Career moves

Cyndi Lindenberger has been named president of Preferred Properties Real Estate Inc., a subsidiary of Union Equity Inc., Palm Beach, Fla., that is applying for correspondent mortgage lender status.Ms. Lindenberger has more than 20 years of experience in residential mortgage loan origination, processing, underwriting, and real estate speculation, Union Equity said. She will also serve as senior underwriter for Union Equity. The company said PPRE, once it has obtained its correspondent lender license, will offer loans to the general public and will also act as a support vehicle for Home Sales Express, a Union Equity subsidiary specializing in the for-sale-by-owner market. Union Equity can be found online at http://www.unqt.com.

Merit Financial Inc., a Kirkland, Wash.-based mortgage lender, has hired Ryan N. Kidd as its new chief financial officer. Mr.Kidd joins Merit from Hauser & Associates, a Bellevue, Wash. based public accounting firm, where he was principal of the organization catering to mortgage banking clients and served as Merit Financial’s CPA for four years before joining the company’s internal team. "Ryan is uniquely poised to spearhead the fiscal management of our company, not only because he has been a part of the Merit family since we opened our doors, but because of his vast experience monitoring companies through start-up and growth phases, " said Scott Greenlaw, chief executive and founder of Merit Financial. "His drive to succeed and focus on results will certainly help the company continue to grow while managing and sustaining our business." Mr. Kidd replaces Christine Clark, who left the company to be a full-time mother. Merit Financial can be found online at http://www.thisismerit.com.

Paul G. George has been named executive vice president for human resources at Freddie Mac, effective as of the week of Aug. 22.Mr. George was most recently senior executive vice president of human resources at Wachovia Corp. for six years. He was previously a member of Waste Management Inc.'s interim management team while the company merged with a competitor, and he worked for 10 years as senior vice president of human resources at United Airlines.

Donnalee DeMaio has been named president of New York-based MetLife Bank, which is emphasizing its mortgage and savings products and has become a "strategic business unit" for MetLife Inc., according to the parent company.Ms. DeMaio was most recently the bank's chief financial officer. She succeeds Shailendra Ghorpade, who will remain a member of the bank's board and will head MetLife's institutional business operations as well as its new business development and its marketing and product development, the parent company said. Ms. DeMaio cited the bank's brand name and "unique distribution model" and touted its "leading-edge savings and mortgage products" as indicators that the bank will continue its "growth trajectory." The bank can be found online at http://www.metlifebank.com.

Gerard J. Heinz has been named chief operating officer of Mortgage Cadence Inc., a Denver-based mortgage lending platform provider.He will be responsible for Mortgage Cadence's product direction, development, support, and education. Mr. Heinz has 30 years of organizational expertise in the mortgage and technology industries, during which time he has held senior roles in finance, secondary marketing, mortgage operations, servicing, and mortgage-related technology, Mortgage Cadence said. The company can be found online at http://www.mortgagecadence.com.

Devin Murphy has been named global head of real estate investment banking at Deutsche Bank, succeeding Jacques Brand.Mr. Murphy joined Deutsche Bank in March 2004 as a managing director and head of Real Estate Investment Banking in the Americas. He will report to Mr. Brand, who will continue to work closely with the real estate group as co-head of Corporate Finance Coverage in the Americas, Deutsche Bank said. Mr. Murphy was previously a managing director and co-head of U.S. Real Estate Investment Banking at Morgan Stanley, where he was employed for 14 years. Deutsche Bank can be found online at http://www.db.com.

John G. Stumpf, group executive vice president of community banking at Wells Fargo & Co., has been named president and chief operating officer of the San Francisco-based company.Mr. Stumpf has been with Well Fargo for 23 years, and has been an EVP in his current role for three years, the company said. He has been responsible for regional banking, diversified products, private client services, Internet services, and Wells Fargo Services. Mr. Stumpf joined the former Norwest Corp. in 1982 as a senior vice president and chief credit officer for Norwest Bank, and with the merger of Wells Fargo and Norwest in 1998 he became head of the Southwestern Banking Group, Wells Fargo said. Mark C. Oman, senior EVP of the company's Home and Consumer Finance Group, will report to Mr. Stumpf. The company can be found online at http://www.wellsfargo.com.

