Career moves

Stephen M. Bessette has been named executive vice president of consumer lending (including mortgages) at the Washington Trust Co., Westerly, R.I.Mr. Bessette joined the company in 1997. He was previously president of New England Pacific Mortgage Co., Warwick, R.I., and president of Old Stone Mortgage Co., Seattle. Washington Trust can be found on the Web at http://www.washtrust.com.

AMCO, a Cleveland-based valuation management company, has announced the addition of Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., former chairman of the Republican Party, to its advisory board.Mr. Fahrenkopf said he believes in "market-driven solutions" to problems related to noncompliant and inaccurate valuations in the mortgage industry. "AMCO's total independence, single-focused approach to the valuation industry, and unique proprietary solutions are exactly what the mortgage lending industry needs, before government is forced to enact more onerous regulation," he said. Mr. Fahrenkopf joins a board already consisting of two former secretaries of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Andrew M. Cuomo and Jack F. Kemp, and William C. Apgar, a former commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration who is now senior scholar at Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies.

J. Gregory Harrington has been named president of First American International Services Group, a new division of The First American Corp., Santa Ana, Calif., that will provide offshore services to the mortgage industry.Mr. Harrington was most recently senior vice president of strategic product development at the parent company. He was previously employed for 13 years at J.P. Morgan Chase, rising to the position of senior vice president of mortgage operations, First American said. First American can be found on the Web at http://www.firstam.com.

R&G Financial Corp., San Juan, Puerto Rico, has announced the resignation of Ramon Prats as vice chairman and president, and as president of subsidiaries R-G Mortgage Corp. and R-G Premier Bank, in connection with an investigation by the company's audit committee.The probe relates to R&G Financial's need to restate its consolidated financial statements for 2002, 2003, and 2004. Mr. Prats will continue as an employee to facilitate the handover of his management responsibilities, the parent company said. Steven Velez, executive vice president of R-G Mortgage, has been named to replace Mr. Prats as president of R-G Mortgage, and Victor Galan Jr. has been promoted from senior vice president to EVP to replace Mr. Velez, R&G Financial reported. The company also announced the resignation of Mario Ruiz, who was EVP of Premier Bank and held various other posts, and the termination of Joseph R. Sandoval as EVP and chief financial officer of R&G Financial. R&G Financial can be found online at http://www.rgonline.com.

Drew Fung has been named head of U.S. high-yield debt investments at RREEF, the New York-based real estate arm of Deutsche Asset Management, Deutsche Bank's global investment management business.Mr. Fung most recently oversaw subordinate debt production at CWCapital, and before that he was employed by Lend Lease. RREEF said the firm's high-yield debt investment team will specialize in a wide variety of structured investment options, such as mezzanine, B-notes, preferred equity, and bridge loans. RREEF also announced that Thanh Bui has joined the team as a vice president, reporting to Mr. Fung. She will help lead production efforts for the group. Deutsche Bank can be found online at http://www.db.com.

David A. Pazgan has been named president and chief executive officer of NovaStar Mortgage Inc., the primary loan origination unit of residential mortgage lender NovaStar Financial Inc., Kansas City, Mo.Mr. Pazgan was most recently executive vice president of NovaStar, overseeing its wholesale division, and was previously senior vice president of wholesale-East, a regional vice president, and an account executive for FHB Funding, a wholesale subprime originator. He succeeds Lance Anderson, who will become chairman of NovaStar Mortgage and continue as president and chief operating officer of NovaStar Financial, the company reported. NovaStar Mortgage can be found online at http://www.novastarmortgage.com.

Thomas A. Klemens, senior executive vice president and chief financial officer of The First American Corp., Santa Ana, Calif., died Jan. 3 of blood cancer, the company has reported.Mr. Klemens, 55, joined First American in 1985 as vice president and controller, was named principal accounting officer of the parent company and of First American Title Insurance Co. in 1992, and became vice president and CFO in 1993. He was named executive vice president of First American in 1996 and senior EVP in 2002. Parker S. Kennedy, First American's chairman and chief executive officer, called Mr. Klemens a "wonderful friend" who had "fought a long and hard battle against multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer, for two years." Mr. Kennedy attributed First American's growth into a global, Fortune 500 company "in large part" to Mr. Klemens. The company can be found online at http://www.firstam.com.

