Career moves

Senior vice presidents from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been named to the board of directors of Chicago-based National Equity Fund Inc., a national syndicator of low-income housing tax credits.Michael C. May, a senior vice president in Freddie Mac's Multifamily Sourcing Division, has been with the government-sponsored enterprise since 1983. He has held SVP positions in operations; mortgage sourcing, operations, and funding; and multifamily operations. Carolyn B. Groobey is a senior vice president of corporate strategy at Fannie Mae. She was previously with McKinsey & Co. for 13 years. National Equity Fund can be found on the Web at http://www.nefinc.org.

Ditech.com chief Michael McCarthy has stepped down from his post at the company, MortgageWire has learned.A spokeswoman for Residential Capital Corp., the parent of ditech.com, confirmed his departure as senior vice president and general manager, but noted that Mr. McCarthy "is exploring other opportunities" within the ResCap/GMAC family of companies. Mr. McCarthy will be replaced by Richard D. Powers, who will start as senior vice president and general manager in August. Ditech.com is an online retail lender that specializes in refinancings and home equity loans. An affiliate of GMAC Mortgage of Horsham, Pa., the Costa Mesa, Calif.-based ditech.com advertises heavily on cable television.

Michael J. Krull has been named managing director and head of commercial mortgage-backed securities at Hypo Real Estate Capital Corp., the New York-based subsidiary of Hypo Real Estate Bank International AG, Stuttgart, Germany.Before joining Hypo Real Estate, Mr. Krull was managing director of capital markets at GE Real Estate in New York, where he led a group of 20 professionals, Hypo Real Estate said. He was previously involved in the design and implementation of GE Real Estate's commercial mortgage conduit program. From 1992 to 1997, Mr. Krull worked at Prudential Securities Inc., where he co-founded the CMBS operation.

Carlos Evans has been named head of wholesale banking at Wachovia Corp., Charlotte, N.C., for various business segments, including real estate financial services.Mr. Evans assumes responsibility for Wachovia's Wholesale Bank after five years as head of the company's commercial banking segment and more than 30 years of experience in wholesale banking, Wachovia said. In addition to real estate financial services, he will lead Wachovia's commercial, business, and community banking segments and its dealer business. The company can be found online at http://www.wachovia.com.

Stacy M. Riffe, chief financial officer of Sunset Financial Resources Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., has been named interim chief executive officer of the real estate investment trust.Ms. Riffe replaces George Deehan, who has decided to leave the company to "pursue other interests," Sunset said. Rodney Bennett, Sunset's chairman, said Ms. Riffe has been "the driving force" in the company since its announcement of a merger with Alesco Financial. The REIT has been operating under a management agreement with Cohen Brothers since the announcement.

John Ockerbloom has been named a managing director in the Real Estate Investment Banking Group of Wachovia Securities, Charlotte, N.C.Mr. Ockerbloom joins Wachovia from Banc of America Securities LLC, where he was a managing director in the real estate investment banking practice of the Global Investment Banking Group. He previously served in the BoA Securities Corporate Real Estate Advisory Group and its commercial mortgage-backed securities division, Wachovia said. Wachovia can be found on the Web at http://www.wachovia.com.

Jerami A. Marshal has been named president of Summit Mortgage LLC, a privately held mortgage banking firm based in Boston.Mr. Marshall, who was previously Summit's chief operating officer, replaces Richard S. Fedele, who will continue as the company's chief executive officer, Summit said. Mr. Marshall said Summit plans to develop an alternative-lending program that assists borrowers with impaired credit.

Timothy Sandos, a former emerging-markets executive at CitiMortgage, has been named president and chief executive officer of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals.Mr. Sandos, who served a two-year term on NAHREP's national board, was most recently executive vice president of emerging markets at St. Louis-based CitiMortgage, which acquired his previous employer, Principal Residential Mortgage. He was previously state vice president and chief operating officer at Qwest Communications. NAHREP can be found online at http://www.nahrep.org.