John J. Mack has resigned from the board of directors of Cousins Properties Inc., Atlanta, citing increased commitments to his new position as chairman and chief executive officer of Morgan Stanley.Mr. Mack joined the board of Cousins, a real estate investment trust, in 2001. The company said his seat on the board will not be immediately filled. The REIT can be found on the Web at http://www.cousinsproperties.com.

Stillman Knight Jr. has left the Department of Housing and Urban Development, where he was in charge of the FHA multifamily program, to join a nonprofit foundation that owns and rehabilitates affordable rental properties.Reba Cook is now the acting deputy assistant secretary overseeing the Federal Housing Administration multifamily program. Mr. Knight was a multifamily developer and builder before joining HUD in 2003. He starts his new job as executive vice president for the National Housing Partnership Foundation Aug. 8. Earlier this year, Mr. Knight was mentioned as a possible candidate for FHA commissioner, but the president chose White House staffer Brian Montgomery.

Nitin Dave has been named executive vice president and director of loan administration and finance at Pinnacle Financial Corp., an independently owned direct mortgage lender based in Orlando, Fla.Mr. Dave has more than 25 years of experience in mortgage banking, mortgage servicing operations, commercial lending, consumer banking, and investment banking, Pinnacle said. Before joining Pinnacle, Mr. Dave’s career included management-level positions at Fannie Mae; Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp.; and Citizens Trust Bank. Pinnacle also announced that Peter Weigold has been named vice president for secondary marketing. Mr. Weigold was most recently head of the secondary marketing department at American Home Mortgage. Pinnacle can be found online at http://www.pinnaclefinancial.com.

Richard H. Wohl has been named president of IndyMac Bank FSB, Pasadena, Calif., a newly created post that will oversee the primary business divisions of the bank's thrift and mortgage banking segments.Mr. Wohl, who was most recently chief executive officer of IndyMac Mortgage Bank, has also been elected to IndyMac Bank's board of directors. Frank M. Sillman will replace Mr. Wohl as CEO of the mortgage bank. Mr. Sillman was most recently CEO and executive vice president of the Mortgage Professionals Division of IndyMac Mortgage Bank. Michael W. Perry, chairman and CEO of IndyMac Bancorp Inc., the holding company for IndyMac Bank, said the mortgage bank under Mr. Wohl's leadership has grown from the 26th-largest single-family residential mortgage originator in the United States to the 11th-largest. The bank can be found online at http://www.indymacbank.com.

In an effort to bolster its residential lending business, GMAC Mortgage, Horsham, Pa., has hired two executives away form Chase Home Finance, Edison, N.J., and another from PHH Mortgage, Mt. Laurel, N.J., industry sources have told MortgageWire.Joining GMAC from Chase is Jim Ferriter, who will serve as executive vice president of retail lending, and Dave Stadler, senior vice president in charge of GMAC's "Lendscape" project, which entails installing a common origination platform throughout the company. GMAC also hired Bob Groody as its EVP and chief financial officer. Mr. Groody left PHH to join GMAC, the nation's seventh-largest lender. Mr. Groody is a replacement for the company's departing CFO, but the other two hires are serving in newly created positions. (See the Aug. 1 issue of National Mortgage News for the full details.)

L. Stephen Smith, president and chief executive officer of PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., Walnut Creek, Calif., has been elected president of the Mortgage Insurance Companies of America.Mr. Smith succeeds William V. Nutt Jr., president and chief executive officer of AIG United Guaranty, who continues to serve as a member of the association's executive committee. MICA said Mr. Smith's career in housing finance spans 34 years. He joined PMI in 1979. Serving as MICA vice president and secretary/treasurer will be William A. Simpson, chairman of Republic Mortgage Insurance Co. and a past president of MICA. The organization can be found online at http://www.micanews.com.

