Career moves

Patrick Mize has been named chief financial officer of MortgageTree Lending, a national mortgage banking company based in Modesto, Calif.Mr. Mize was most recently the CFO of a regional mortgage bank, where he "fostered a shift of his departments' focus from compliance-driven 'technicians' to customer-driven, service-focused professionals," MortgageTree said. The company can be found online at http://www.mortgagetreelending.com.

Michael Detwiler has been named chief executive officer of Mortgage Cadence, a Denver-based mortgage lending platform provider.Mr. Detwiler has been president of the company since 1999. "By focusing Mortgage Cadence on its position as a pure lending product company, we can maintain our leadership position as the only true services-oriented, end-to-end lending platform," he said. Mortgage Cadence offers technology such as proprietary workflow and rules automation for the back office as well as a Web-based loan origination system, the company said.

Arthur Prieston, chairman of The Prieston Group risk management consulting company, has been tapped to serve as spokesman for the National Home Equity Mortgage Association on issues relating to mortgage fraud.The association said Mr. Prieston will work with NHEMA president Jeffrey Zeltzer to formulate issue papers on mortgage fraud for the organization's forthcoming annual conference in Scottsdale, Ariz. Citing congressional hearings last October on the rising incidence of mortgage fraud, Mr. Prieston said it was clear that "lenders are not routinely recognized as victims of mortgage fraud alongside borrowers. That has to change. It is time to begin defining and establishing legislation that will protect borrowers and lenders alike." The Prieston Group can be found online at http://www.priestongroup.com, and NHEMA can be found at http://www.nhema.org.

First American Real Estate Information Services Inc., Dallas, has announced the appointment of Andy Williams as executive vice president of client relations for First American's Mortgage Information Services Group.Mr. Williams joined First American in 1992 when the company acquired Ticor Realty Tax Services, where he held the position of vice president of sales. He then served as senior vice president of sales with WNC Insurance Services before rejoining First American in 1997 as vice president and national sales director with First American Flood Data Services, First American said. Mr. Williams held various positions with First American before being named senior vice president of client relations. First American can be found online at http://www.firstam.com.

Julie Cline has been named chief operating officer of No Red Tape Mortgage, a jumbo wholesale lender based in Sherman Oaks, Calif.Ms. Cline was most recently the company's senior vice president of operations. She was previously director of mortgage banking operations for e-Loan.com and vice president of operations at IndyMac Bank FSB, No Red Tape said. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.noredtape.com.

John U. Sepulveda, a former Clinton administration official and Freddie Mac executive, has been named chief executive officer of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals.The San Diego-based NAHREP said Mr. Sepulveda was deputy director of the Office of Personnel Management during the latter half of President Bill Clinton's second term. He was also a senior executive at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. At Freddie Mac, he was director of industry and housing outreach and the company's chief liaison to Latino leaders and organizations, the association said.

Morrison & Foerster LLP has announced the addition of Yaacov M. Gross, a senior corporate finance attorney it termed a "pioneer" in the real estate investment trust market, as a partner in its New York office.Mr. Gross, whose practice is international and spans multiple industries, has in recent years focused primarily on real estate financing and REIT transactions, the firm said. He joins Morrison & Foerster from Wilkie, Farr and Gallagher LLP in New York, where he was a founder of that firm's real estate securities practice. "In addition to representing some of the industry's largest REITs from inception, he has been at the forefront of financing, capital formation, and merger & acquisition transactions involving REITs and other real estate-related ventures," said Karen Hagberg, managing partner of Morrison & Foerster's New York office.

Jeff McGuiness has been promoted to managing director of the Correspondent Lending Division of CitiMortgage, St. Louis.His new responsibilities will include oversight of sales, operations, pricing, and customer delivery for the correspondent channel, the company said. Mr. McGuiness was most recently director of national sales for the Correspondent Lending Division. David Schneider, president and chief operating officer of CitiMortgage, said the correspondent lending sales force grew from six to 45 individuals under Mr. McGuiness and the division's business volume doubled in two years. Mr. McGuiness also served as the company's national director of retail and corporate sales. Before joining CitiMortgage, he held senior sales and management positions with Norwest Mortgage and was president and chief operating officer of The Lazear Agency, an international literary agency in Minneapolis.

Gretchen Verdugo has been named executive vice president and chief accounting officer of Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc., a real estate investment trust based in Newport Beach, Calif.Ms. Verdugo joined Impac as senior vice president and chief accounting officer in August 1997. Impac also announced the promotions of Jim Dickinson to senior vice president of the Impac Warehouse Lending Group and Don Currie to senior vice president and director of national sales at the Impac Lending Group. Impac can be found online at http://www.impaccompanies.com.

Randall M. Griffin has been named president and chief executive officer of Corporate Office Properties Trust, Columbia, Md., to replace its current CEO, Clay W. Hamlin III, who is retiring.Mr. Griffin has served as president and chief operating officer of the real estate investment trust since 1998, the company said. He has also been named a trustee of the REIT. Meanwhile, Mr. Hamlin has been appointed vice chairman of the board of trustees and will have a three-year consulting agreement to assist the office REIT with acquisitions and strategic initiatives. He has been a trustee and the company's CEO since 1997. The company can be found online at http://www.copt.com.

Freddie Mac has formed what it calls "a new customer-focused leadership team" in its Single Family Lending Division.Charles Coulter was promoted to vice president for national lending, while Iliana Ghanem was named vice president for community lending and John Britti was named vice president for regional lending. "This enables Freddie Mac to be even more precise with the delivery of the right products, services and technology to our different lender customers," said David H. Stevens, senior vice president of single family lending, to whom the trio will report. Mr. Stevens said the account managers in the regional lending group now have a smaller set of customers, enabling them to foster more personal business ties. Freddie Mac can be found online at http://www.freddiemac.com.