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines has announced that Patrick Conway, the president and chief executive officer of the troubled bank, has stepped down and will retire from the bank.Board member Neil Fruechte will serve as acting president and CEO until a replacement is found. "Mr. Conway and the board reached a mutual agreement," FHLBank spokeswoman Nicky Schissel said of the management change. The FHLBank, which is the second-largest investor in Mortgage Partnership Finance loans, is in the midst of restating its earnings for 2001 through 2004 because it misapplied derivative accounting rules for hedging fixed-rate mortgages. Last summer, federal examiners raised concerns about the bank's operations and internal controls, which prompted the board to set up a review committee. Mr. Conway worked at the FHLBank of San Francisco before he joined the Des Moines bank as its president in 1999.

Edwina P. Carrington will join Reznick Group, a tax and accounting advisory firm based in Bethesda, Md., as a principal and a member of the firm's national affordable housing group on April 1.Ms. Carrington will help establish and lead Reznick's first Southwestern office in Austin, Texas, the firm said. She will serve clients as a real estate adviser, with a special focus on transaction consulting in the affordable housing industry. Ms. Carrington has been executive director of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs since 2002, and she previously held leadership positions at the Texas Housing Finance Corp., the Austin Housing Finance Corp., and the Texas Housing Agency (the forerunner of the TDHCA). Reznick can be found online at http://www.reznickgroup.com.

Deutsche Bank has announced the expansion of its global commercial real estate business in the Asia-Pacific region with the hiring of Frank Forelle as managing director and head of CRE for the region.The bank also announced the appointments of Greg Wells as director and head of CRE in China and Tony Moussa as head of CRE in Australia, both of whom will report to Mr. Forelle. Mr. Forelle was most recently managing director and head of commercial mortgage-backed securities in North America at ABN Amro, and he was previously head of commercial mortgage sales and trading at Citicorp Securities Inc. "The Asia-Pacific region is generating some of the world's most interesting opportunities in commercial real estate, and we expect it to be a growth engine for years to come," said Jon Vaccaro, the bank's global head of CRE. The bank can be found online at http://www.db.com.

Beth Wilkinson has been named executive vice president and general counsel of Fannie Mae, and Bill Senhauser has been named senior vice president and chief compliance officer, according to the government-sponsored enterprise.Ms. Wilkinson joins Fannie Mae from Latham & Watkins LLP, where she is a partner. She was previously special attorney to the U.S. attorney general, serving as a prosecutor in the U.S. v. McVeigh and Nichols cases, Fannie Mae said. She has also served as the principal deputy in the Terrorism & Violent Crime Section of the U.S. Department of Justice's Criminal Division. Mr. Senhauser, whose appointment followed a nationwide search, will lead the GSE's Office of Compliance, Ethics and Investigations. He was previously vice president of Fannie Mae's Regulatory Agreements and Restatement Team. Mr. Senhauser joined Fannie Mae in 1999 as vice president and deputy general counsel. Before that, he was executive director of the Equal Justice Foundation and senior trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Jordan Glazier has been named chief operating officer of Client Shop Inc., a San Diego-based lead generation provider to the mortgage industry, and Paul Ramirez has been named senior vice president of marketing and strategic planning.Mr. Glazier was most recently general manager of eBay Business, where he was responsible for building online marketplaces for computers, consumer electronics, and business-to-business products, Client Shop said. He was previously vice president of GATX Distribution Centers and director of international business development for GATX Corp. Mr. Ramirez was most recently general manager and executive vice president of marketing and alliance strategy at Affinity2, where he created and launched an enterprise operating system. Client Shop can be found online at http://www.clientshop.com.

