Downpayment Group Names Chairman

Joel Pate, president of American Family Funds, Mobile, Ala., has been named chairman of the Homeownership Alliance of Nonprofit Downpayment Providers.The Bethesda, Md.-based HAND represents 12 organizations that provide downpayment gifts to low- and moderate-income homebuyers who qualify for a mortgage but lack the cash for downpayment or closing costs. At its first annual meeting in Atlanta Jan. 17, HAND established a political action committee and assigned committees to devise plans to improve homebuyer education and foreclosure avoidance strategies, the organization said. Other officers and members of the HAND board are: vice chairman, Ann Ashburn, chief executive officer of The AmeriDream Charity Inc., Gaithersburg, Md.; secretary, Scott Syphax, CEO of the Nehemiah Corp. of California; assistant secretary, Fred Proctor Jr., CEO of Family Home Providers, Cumming, Ga.; and treasurer, Richard Ferguson, CEO of Neighborhood Gold, Orem, Utah. HAND can be found online at http://www.downpaymentalliance.org.