Career moves

Dennis J. Gilmore, who heads the Property Information Segment of The First American Corp., Santa Ana, Calif., has been named executive vice president of the company.In the new post, Mr. Gilmore will focus on products and services that involve multiple operating segments, First American said. However, he will continue to lead the Property Information Segment, which consists of five subsidiaries, including First American Real Estate Solutions and eAppraiseIT LLC. Parker S. Kennedy, First American's president and chief executive officer, said Mr. Gilmore's "extensive knowledge of title operations, mortgage-related services, and property information technology uniquely qualifies him for this important role." The company can be found online at http://www.firstam.com.

Jack A. Thrift has been hired as chief financial officer of Transnational Financial Network Inc., a wholesale and retail mortgage bank based in San Francisco.Mr. Thrift was previously CFO of two unnamed private brokerage and investment banking firms and an auditor and manager with three major public accounting firms, where he specialized in the financial services industry, Transnational said. The company can be found on the Internet at http://www.transnational.com.

BNP Residential Properties Inc., Charlotte, N.C., has reported the resignation of B. Mayo Boddie, its longtime chairman of the board, and the election of Philip S. Payne, chief financial officer and director, to replace him.The real estate investment trust said Mr. Boddie, who had been chairman since the company's inception in 1987, has been named chairman emeritus and will continue to serve on the board. He resigned to "scale back on his work-related commitments," the REIT said. Mr. Payne will continue to serve as CFO. BNP, an umbrella partnership REIT, can be found online at http://www.bnp-residential.com.

Matthew Weinberg, a veteran mortgage trader, has been named managing director and co-head of the mortgage-backed securities trading desk of Links Securities LLC, New York.The company said Mr. Weinberg replaces George Sykes, who recently joined Guggenheim Partners, a Links affiliate, in fixed-income investment management. Mr. Weinberg was most recently in the arbitrage trading group of Greenwich Capital. He will join Ted Murphy as co-head of the MBS trading desk.

First Magnus Financial Corp., Tucson, Ariz., has announced the hiring of Ed F. Wallace Jr. as senior vice president of its Corporate Wholesale Lending Division.First Magnus said Mr. Wallace will oversee its wholesale expansion efforts in 32 states currently served through the company's centralized wholesale operation. Mr. Wallace has over 25 years of mortgage banking experience, and is credited with creating the wholesale division of one of the nation's leading mortgage lenders, the company said. First Magnus, a privately held multichannel mortgage company, can be found online at http://www.firstmagnus.com.

Brian K. Fitzpatrick has been named chief executive officer of Decade Systems Corp., Jacksonville, Fla., a provider of integration and business connectivity systems for the mortgage industry.The previous CEO, Decade founder Gerry C. Nelson, will continue as chairman of the board, the company said. Mr. Fitzpatrick was most recently executive vice president of sales and marketing for Decade and continues to sit on its board of directors. His previous positions include a stint as senior vice president of sales at GHR Systems Inc., Wayne, Pa.

Timothy O'Neill, who has served on the Federal Housing Finance Board since 1995, has taken a new position at the Department of the Housing and Urban Development.MortgageWire has learned that Mr. O'Neill is now working as a special assistant in the Office of Housing under HUD Assistant Secretary John Weicher. Mr. Weicher usually represents HUD on the five-member Finance Board, which oversees the Federal Home Loan Banks. Alicia R. Castaneda has replaced Mr. O'Neill on the Finance Board. She was confirmed by the Senate Dec. 9 and sworn in as a director on Jan. 9. Born in Colombia, Ms. Castaneda has worked in commercial banking for 27 years, most recently as senior vice president at Bank of America's International Private Bank in Washington, D.C. Mr. O'Neill started at the Finance Board as a director of legislative affairs and later became chairman for six months in 2001.

Home Properties, a real estate investment trust based in Rochester, N.Y., has announced the promotions of four senior officers to the positions of executive vice president and senior vice president.The two new executive vice presidents are David P. Gardner and Ann M. McCormick. Mr. Gardner has served as senior vice president since August 2000 and chief financial officer since the company's inception in 1994, the REIT said. He will retain the title of CFO. Ms. McCormick has also served as senior vice president since August 2000 and as vice president since 1994, and will retain her title as general counsel and secretary. The two new senior vice presidents are Robert J. Luken and Janine M. Schue. Mr. Luken has served as chief financial analyst since February 2002, as treasurer since 2000, and as vice president since 1997. Ms. Schue has served as vice president of human resources since February 2002. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.homeproperties.com.

Fitch Ratings has announced an expansion of its collateralized debt obligation group to provide better performance analytics and customer service.Jill Zelter, a Fitch managing director, said the new organization of the CDO group "will allow Fitch to provide comprehensive and timely surveillance, prospective opinions on future trends, and rigorous analysis and modeling in a more dynamic and robust fashion." Marion Silverman will take on the newly created role of head of performance analytics, and Hedi Katz is filling the new position of head of credit products research. In connection with these changes, John Malysa is transferring from Fitch's commercial mortgage-backed securities group -- where he led the agency's CMBS CDO ratings -- to head up the cash flow CDO team. The credit products group will now manage the rating of CMBS CDOs.