Jay H. Shah has been named chief executive officer of Hersha Hospitality Trust, Philadelphia, replacing the retiring Hasu P. Shah, who will remain chairman of the real estate investment trust.Jay Shah, currently the REIT's president and chief operating officer, was also elected to its board of trustees and will be replaced as president and COO by Neil H. Shah, the company reported. Hersha can be found on the Web at http://www.hersha.com.

Susan L. Grant has been named senior vice president of mortgage banking at The Washington Savings Bank FSB, Bowie, Md.Ms. Grant will be responsible for creating a wholesale lending operation for the bank, as well as for overseeing the retail mortgage banking operation. She has had retail and wholesale lending experience with institutions such as Royal Bank of Canada, nBank NA, and New American Financial Inc., according to Washington Savings. The bank can be found on the Web at http://www.twsb.com.

John K. Darr, chief executive officer and managing director of the Federal Home Loan Bank System's Office of Finance, has been named to the board of directors of MortgageIT Holdings Inc., a New York-based real estate investment trust.The appointment brings the board's membership to nine, eight of whom are independent of management, MortgageIT said. Mr. Darr, who will also serve as a member of MortgageIT board's audit committee, has held the FHLBank System post since 1992. He was previously a manager of mortgage finance at a Wall Street investment bank, chief financial officer of major financial institutions on both coasts, and treasurer of the FHLBank of San Francisco. MortgageIT can be found online at http://www.mortgageitholdings.com.

New Century Financial Corp., a real estate investment trust based in Irvine, Calif., has announced that Patrick J. Flanagan, executive vice president of the REIT and president of New Century Mortgage Corp., will take a personal leave of up to six months and then serve as a consultant to the company.Brad A. Morrice, vice chairman, president, and chief operating officer of New Century Financial and chief executive officer of New Century Mortgage, will assume Mr. Flanagan's responsibilities, the REIT reported. Mr. Flanagan joined New Century Mortgage in 1996 as regional vice president of Midwest wholesale and retail operations. The company can be found online at http://www.ncen.com.

Gloria Aviotti, a group managing director at Fitch Ratings, has been named to head the rating agency's U.S. Structured Finance group.Ms. Aviotti will assume management responsibilities for all U.S.-based structured finance rating groups. She will also lead a longer-term initiative to improve analytical models across all securitization products, Fitch said. The rating agency can be found online at http://www.fitchratings.com.

Saiyid T. Naqvi, chief executive officer of online home equity lender DeepGreen Financial, has been elected to the board of directors of Genworth Financial Inc., a mortgage insurer based in Richmond, Va.Before joining DeepGreen early this year, Mr. Naqvi held CEO positions at PNC Mortgage and Setara Corp. Before that, he was chief operating officer of Sears Mortgage Securities Corp., which was acquired by PNC in 1993. Michael D. Fraizer, Genworth's chairman and CEO, termed Mr. Naqvi "a mortgage industry visionary," citing his expertise in business and technology. Genworth Financial can be found online at http://www.genworth.com.

Jeff Walker has been named managing director of the Correspondent Lending division of St. Louis-based CitiMortgage.Mr. Walker has more than 15 years of mortgage banking experience, most recently at Wells Fargo, where he had significant roles in correspondent sales and revenue strategies, CitiMortgage said. Before that, he spent 12 years at Freddie Mac in various capacities, including regional sales director. CitiMortgage can be found on the Web at http://www.citimortgage.com.

Steven Lessack has been named the new chief executive officer of Stewart Title Ltd., the European underwriting subsidiary of Stewart Title Guaranty Co.Stewart promoted Mr. Lessack to the post from his previous position of executive vice president and director of international title operations, according to a company spokesman. In addition to serving as Stewart Title Ltd.'s CEO, Mr. Lessack will also continue to serve as president of the Canadian division of Stewart Title Guaranty, the spokesman said. Stewart can be found online at http://www.stewart.com.