Career moves

Richard Powers has been named president of KB Home Mortgage Co., Los Angeles.KB Home said Mr. Powers, a veteran of over 15 years in mortgage banking, was most recently president and chief executive officer of Charter One Mortgage Corp., Cleveland. Before that, he was senior vice president of operations and production for Great Western Mortgage Corp. KB Home, the parent company of KB Home Mortgage, is a homebuilder with domestic operating divisions in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas. The parent can be found on the Web at http://www.kbhome.com.

Greg Frost, one of the nation's top-producing mortgage brokers, has joined LoanToolbox, Westlake Village, Calif., as vice president for new product development.Tim Braheem, chief executive of LoanToolbox, said he and Mr. Frost are "much alike in that we're 'ham-and-egg' loan officers. We focus on things that are easy to implement -- that is, the basic building blocks of what it takes to be a great loan officer." Beginning in March, LoanToolbox members will have free access to five of Mr. Frost's trademarked marketing systems. He also plans to host live conference-call interviews, provide voice broadcast tips on time-sensitive issues, and continue to develop new products based on the changing needs of industry professionals. Members will also have the ability to call in twice a month for personal coaching and to discuss their immediate challenges. In 2002, Mr. Frost was ranked the nation's 19th-largest individual producer of mortgages, with volume of $143.80 million, according to Broker magazine, a MortgageWire affiliate.

John V. Britti has been named vice president of community lending at Freddie Mac.Mr. Britti will manage all of Community Lending's sales efforts and customer relationships, as well as the sales force and organization, the government-sponsored enterprise said. He will report to Dave Stevens, Freddie Mac's senior vice president of single-family lending. Mr. Britti was most recently vice president of adjacent lending operations and mortgages at Capital One Financial Corp., where he re-launched the company's mortgage business and led operations for its Direct Bank, installment lending, and new business integration, the GSE said. Mr. Britti previously held positions with several companies, and he worked at Freddie Mac from 1994 to 1998 as a vice president of pricing and structured transactions.

Hugh R. Frater has been named executive vice president and head of real estate finance at PNC Financial Services Group Inc., Pittsburgh.Mr. Frater, 48, will be responsible for balance sheet lending, including lending for the acquisition, development, permanent financing, and operation of commercial real estate nationally, PNC said. He will also be responsible for Midland Loan Services, a provider of servicing and technology solutions to the commercial real estate finance industry, and PNC MultiFamily Capital, which serves the affordable housing industry. Mr. Frater joins PNC from BlackRock Inc., where he was a founding partner and head of the real estate group. The company can be found online at http://www.pnc.com.

Mortgage industry veteran Richard A. Mirro has been elected as an independent member of the board of directors of ResMAE Financial Corp., a wholesale specialty residential mortgage lender and servicer based in Brea, Calif.Mr. Mirro was previously chairman and chief executive officer of North American Mortgage Co. and executive vice president of Dime Savings Bank, NAMC's parent company. Before that, he was chairman and CEO of Fleet Mortgage following a decade at Chase Manhattan Mortgage, ResMAE said. The wholesaler also announced the election to the board of Robert E. Dean, who was most recently a senior managing director of Ernst & Young Corporate Finance LLC. M. Jack Mayesh, chairman and co-CEO of ResMAE, said the two new directors will be "tremendous assets as ResMAE rapidly expands throughout the country during the next year."

GMAC Commercial Mortgage Europe has appointed Marc Angoulvent as director of real estate activities in France.Prior to joining GMACCM Europe, he worked with General Motors and a number of leading French banks, where he specialized in property asset financing and structured finance. Mr. Angoulvent has more than 14 years' experience in the field of property finance.

American Business Financial Services Inc., Philadelphia, has announced the appointment of Peter J. Levasseur as executive vice president of Upland Mortgage Brokerage Services, a division of ABFS's wholly owned subsidiary Home American Credit Inc.ABFS said Mr. Levasseur will help guide Upland's expansion in California in support of the parent company's goal of gaining a foothold there and in other western states. Mr. Levasseur was previously president and chief executive officer of Amresco Residential Mortgage Corp. and senior vice president of Home Savings of America. He has more than 30 years' experience in the mortgage lending industry, ABFS said. The company can be found online at http://www.abfsonline.com.

Gregory T. Mutz, chairman of AMLI Residential Properties Trust, Chicago, will resume the position of chief executive officer of the real estate investment trust, AMLI has announced.Mr. Mutz co-founded AMLI's predecessor company more than 20 years ago and served as its CEO from its initial public offering in 1994 to 1998, the REIT said. He joined UICI, a financial services company, in 1998 and served as its president and CEO until last year. Allan J. Sweet, who has been co-CEO of AMLI with Philip N. Tague, will continue as AMLI's president. Mr. Tague will continue as the company's executive vice president and chairman of AMLI Residential Construction. The REIT can be found online at http://www.amli.com.

Josh Denney has been named director of government affairs of the Mortgage Bankers Association, where he will be chiefly responsible for lobbying Capitol Hill on issues involving commercial real estate finance.Mr. Denney joins the MBA from the office of Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., where he was legislative assistant for banking issues and staff director for the Senate Banking subcommittee on international trade and finance.

Johnson Capital, Irvine, Calif., has opened an office in New York City that will do commercial mortgage loan sales and syndication, with Daniel Lisser and William Nichols as managing directors and co-heads of the company.Mr. Lisser was previously head of the mortgage sales group at The Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group, and Mr. Nichols was the president and founder of RE-Portal, according to Johnson Capital, a real estate investment advisory firm. They will both work on providing financial institutions with the right pricing for commercial mortgage loan portfolios in the secondary market, and liquidity for the loans. "There is a great demand by lenders and investors alike for more loan liquidity in the secondary market, especially outside of the CMBS conduits," said Guy Johnson, president of Johnson Capital.

