Career moves

Subprime lender American Business Financial Services, Philadelphia, which is operating under bankruptcy protection, has promoted Milton Riseman to president and chief operating officer.Mr. Riseman's promotion came late in the day Tuesday, on the eve of a hearing regarding debtor-in-possession financing for the struggling company. Prior to the promotion, Mr. Riseman had been serving as chairman of ABFS' Consumer Mortgage Group, responsible for sales, marketing and day-to-day operations of the company's affiliate, Upland Mortgage. During his career Mr. Riseman also served as president of Advanta Mortgage. The DIP hearing is scheduled for Wednesday morning, said a spokesman for the company.

Federal Housing Administration deputy commissioner Sean Cassidy is leaving the agency after four years on the job.The Department of Housing and Urban Development has named Frank L. Davis, a 37-year veteran of HUD, to replace him. Mr. Davis' official title will be general deputy assistant secretary for housing. Mr. Cassidy is currently serving as a senior advisor to HUD deputy secretary Roy Bernardi while pursuing other opportunities in the Bush administration. He previously worked on the staff of the House Financial Services subcommittee on housing.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight has given Fannie Mae the green light to pay initial pension and deferred compensation benefits to its recently ousted chairman/CEO Franklin Raines and chief financial officer Timothy Howard.However, the order does not include stock options, 2004 bonuses, or other incentive pay. OFHEO also said the approval on initial payments will not affect its ability to seek restitution against Messrs. Raines and Howard should it come to that. At a Congressional hearing Wednesday morning Rep. Richard Baker (R-La.), who oversees the GSE subcommittee said OFHEO, "does not, apparently, have the authority to unilaterally act on the behalf of tax payers." The Congressman added that litigation might be "required after the fact to reclaim" what he called "ill-gotten gains." Messrs. Raines and Howard are entitled to receive monthly pensions of $114,393, and $36,071 respectively.

Thomas M. Goldstein has been named chairman, president and chief executive of ABN Amro Mortgage Group, Chicago.In this role he will oversee all mortgage and home equity line of credit business. Most recently Mr. Goldstein was the senior executive vice president and chief financial officer for its parent LaSalle Bank Corp. He replaces current AAMG chairman Scott Heitmann who has announced his retirement effective April 1. Current AAMG president Stanley Rhodes will become the group's vice chairman. "The mortgage business is a key long-term strategic focus for LaSalle Bank Corp. in North America," remarked Norman R. Bobins, president and chief executive of LaSalle Bank Corp. "His experience and tenure in the financial services industry and as CFO of LaSalle Bank Corp. will be instrumental in growing AAMG's customer base and in expanding its market coverage." Mr. Goldstein will report to Mr. Bobbins and remain a member of LaSalle Bank Corp.'s executive committee.

Freddie Mac has appointed Joan E. Donoghue to be senior vice president and general counsel after working at the GSE for four years."Joan has been a tremendous asset to Freddie Mac during a period of extraordinary change," Freddie chairman and chief executive Richard Syron said in reference to the accounting scandal that was uncovered in 2003 and the ongoing restatement of the company's financial statements. Ms. Donoghue joined Freddie in 2001 after working as deputy general counsel in the Treasury Department (1999-2000). She served as Freddie's interim general counsel after general counsel Maud Mater stepped down in late 2003 She remained as deputy general counsel when Ralph Boyd Jr. was appointed general counsel in April 2004. Freddie announced on Feb. 7 that Mr. Boyd was elected chairman of the Freddie Mac Foundation. The new general counsel is a graduate of University of California (Berkley) law school and she began her career as an associate attorney at Covington & Burling.

Deborah C. Wright, president and chief executive officer of Carver Bancorp Inc., has been elected chairman of the board of Carver, which is the holding company for Carver Federal Savings Bank.Ms. Wright, 47, succeeds Frederick O. Terrell, who has resigned from the board to devote more time to his own firm, Provender Capital Group LLC, Carver said. Ms. Wright has been president and CEO of Carver, and a member of its board, since June 1999. Ms. Wright lauded Mr. Terrell's "immeasurable" contribution to Carver and noted that the company has opened three new branches and three new around-the-clock ATM centers in the past 18 months. The company can be found online at http://www.carverbank.com.

