at GMAC/Residential Funding Corp., where he managed the sales and purchases of mortgage loans in the secondary market. Clayton can be found online at http://www.clayton.com.

David Frase has been named executive vice president of mortgage warehousing at Southwest Securities FSB, a bank based in Arlington, Texas.Mr. Frase was most recently with Texas Capital Bank, where he established a national warehousing program, Southwest Securities said. He was previously a senior vice president of mortgage services at Providence Bank. Southwest Securities is a subsidiary of SWS Group Inc., which can be found online at http://www.swsgroupinc.com.

American Financial Realty Trust, Jenkintown, Pa., has named Harold W. Pote, a member of the company's board of trustees, the new president and chief executive officer, effective immediately.Mr. Pote replaces Nicholas S. Schorsch, who has resigned as CEO, president and vice chairman of the board by mutual agreement with the board of trustees. In conjunction with his appointment, Mr. Pote outlined several broad initiatives that came out of the strategic review to reposition the company including: accelerating asset sales as AFR will aggressively market and dispose of non-core assets and selected other assets that are not central to its customer relationships, but offer an opportunity to unlock shareholder value. The company estimates that this could result in gross sale proceeds of between $1.5 and $2 billion. Also, AFR will look to rationalize liabilities and use net proceeds from these sales to fund future accretive asset acquisitions and implementation of the previously approved $100 million stock repurchase program. In addition the company will match dividend payout to operating cash flow, reduce MG&A and improve reporting transparency.

Tom Wind, the CEO of Chase Home Finance, Iselin, N.J., has left the company to take a position with Lehman Brothers, industry sources confirmed to MortgageWire.A source close to the situation told MW that Chase sent out an internal memo on Mr. Wind's departure, but has yet to announce the change publicly. "He's a good guy and we'll miss him," said the source. He left the lender/servicer about a week ago. Chase Home Finance, an affiliate of J.P. Morgan Chase, has yet to name a successor. CHF is the nation's fourth largest residential funder, according to the Quarterly Data Report.

Treasury Under Secretary Randal Quarles, the Bush administration's point man on GSE reform, has served notice that he plans to return to the private sector after Congress adjourns for the year.The under secretary for domestic finance has served in the administration for five years. He is working on a debt-approval process that would allow the Treasury to limit the debt issuance of the three big housing government-sponsored enterprises -- Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks. "I was disappointed to learn when I arrived [in early July] that Randy had long planned to return to the private sector," Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said. "But I am fortunate that he has agreed to be very active in helping me formulate my policy agenda, and over the long term I will continue to rely on his advice and consent." Before joining the Bush administration, Mr. Quarles was co-head of the financial institutions group at the law firm of Davis, Polk & Wardwell.

David Spector has been named managing director and head of the Pan-European residential mortgage business in Morgan Stanley's Securitized Products Group.Mr. Spector joins Morgan Stanley after 16 years at Countrywide Financial Corp., where he was most recently senior managing director of capital markets. He will be based in London and will be responsible for expanding Morgan Stanley's residential mortgage business in Europe, the company said.

Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, a housing subcommittee chairman who has been tainted by the congressional lobbying scandal, has dropped his re-election bid for a seventh term and plans to step down in January."After much consideration and thought, I have decided to no longer seek re-election," Rep. Ney said. His ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe congressmen, have dogged Rep. Ney for the past year. It is understood that federal prosecutors are considering bringing possible charges against the Ohio congressman. "Congressman Ney's decision is a political and practical one and not a legal one," his attorney said. "Congressman Ney has done nothing wrong, and there is no credible basis to charge him with a violation of law." Rep. Ney chairs the housing subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee.

Former Mortgage Bankers Association staffer Timothy Doyle has moved to the Conference of State Bank Supervision to work on a new registry and licensing system for mortgage companies, loan officers, and mortgage brokers."Tim's experience with the mortgage industry and his background in government will yield great benefits as CSBS develops its national licensing system for mortgage lenders and regulated financial services professionals," said Neil Milner, president and chief executive officer of the CSBS. Before joining the MBA as a senior director in 2002, Mr. Doyle worked at the Agriculture Department's rural development program and the Federal Housing Administration. The CSBS wants the new licensing database to be up and running in early 2008.

Stephen Blumenthal, who ran the special examinations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, says he intends to resign and return to the private sector this fall."The confirmation of Jim Lockhart as OFHEO's director makes it possible for me to leave knowing that the agency is well led and will continue to accomplish its important mission," said Mr. Blumenthal, OFHEO's deputy director. As deputy director and acting director, he headed the special examination of Fannie that discovered fraudulent accounting, earnings manipulation, and corruption at the government-sponsored enterprise. He also conducted a special examination of Freddie Mac after an internal investigation by the GSE's board of directors uncovered an accounting scandal. Former OFHEO Director Armando Falcon hired Mr. Blumenthal from Schwab Capital Markets in 2002 to be his counsel. After Mr. Falcon stepped down in May 2005, he served as acting director until Mr. Lockhart was appointed in April.

Peter Williams, deputy director general of the Council of Mortgage Lenders, has decided to leave to become an independent consultant after a dozen years of service at the United Kingdom trade group.Mr. Williams plans to leave his current post on Sept. 30 but continue to work with the council in his new capacity. The council said it has no plans to recruit a new deputy director general. Mr. Williams originally joined the council in 1994 when the CML and the Building Securities Association shared a single secretariat and become the deputy director general when the two groups separated in 1997.

MGIC has hired Eric Klopfer as vice president of international strategic initiatives and regulatory affairs.Mr. Klopfer was previously vice president of strategic development and regulatory affairs for AIG United Guaranty in London. MGIC can be found on the Web at http://www.mgic.com.

Fannie Mae has appointed Phillip Weber to head up its multifamily lending area, taking over from Richard Lawch, MortgageWire has learned.Mr. Lawch has taken on a new role related to the government-sponsored enterprise's community investment activities, according to a source at Fannie Mae. Another source reported that Mr. Weber told a recent Fannie Mae DUS conference that he will focus on "process improvements and new products," with the aim of having more of a customer focus. Mr. Weber, who is now senior vice president for multifamily lending, was most recently chief of staff for Dan Mudd, Fannie Mae's president and chief executive officer.

The Senate has confirmed Geoffrey Bacino, a former credit union regulator and lobbyist, to be a director on the Federal Housing Finance Board, which oversees the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks.Mr. Bacino was an executive with Centrix Financial, which provides funding for subprime auto loans through credit unions, when he was nominated by President Bush to replace FHFB Director Franz Leichter, whose term has expired. He served one year on the board of the National Credit Union Administration in 2000. More than 1,000 credit unions are members of the FHLBank System.

Danica Patrick, who serves as a spokeswoman and trade show booth attraction for Argent Mortgage, will be switching from Rahal Letterman Racing to Andretti Green Racing for the 2007 Indy Racing League season, raising questions about her continued association with Argent.Argent had sponsored her car when she raced in the lower levels of open-wheel racing for Rahal Letterman. Besides sponsoring Ms. Patrick's car, Argent sponsors the car of her teammate, Buddy Rice, a former winner of the Indianapolis 500. A news release from Andretti Green did not mention the sponsorship situation. Published reports had Bobby Rahal, one of the owners of Rahal Letterman (the other being television personality David Letterman), saying the Argent sponsorship was the team's and not Ms. Patrick's. Argent had not replied to a request for comment by MortgageWire's deadline. At the end of June, Argent said it would use Ms. Patrick in the marketing of its new alternative-A product line.