Scott Braly has been named president of Venture West Funding Inc., El Segundo, Calif., which specializes in apartment, single-family, and commercial mortgage loans.Mr. Braly was formerly president and chief executive officer of Hawthorne Financial Corp. and Hawthorne Savings, whose turnaround from near insolvency he orchestrated, Venture West said. He was previously president and CEO of Valley Federal Savings and Loan and chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Bel-Air Savings and Loan.

C. Paul Sandifur Jr. has resigned as chairman, president, and chief executive of Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Inc., Spokane, Wash., citing a desire to help the company put recent controversies behind it.Metropolitan is in a fight for survival as a going entity. Investors in securities issued by the company and one of its affiliates have filed a class action lawsuit, and the company's auditor, Ernst & Young, has resigned because it said it could no longer rely on the representations of management. Moreover, the Securities and Exchange Commission has started an informal inquiry. In a statement, Mr. Sandifur said Metropolitan "is entering a crucial stage, and I offered my resignation in an effort to try to put the distractions and controversies of the past year behind us." He remains a member of the company's board. Replacing Mr. Sandifur as acting chairman, president, and CEO is Irv Marcus. Mr. Marcus is a former officer of the company, most recently in 1995 when he retired as senior vice president.

Raymond Davison has been named chief financial officer of Lenders First Choice, a national provider of settlement services and title insurance based in Simi Valley, Calif.Mr. Davison was previously the company's director of accounting. Before joining Lenders First Choice, he was a partner at Star Value, a telecommunications company, and senior vice president and controller for Coast Fed Services, the financial services subsidiary for Coast Federal Bank.

Marangal "Marito" Domingo has been named president and chief executive officer of Downey Financial Corp., Newport Beach, Calif., and Downey Savings and Loan Association.He will assume the new posts on Feb. 2, replacing Daniel D. Rosenthal. Mr. Rosenthal will remain on Downey's board of directors and will be president of DSL Service Co., Downey's real estate development subsidiary, Downey said. Mr. Domingo was most recently executive vice president in charge of capital markets for Washington Mutual's Home Loans and Insurance Services Group, and his previous positions included stints as senior vice president and treasurer at both WaMu and American Savings (before the latter was acquired by WaMu). Downey can be found online at http://www.downeysavings.com.

J. Mitchell Collins has been named chief financial officer of Equity Inns Inc., Germantown, Tenn., replacing Donald H. Dempsey, who is retiring.Mr. Collins was most recently special adviser to Gaylord Entertainment Co., which recently acquired ResortQuest International, where he had been CFO for about four years, the real estate investment trust said. He will take over as CFO at Equity Inns on Jan. 26. The retiring Mr. Dempsey joined Equity Inns in 1998 and has served as executive vice president, secretary, and treasurer as well as CFO. The hotel REIT can be found on the Internet at http://www.equityinns.com.

Mark Ettenger has been named president of The Mills Corp., a retail and entertainment real estate investment trust based in Arlington, Va.Mr. Ettenger was previously a managing director at Goldman, Sachs & Co., where he oversaw the company's real estate asset sale business, Mills said. He will report to Mills chairman and chief executive officer Laurence C. Siegel, who will now focus more on building strategic relationships and seeking opportunities for expansion, the company said. Mills can be found online at http://www.millscorp.com.

Timothy J. Good has been named president of Baird & Warner Financial Services, a mortgage company based in Chicago that plans to make a transition this year from mortgage broker to mortgage banker.Mr. Good was president and chief executive officer of Weichert's Mortgage Access Corp., Morris Plains, N.J., for 15 years, Baird & Warner said. He succeeds Rick Nash, who will remain with Baird & Warner as president of North Shore Mortgage, a B&W company based in Winnetka, Ill. B&W can be found on the Web at http://www.bairdwarner.com.

Wachovia Securities, Charlotte, N.C., has created a real estate services group and named Leslie Fairbanks to head the unit.Wachovia said the new unit will include its commercial real estate services group, which services a portfolio of commercial mortgages and commercial mortgage-backed securities; a tax credit investment asset management group; and an asset and portfolio management group that handles special servicing assignments. Ms. Fairbanks will report to Bill Green, head of Wachovia's real estate capital markets unit. "Mortgage servicing and tax credit investment asset management are core businesses in our commercial real estate finance platform, and aligning these businesses is part of a natural evolution," Mr. Green said. Ms. Fairbanks was previously a managing director in Wachovia's structured finance group, the company said. In a related development, Alan Kronovet has been named head of Wachovia's commercial real estate services group.

Bruce Maita has been named president of Financial Title Co., Folsom, Calif.He will oversee all 50 of the company's branch operations throughout California and collaborate with the executive team on management objectives in the areas of title insurance, escrow services, sales and marketing, and other personnel support services. Prior to joining FTC, Mr. Maita was president of the Sacramento division of Alliance Title Co. and national account manager for the Lender's Advantage division of First American Title Insurance Co. Financial Title can be found online at http://www.financialtitlecompany.com.

Katty Chow has been named head of residential mortgage lending at Pacifica Bank, Bellevue, Wash., as part of the bank's effort to enhance its consumer mortgage lending program.Ms. Chow, a senior vice president, said Pacifica has joined forces with locally run mortgage companies that "provide onsite underwriting with Wall Street pricing." John A. Kennedy, president and chief executive officer of Pacifica, said many of the bank's customers are immigrants who are "underserved by the many mortgage companies that have a 'cookie-cutter' approach to mortgage services."