Brian Edmonds has been named managing director and head of the interest rates business for the Debt Capital Markets division of Cantor Fitzgerald, New York.The company said Mr. Edmonds will be responsible for building an interest rate trading operation and for managing interest rate risk across its mortgage, asset-backed, and credit businesses. He was most recently managing director and head of government bond trading at Banc of America. Before that, Mr. Edmonds spent several years at Credit Suisse First Boston in the same role, Cantor Fitzgerald said. Mr. Edmonds is chairman of The Bond Market Association's primary dealer committee. Cantor Fitzgerald can be found online at http://www.cantor.com.

Tim Naughton, chief operating officer of AvalonBay Communities, has been named president of the Alexandria, Va.-based company.Mr. Naughton will succeed Bryce Blair, who will remain chairman and chief executive officer of AvalonBay, the company said. Mr. Naughton has been with the company and its predecessors since 1989. AvalonBay also announced that Sam Fuller, its executive vice president of development and construction, will leave the company after 16 years as of April 30. The company can be found online at http://www.avalonbay.com.

Private-label originator Nexstar Financial, St. Louis, has hired away a top executive from its competitor, PHH Mortgage, Mt. Laurel, N.J.On Tuesday Nexstar named Leonard M. Wagner -- a seven-year veteran of PHH -- its national account director. At PHH Mr. Wagner served as vice president of relationship management, where he supervised a team of account executives responsible for 15 private-label clients and $3 billion in production. Formerly known as Cendant Mortgage, PHH was recently spun off from its parent, Cendant Corp. of New York. PHH is believed to be the largest private-label funder in the United States.

Phil Gledhill has been hired as director of the operational risk consulting practice for IMAG Inc., a New York-based consulting firm on reputation risk in the financial services industry.Mr. Gledhill will work with traditional banks as well as mortgage origination and servicing institutions concerned about regulatory, operational, and business risks that could give rise to reputation threats. "Today mortgage origination and servicing companies are becoming more regulated and face increasing pressure to implement operational controls," said Gary Peterson, president of IMAG. "With Phil's extensive expertise in operational risks, IMAG further enhances their ability to bring reputation risk solutions to the mortgage origination and servicing industry." Mr. Gledhill is the former vice president and manager of operational risks at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in the United States. IMAG, the International Management Advisory Group, can be found online at http://www.imagny.com.

Albert V. Will has been named executive vice president of lender services at LandAmerica Financial Group Inc., Richmond, Va.Mr. Will, who founded a regional title insurance and closing management company in the Midwest in 2004, will oversee LandAmerica's centralized real estate transaction services for lenders and mortgage servicers nationwide, the company said. He was previously executive vice president for managing operations, risk management, and technology at Amerin Guaranty, where he managed the operational integration of Amerin with Commonwealth Mortgage Assurance Corp. when the companies merged. Mr. Will also served as chief operating officer with Bank One Mortgage. LandAmerica can be found online at http://www.landam.com.

Mark A. Casale has been named senior vice president of capital markets at Radian Guaranty Inc., a Philadelphia-based provider of mortgage insurance.Mr. Casale will be responsible for promoting continued growth in Radian's customized credit enhancement products and services in the nonprime mortgage markets, the company said. He will replace Trez Moore, who is leaving Radian. Mr. Casale was previously Radian's senior vice president for strategic investments. Before joining Radian, Mr. Casale held several positions in Advanta Corp.'s mortgage group involving the nonprime mortgage and capital markets, Radian said. Radian can be found online at http://www.radian.biz.

James R. Faulstich, who served as president and chief executive officer of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle from 1979 to 1999, has been appointed interim president and CEO of the Seattle FHLBank to replace the retiring Norman Rice.Mr. Faulstich, 71, will direct bank operations until the board names a permanent president and CEO. Mr. Rice was scheduled to step down March 15, but the bank said Mr. Faulstich's appointment takes effect immediately. He will focus on improving financial performance and on implementing the bank's supervisory agreement with its regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Board, the FHLBank said. Under the supervisory agreement, the Seattle FHLBank is required to build retained earnings, limit the growth of its Mortgage Purchase Program, and submit a three-year capital and business plan to the Finance Board by Feb. 28.

Dan Hastings has been promoted to first vice president and head of correspondent lending at Irwin Mortgage Corp., Indianapolis.Mr. Hastings, 49, previously served as vice president and national sales manager of correspondent lending, the company said. He joined Irwin in 2002 following the Dime/North American acquisition by Washington Mutual. Mr. Hastings has been involved in correspondent lending since 1986, Irwin said.

Timothy Howard, Fannie Mae's recently ousted chief accounting officer, has been named among the best chief financial officers in America, according to Institutional Investor magazine.The magazine's ranking of the best CFOs is based on a survey of portfolio managers and brokerage firm analysts in 62 industries. Mr. Howard is the lone CFO selection in the "mortgage finance" area, according to a news release put out by Institutional Investor. The magazine notes that Mr. Howard resigned in December of last year, but there is no mention of Fannie Mae's $9 billion accounting scandal, which led the government-sponsored enterprise's board to ask Mr. Howard to leave. In a report released last fall, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight accused Mr. Howard of being the "chief architect" of its faulty amortization policy. The agency added that Mr. Howard "failed to provide adequate oversight to key control and reporting functions within Fannie Mae." A spokesman for the magazine could not be reached for comment by MortgageWire's deadline. After OFHEO released its report, Mr. Howard, in congressional testimony, defended the GSE's accounting practices, which were later found to be faulty by the Securities and Exchange Commission.