Moody's Investors Service has named Nicholas Levidy and Paolo Obias managing directors in its commercial mortgage-backed securities group.Mr. Levidy joined Moody's in 1998 as a vice president/senior analyst. Before joining the credit rating agency, Mr. Levidy was a senior counsel for real estate and corporate finance with PNC Bank, according to Moody's. He will continue to report to Tad Philipp, co-head of Moody's U.S. CMBS group. Mr. Obias joined Moody's in 1997. From 1999-2001, he worked in the rating agency's Tokyo office. Prior to joining Moody's, Mr. Obias held professional positions at two Indonesian real estate firms, Moody's said. He will continue to report to Jim Duca, co-head of Moody's U.S. CMBS group. The rating agency can be found online at http://www.moodys.com.

Michael D. Calhoun, a principal author of the 1999 North Carolina anti-predatory-lending law, has been named president of the Center for Responsible Lending, Durham, N.C.Mr. Calhoun, formerly CRL's general counsel, has been its lead lobbyist in Washington and state capitals for years, the organization said. Before his work at CRL, he managed the secondary-market program and real estate development team at the Center for Community Self-Help, an affiliate of CRL. CRL can be found on the Web at http://www.responsiblelending.org.

John M. Draghi has been promoted to the position of chief operating officer of C-BASS, a New York-based company that acquires, services, and securitizes, credit-sensitive residential mortgages.In addition, C-BASS named Marc Rosenthal and Noelle Savarese co-heads of capital markets, and Mr. Rosenthal was also named chief investment officer. Mr. Draghi has served as the company's chief investment officer since 1996, and he was previously responsible for all the firm's investment activities as head of capital markets, C-BASS reported. Mr. Rosenthal and Ms. Savarese have been managing directors in the capital markets area, Mr. Rosenthal since 2004 and Ms. Savarese since 2000. C-BASS is an affiliate of MGIC Investment Corp. and Radian Group Inc.

Joseph Hoesley has been elected vice chairman and head of commercial real estate by the board of directors of U.S. Bancorp, Minneapolis.Mr. Hoesley, 51, has led commercial real estate at U.S. Bank since joining the company in 1992. The commercial real estate division now consists of 30 regional offices and employs more than 300 people, the bank said. The CRE division's real estate portfolio totals $24 billion. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.usbank.com.

Powell Goldstein LLP, an Atlanta-based law firm, has announced the acquisition of a 13-member capital markets group from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP that will enhance its depth, especially in the area of commercial mortgage-backed securities.Powell Goldstein said the new team -- two partners, eight other attorneys, and three paralegals -- will join its offices in Atlanta and Washington and anchor the opening of a new office in Dallas. Heading that office will be Robin R. Green, who was a partner at Akin Gump in that firm's real estate and finance practice in Dallas. James J. McAlpin Jr., chairman of Powell Goldstein, said the acquisition and expansion "gives us an entree into a new geographic market, one that we have been looking at for some time." The firm said Ms. Green's practice focuses primarily on real estate finance and CMBS, as does that of the other new partner, Keith A. Dunsmore, who worked at Powell Goldstein from 1984 to 1999. The firm can be found online at http://www.pogolaw.com.

Steve O'Connor has been promoted to senior vice president of public policy at the Mortgage Bankers Association.Mr. O'Connor was most recently vice president for industry relations and policy development. The MBA said he will continue to manage the development of the association's residential policy positions, with the additional task of managing outreach efforts to MBA members and industry stakeholders "to align MBA's policy and advocacy efforts with their key business needs and industry trends." Before joining the MBA in 1996, Mr. O'Connor held positions in government affairs with the National Association of Realtors and Freddie Mac. The MBA can be found online at http://www.mortgagebankers.org.