C. Jean Mihitsch has been named chief financial officer of Liberty Self-Stor Inc., a real estate investment trust based in the Cleveland suburb of Mentor, Ohio.Ms. Mihitsch, 55, joins the REIT from GLB Bancorp Inc., where she was CFO from 1998 through 2003. Liberty's former CFO, Sherry L. Kirchenbauer, has resigned "to pursue other business interests," the REIT said.

Donald J. MacKinnon has resigned from the board of directors of Criimi Mae Inc., Rockville, Md., to accept a position as managing director with Nomura Securities International.Mr. MacKinnon's resignation letter states that Nomura compliance requirements "as well as the fact that I may seek to engage in business activities with Criimi in the future" made the severing of ties necessary, Criimi Mae said. The resignation was effective Jan. 6. Criimi Mae, a commercial mortgage real estate investment trust, can be found on the Web at http://www.criimimaeinc.com.

Patrick F. Stone, until recently the chief executive officer of Fidelity National Information Solutions, has resigned from the board of directors of Fidelity National Financial Inc., the parent company of FNIS.The Jacksonville, Fla.-based FNF said Mr. Stone has signed a five-year noncompetition agreement and will remain a consultant to the company. FNF can be found on the Web at http://www.fnf.com.

Nomura Securities International Inc. has appointed Don MacKinnon head of structured credit trading and asset finance, a new position at the company that includes responsibility for its residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities businesses.Mr. MacKinnon was previously president and chief executive officer of Real Business Solutions, a commercial real estate services and technology company. In addition to overseeing RMBS and CMBS, Mr. MacKinnon will be responsible for managing the firm's asset finance business. Mr. MacKinnon has a mandate to expand the company's U.S. operations in all three businesses.

The board of directors of Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. has announced the resignation of Christopher A. Peacock from the board and as the company's president and chief executive officer.Board chairman Stuart L. Scott will assume the role of interim CEO until a global search produces a permanent replacement, the company said. Jones Lang said it had accepted the resignation "with regret" and that Mr. Peacock had resigned to spend more time with his family. He served as chairman and CEO of Jones Lang LaSalle from 1999 to 2002, and as CEO of LaSalle Partners from 1990 until its merger with Jones Lang Wootton in 1999, the company said. He will continue to serve Jones Lang LaSalle on a consulting basis. The company, an international property services firm headquartered in Chicago, London, and Singapore, can be found online at http://www.joneslanglasalle.com.

Two key executives of Equity Office Properties Trust, Chicago, have resigned to pursue other interests, the office real estate investment trust has reported.Peter Adams, executive vice president for strategic planning, and Christopher Mundy, EVP for operations, led the planning and operations for EOPT's Western and Eastern regions, respectively. The responsibilities of the two, who assumed their roles in 2001, are being transferred to Peyton Owen, the EOPT's EVP and chief operating officer, the REIT said. EOPT estimates that the charge to earnings from severance paid to the two executives will be approximately $5 million. The REIT can be found online at http://www.equityoffice.com.

Craig S. Davis, a former president of Washington Mutual's home loans and insurance services group, has joined the board of directors of Ellie Mae.Mr. Davis, who has more than 25 years of senior management experience in the mortgage and financial services industry, served as WaMu's mortgage chief for seven years. He retired suddenly from the Seattle-based thrift last fall in the wake of a disclosure that it would book a loss in the third quarter related to mortgage loan sales because of problems in tracking loan commitments. Sig Anderman, Ellie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer, praised Mr. Davis's leadership at WaMu and predicted that his perspective "will be invaluable as we enter our critical next phase in leveraging state-of-the-art technology for mortgage brokers, lenders, and service providers." Ellie Mae can be found online at http://www.elliemae.com.

Peter R. Fisher, a former undersecretary for domestic finance at the U.S. Treasury, has joined investment management firm BlackRock Inc. as a managing director.Mr. Fisher was previously active in mortgage and government-sponsored enterprise issues while working for the Treasury Department. He left that post in early October. Before joining the Treasury, he was an official with the New York Federal Reserve Bank. BlackRock, which manages assets on behalf of institutional and individual investors worldwide, is majority-owned by The PNC Financial Services Group Inc. and by BlackRock employees. It can be found online at http://www.blackrock.com.

Marc Holliday, president of SL Green Realty Corp., New York, has been promoted to chief executive officer of the company and will retain his current title as well.SL Green said company founder Stephen L. Green, who has been the CEO, will continue in his post as chairman and as a full-time executive officer with responsibility for developing "key market relationships" and real estate opportunities while overseeing the company's strategic direction. Mr. Holliday joined the company in 1998 as chief investment officer and has held the title of president since 2001. SL Green is a real estate investment trust that specializes in acquiring, owning, and managing office properties in Manhattan. It can be found online at http://www.slgreen.com.

Tad Lowrey, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Jackson Federal Bank, Brea, Calif., has been named vice president of the Federal Reserve Board's Thrift Institutions Advisory Council for 2004.Mr. Lowrey has already served one year of a two-year term on the council, which consists of 12 representatives from thrift institutions, including savings and loans, savings banks, and credit unions. It meets three times a year with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to discuss developments relating to thrifts, the housing industry, mortgage finance, and certain regulatory issues.