Career moves

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.

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.