Joe Anderson, senior managing director in charge of Countrywide's consumer markets division, has left the company.A Countrywide spokesman confirmed to MortgageWire that Mr. Anderson parted ways with the Calabasas, Calif.-based mortgage giant, the nation's largest overall home funder and second-largest retailer. (Mr. Anderson oversaw the company's retail effort.) The spokesman said he left Countrywide this spring and was replaced by Brian Hale, who was the No. 2 executive in consumer markets.

Mark Lammas has been promoted to the newly created position of executive vice president of development at Maguire Properties Inc., a Los Angeles-based real estate investment trust.Mr. Lammas was most recently the REIT's senior vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary. He will continue to provide legal and corporate governance support until a replacement general counsel and secretary is identified, the company said. Maguire can be found on the Web at http://www.maguireproperties.com.

Fannie Mae has disclosed that its executive vice president and chief information officer, Julie St. John -- who is playing a key role in its restructuring -- will leave the GSE at year-end.In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Fannie said Ms. St. John had wanted to leave sooner but agreed to defer her departure date. Fannie says Ms. St. John has been taking a "lead role" in the company's restructuring of its enterprise systems and operations division. A 16-year veteran of Fannie Mae, she has been with the government-sponsored enterprise for 16 years and is entitled to $794,463 in severance, and options to purchase 34,429 shares of stock. The GSE is working its way through a massive accounting scandal that will force it to restate prior earnings downward by about $10.6 billion. Fannie Mae can be found on the Web at http://www.fanniemae.com.

American Home Mortgage, Melville, N.Y., has hired six high-level account executives away from Washington Mutual, Seattle, for its fast-growing correspondent division.A spokesman for American Home said the six were heavily courted by the nation's top mortgage banking firms but went with American Home because of its growth prospects. A few months back, National Mortgage News broke the story that WaMu was closing its traditional correspondent channel. The spokesman said he did not know for certain whether the six were slated to lose their jobs at WaMu but that he assumed as much. The new account executives and their respective regional offices include: Steven Campbell (Columbia, S.C.); Molly Gross (Grosse Pointe, Mich.); Mary Niederhaus (Sacramento, Calif.); Mary O’Connell (Nashville, Tenn.); Ed Robinson (Philadelphia); and J. Gordon Terry (Jacksonville, Fla.). American Home's correspondent division was launched a year ago and racked up $1 billion in production after seven months. The six joined American Home on July 3, bringing their AE total to 16. American Home can be found online at http://www.americanhm.com.

Bank Mutual Corp., Milwaukee, has hired Thomas H. Koepp as director of investment real estate lending for its Bank Mutual subsidiary bank.Mr. Koepp will have overall responsibility for the origination of "investment real estate mortgage loans" and for the development and implementation of investment real estate mortgage lending objectives, policies, and practices, Bank Mutual said. "Tom has a proven track record and will have a major impact on achieving our strategic goals in the important investment real estate lending line of business," said Michael T. Crowley Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of Bank Mutual Corp. Mr. Koepp has over 25 years of experience in investment real estate lending, according to Bank Mutual, and joins the bank from the Milwaukee-based St. Francis Bank division of MAF Bancorp, where he was most recently a vice president in the commercial real estate finance area.

Irwin Financial Corp., Columbus, Ind., the holding company for Irwin Union Bank and Trust Co., has announced the appointment of Jocelyn Martin-Leano as president of Irwin Home Equity Corp., a subsidiary of the bank.Ms. Martin-Leano, 45, has been employed by Irwin Home Equity since shortly after its founding in 1996 and has held leadership positions in both servicing and operations, Irwin Financial said. She was promoted to executive vice president of operations in 2005 and was named interim president later that year upon the retirement of Irwin Home Equity's president, Elena Delgado, the company said. Ms. Martin-Leano was previously employed in the mortgage divisions of ITT Residential Capital Corp., Bank of America, and Citibank. Irwin Home Equity can be found online at http://www.ihe.com.