WaMu Hires Wholesale Ops Chief

Mortgage banking veteran Bill Steinmetz has been hired to lead the Wholesale Production Operations group of Washington Mutual Inc., Seattle.Mr. Steinmetz, 44, will assume the new post on May 2 and will oversee WaMu's national network of wholesale loan fulfillment centers, the company said. He will be located in Jacksonville, Fla., and will report to Wayne Pollack, the company's division executive of home loans production operations. Mr. Steinmetz, who has more than 20 years of experience in the mortgage industry, previously served as senior vice president of business-to-business operations for Chase Home Finance, where he managed the company's wholesale and correspondent operations, B2B pricing, and registration and operations support, WaMu said.