Bear Stearns International Ltd. has hired five asset-backed securities professionals in Europe, including Adam Toft, a managing director the company said will "play a significant role in the development of the commercial mortgage department."Mr. Toft, who previously headed the European Middle East and Asian commercial mortgage-backed securities group at Moody's Investors Service, will be responsible for originating, structuring and distributing real estate loans through capital markets using CMBS and through the banking market via loan syndications. Also hired by Bear for the European ABS group were Peter McAnally and Marie Fernandez, formerly of Halifax Bank of Scotland, who will be in charge of euro-denominated real estate loans; Michael Dirnegger, who previously worked for RZB Bank, who will be in charge of originating real estate loans, collateralized debt obligations and residential mortgages in Germany; and Jesus Rio Cortes, formerly of Calyon, who Bear has hired as part of a residential mortgages team focusing on Spain and Portugal.

The Freddie Mac Foundation has elected Ralph F. Boyd Jr. as its new chairman. Mr. Boyd replaces Freddie Mac chairman and chief executive officer Richard F. Syron, who the government-sponsored enterprise said stepped down from the foundation post "to focus more attention on key legislative and business issues facing the company."In addition to serving as foundation chairman, Mr. Boyd also will continue to serve as a Freddie Mac senior corporate officer in the role of executive vice president of community relations. Mr. Syron will continue to serve on the foundation's board. Freddie Mac can be found on the Web at http://www.freddiemac.com.

Rosario Buendia has been named global practice leader for asset-backed securities, mortgage-backed securities, and new assets in the Structured Finance Group of Standard & Poor's Ratings Services.Ms. Buendia, an attorney, replaces Patrice M. Jordan, who has been named global practice leader for S&P's CDO Group, the rating agency said. Before joining S&P in 1997, Ms. Buendia worked in the International Structured Finance Department of Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co. and for the New York-based investment banking unit of the Swiss Bank Corp. S&P can be found online at http://www.standardandpoors.com.

Ernest "Lee" Puschaver has been named chief financial officer of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, and W. Wesley McMullan has been promoted to executive vice president and director of the bank's Financial Management Division.In addition, Praveen Jha has been hired as senior vice president and director of member sales and trading at the bank. The FHLBank said the actions are aimed at strengthening its risk management and customer service and preparing it for Securities and Exchange Commission registration. Mr. Puschaver replaces Gary Glass, who retired as CFO in November after serving the bank for 30 years in a variety of roles, the FHLBank said. Mr. Puschaver was director of finance and chief accounting officer of FleetBoston Financial Corp. from 2000 through 2004. Mr. McMullan was formerly the FHLBank's senior vice president of member sales and trading. The FHLBank of Atlanta can be found online at http://www.fhlbatl.com.

Norman Rice will retire as president and chief executive of the Seattle Federal Home Loan Bank after the bank submits a three-year capital and business plan to its regulator.The Seattle bank, which operating under a supervisory agreement, announced that its president will step down on March 15. Mr. Rice was the mayor of Seattle before joining the Seattle Bank six years ago. Until an interim CEO is named, executive vice president David Bley will lead the bank's management team. The Seattle Bank developed the Mortgage Purchase Program during Mr. Rice's tenure, but the bank has seen its profits shrink. The FHLBank entered into a supervisory agreement with the Federal Housing Finance Board on Dec. 10. The bank is "on track" to submit its capital and business plan to the Finance Board by Feb. 28, Mr. Daly said.

T. J. Vanderpoel has been promoted to chief technology officer of Rapid Reporting Verification Co., a Fort Worth, Texas-based provider of prefunding income and identity verification services to the mortgage industry.Mr. Vanderpoel, who was previously senior network administrator for the company, has aided in the development of its core offerings, IncomeChek and DirectChek, which are designed to deter fraud by verifying information directly through the databases of the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service, Rapid Reporting said. The company said Mr. Vanderpoel is one of a select group of IT professionals who hold two certificates from The SANS (SysAdmin, Audit, Network, Security) Institute, a provider of information security training and certification. The announcement of the promotion was made at the Thomson Media Mortgage Technology Conference in Miami.