Real estate industry veteran David Miller has been named executive vice president of national sales at the Real Estate Solutions division of Fidelity National Financial Inc., Jacksonville, Fla.FNF, a provider of products, services, and technology to the financial and real estate industries, said Mr. Miller will focus on cultivating the division's broker-based business, as well as forming alliances with national real estate franchises and regional "mega brokers." A 30-year veteran of the residential real estate industry, Mr. Miller was most recently executive vice-president and chief business development officer for First Team Real Estate in Orange County, Calif. He was previously senior vice-president of national sales at Cendant Real Estate Division, and he served "in a strategic capacity" at Coldwell Banker, FNF said.

Michael E. Wade has been named to the newly created position of vice president for external operational risk management at Freddie Mac.Mr. Wade's duties include the analysis of Freddie Mac's seller/servicer underwriting processes, management of on-site quality control and operational audits, and the development and implementation of quality control and operational policies and procedures, Freddie Mac said. Mr. Wade comes to Freddie Mac from Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, where he was most recently senior vice president of credit policy and strategy. Other positions he held at Wells Fargo include senior vice president of institutional risk management and vice president of quality control. Freddie Mac can be found online at http://www.freddiemac.com.

Matthew Connelly has been named executive vice president of corporate strategy at GoApply Inc., a mortgage and financial services organization based in Aliso Viejo, Calif.Mr. Connelly will focus on developing new technologies and electronic business applications to help streamline the application and decision-making processes for consumers seeking to improve their financial health, the company said. He is also charged with building the network of accredited business partners who help service GoApply's consumer base. Mr. Connelly was most recently senior vice president of Home Loan Center in Irvine, Calif. GoApply can be found online at http://www.goapply.com.

The Bond Market Association has chosen Randolph Snook, a long-time fixed-income market participant, to be executive vice president and head of its New York office.Mr. Snook was a partner at member firm Goldman, Sachs & Co. and has worked for many years in the corporate credit markets at Goldman and, before that, Drexel Burnham Lambert. As EVP, Mr. Snook will be responsible for overseeing day-to-day operations in the association's New York office, including the various U.S.-based asset class divisions (mortgage-backed securities, municipals, securitized products, governments, and funding) as well as technology and operations.

Bill Beckmann has been named president of St. Louis-based CitiMortgage.Mr. Beckmann has been employed by Citigroup for more than 20 years, most recently as chief servicing and technology officer for its Real Estate Servicing and Technology division. In that capacity, he oversaw servicing and technology for Citigroup's residential real estate properties, including CitiMortgage, CitiFinancial Mortgage, Citicorp Trust Bank, Private Mortgage Operations, CitiFinancial Network, and Chesapeake Appraisal and Settlement Services, the company said. Mr. Beckmann was previously president of specialty lending in Citigroup's U.S. Consumer Assets Division. CitiMortgage can be found online at http://www.citimortgage.com.

Bob Jakubowicz has been named executive director of retail sales at Oak Street Mortgage LLC, Carmel, Ind., replacing company president Glenn Brunker in that role.Mr. Jakubowicz was most recently senior director of retail sales with Oak Street. The company said he "has a track record of building high-growth sales organizations" with several large financial institutions, such as Bank One, Household International, and First National Bank of Chicago. Oak Street can be found online at http://www.oakstreetmortgage.com.

GMAC Mortgage Corp., Horsham, Pa., has announced that industry veteran Tom Donatacci has returned to the company as senior vice president in its Business Development Group.GMAC Mortgage said Mr. Donatacci will be responsible for all third-party subservicing sales and marketing. In his previous stint with GMAC Mortgage in the late 1990s, Mr. Donatacci was an executive in the company's capital markets operation and helped build its servicing portfolio, the company said. In addition, he was involved in high-profile deals such as the acquisition of the mortgage servicing operations of Wells Fargo Bank. He was most recently the head of the mortgage servicing transactions business at Lehman Brothers/Cohane Rafferty, where "he worked on headline-making industry deals, including the sale of GE Mortgage, Fleet Mortgage, Homeside Lending, and Principal Residential Mortgage," GMAC Mortgage said.