People

For all the talk about legal challenges to the recess appointment of Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, at least one group of consumer lenders has no intention of stepping into the fray.

Rob Katz, Ellie Mae's executive vice president of product strategy, resigned last week, for personal reasons.

Total Mortgage Services, Milford, Conn., Wednesday named Neil Bader as its new national retail sales manager.

With financial institutions and mortgage servicers trying to comply with new regulations in order to mitigate their overall risk problems, the law firm Venable has decided to add a veteran finance and capital markets attorney who handles compliance and regulatory matters.

NewDay USA, Fulton, Md., said that Rear Adm. Thomas C. Lynch, a senior executive with credentials in diverse disciplines, will serve as chairman of the board of directors of NewDay USA.

Michael Williams, the president and CEO of Fannie Mae, announced plans to step down as soon as a successor can be appointed, according to a company filing issued Tuesday to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Allonhill, Denver, an independent third-party review firm specializing in mortgage due diligence and credit risk management, hired Cal Smith as chief people officer.

American Realty Capital, New York, said that Andrew Winer has joined the company to lead a number of the firm's strategic debt initiatives.

My inbox was slammed by emails from readers who said "right on" to my commentary that the White House is (wrongly) using mortgage brokers as a whipping boy for the mortgage crisis. But some larger questions still loom: Does this White House even know what a loan broker is? I would guess not.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is using its authority over non-banks to target independent mortgage servicing companies.