The heads of single-family mortgage business and investor relations at Fannie Mae are retiring and leaving the troubled company, effective Jan. 31.The company said Louis Hoyes, executive vice president for single-family, and Jayne Shontell, senior vice president for investor relations, are taking "planned retirements." Mr. Hoyes has worked at Fannie Mae since 1995. Thomas Lund, who is chief acquisition officer of Fannie's credit guarantee business, will be interim head of the single-family business. Ms. Shontell joined Fannie Mae in 1982. Vice president Mary Lou Christy will succeed her as head of investor relations. In related news, Fannie Mae has hired former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Richard Breeden to serve as strategic counsel to advise the company on its restatement of earnings and re-audit. Fannie Mae can be found online at http://www.fanniemae.com.

Douglas S. Ashe has been named chief executive officer of AssetLink LP, a real-estate-owned/asset management company, and executive vice president of business development and strategic planning for ServiceLink, AssetLink's parent company.ServiceLink is a centralized loan closing management company headquartered in Aliquippa, Pa. AssetLink said Mr. Ashe is a nationally recognized authority in the REO industry who has been president of Clayton National Inc., a third-party special servicer, and of Prudential Asset Recovery, a third-party residential REO management company. He will report to ServiceLink CEO Jeff Coury, and Ken Westfall will remain president of AssetLink. "ServiceLink redefined the settlement services industry in a very short period of time, and AssetLink has set out to do the same in the REO business," Mr. Ashe said. AssetLink can be found online at http://www.assetlinklp.com.

First American Real Estate Information Services has announced that Vicki Chenault has been named president of First American Flood Data Services, taking over from Robert Douglass, who will continue as chief financial officer of First American's Mortgage Information Services Group.Ms. Chenault joined First American Flood Data Services in January 1997 as vice president of compliance and was promoted to senior vice president of operations in 1998. Her previous nine years were spent in mortgage servicing with Lomas Mortgage USA. Mr. Douglass has been involved with Flood Data Services since before it was acquired by First American in 1995, and he was named president of the company in 2000, First American said. The First American Corp., the parent company of First American Real Estate Information Services, can be found online at http://www.firstam.com.

Pablo Sanchez has been promoted to managing director of retail lending at CitiMortgage, St. Louis.Mr. Sanchez, who joined CitiMortgage in 1999, was most recently national director of Citibank Lending. His tenure at the company has included director roles in human resources, Primerica Financial Services Lending, and vendor/operations management. CitiMortgage also announced the recent hiring of Mike Hennessey as senior vice president of human resources. Mr. Hennessey spent the last seven years in human resources at Monsanto.

Deloitte & Touche, New York, has hired investment banking veteran Brenda White to head its consumer and financial services department.Ms. White joins the accounting firm from B. B. White & Co., an advisory boutique that she launched a few years ago. During her career on Wall Street she has been a managing director at UBS and Salomon Brothers, working on several large mortgage banking-related acquisitions. She will split her time between D&T's New York and northern New Jersey offices. A few weeks ago, Fannie Mae, which is mired in an accounting scandal, hired D&T as its independent auditor. The firm also has been working for the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, conducting a special forensic investigation of the troubled government-sponsored enterprise.

The board of trustees of Glimcher Realty Trust, Columbus, Ohio, has elected Michael P. Glimcher the new chief executive officer of the company.Mr. Glimcher, 37, joined the company in 1991 and was appointed president in 1999, a title he will maintain. He has served as a member of the board since 1997. Herbert Glimcher, the founder of the company, will continue as chairman of the board. Glimcher Realty, a real estate investment trust, can be found on the Web at http://www.glimcher.com.

Robin Grieves has been named to head Freddie Mac's Market Risk Oversight department.Mr. Grieves will be responsible for, among other things, measuring interest rate risk; creating risk management reporting and management controls; and monitoring compliance with internal risk management policies and procedures. He taught portfolio management and financial engineering to graduate students at Thunderbird, The Garvin School of International Management in Arizona. Mr. Grieves was also director of fixed-income research and government bond strategist at HSBC Securities and vice president for government bond strategies at Salomon Brothers. He also worked previously at Freddie Mac, from 1987 to 1992, as a director in the company's financial research department. Freddie Mac can be found online at http://www.freddiemac.com.

Tom Frunzi has been named executive vice president for sales and marketing at ValuAmerica, a Pittsburgh-based provider of title and settlement services delivery and mortgage supply chain systems.For the past two years, Mr. Frunzi has been an independent marketing consultant to leading mortgage, technology, and insurance companies, ValuAmerica said. For nearly 20 years before that, he was a senior executive at Lenders Service Inc., an appraisal management and title company.