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George Schwartz, a former managing director for Bank of America, has been named executive vice president and division president of default services at ServiceLink, a unit of Fidelity National Financial, Jacksonville, Fla. Mr. Schwartz will be responsible for such items as loss mitigation, title, closing and escrow, valuations, asset management and disposition. Mr. Schwartz has more than 25 years' experience in the areas of default administration, loss mitigation and mortgage servicing. Prior to his tenure at Bank of America, Mr. Schwartz served as senior vice president, loan administration at Cenlar FSB, director of servicing management at Fannie Mae and EVP of real estate operations at FNRS Financial Corp. For more information about ServiceLink, visit http://www.servicelinkfnf.com.

Peter Graves will be the new celebrity spokesman for reverse mortgage lender American Advisors Group, Irvine, Calif. The television campaign will launch on Oct. 12, 2009 and coincides with the reverse mortgage originator's release of a new informational DVD, brochure and website launch. Mr. Graves is best known for his role as Jim Phelps, the team leader on the television show "Mission Impossible." His new role might be just as difficult as some of Mr. Phelps' activities. Consumer advocates such as the National Consumer Law Center are decrying marketing tactics used by reverse mortgage lenders such as the use of celebrity spokespeople. In the past, Senior Lending Network used the late Jerry Orbach and Robert Wagner; Generation Mortgage used the late Jack Kemp, former pro football player, member of the House of Representatives, vice presidential candidate and Housing and Urban Development secretary; while James Garner was a spokesman for Financial Freedom.

Robert Grosser, former chief executive of Cityscape Financial, an early high flyer of the subprime business of 1990s, has been named president of Luxury Mortgage, Stamford, Conn. Luxury is buying Homestar Direct, a mortgage firm that Mr. Grosser formed in 1999 after the publicly traded Cityscape filed for bankruptcy protection. Homestar's origination platform focused on consumer direct marketing utilizing diverse channels to reach target borrowers. Homestar is becoming part of Luxury in an asset acquisition transaction. Mr. Grosser will work with Luxury's CEO David Adamo on the overall day-to-day management of the firm with a focus on the following areas: new business opportunities, regulatory/compliance, accounting, human resources, vendor management, facilities management, capital planning, capital raising, strategic planning and risk management. Cityscape was based in Elmsford, N.Y.

The SAFE Act is putting nondepository mortgage lenders at a disadvantage to banks when it comes to hiring new loan officers, according to Scott Stern, chief executive of mortgage cooperative Lenders One. The Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act passed by Congress in July 2008 requires LOs joining an independent mortgage company to go through prelicensing and continuing education requirements mandated by the states. "It is a huge barrier to hiring new loan officers," Mr. Stern said, because LOs hired by banks don't face prelicensing and continuing education requirements and don't pay licensing fees. Like stockbrokers, he said there should be one nationally recognized prelicensing course and one nationally recognized continuing education course for all loan officers. "We believe all lenders that meet with consumers should be licensed," the Lenders One CEO said. Mr. Stern is forming an advocacy group called the Community Mortgage Lenders of America that has membership commitments from 140 mortgage banking companies and community banks. He has lined up BuckleySandler LLP to serve as regulatory counsel for the new trade group and the Glaser Group to be its Washington lobbying arm.

Vital Financial has named long-time mortgage technologist Cy Brinn as a principal. Previously, he was the president of Metavante Lending Solutions. Going forward, using Mr. Brinn's market knowledge, Vital will find, analyze and structure private equity and venture capital investments in areas including mortgage technology. Mr. Brinn is also a finalist for the 2009 Mortgage Technology magazine Steve Fraser Visionary Award, which goes to a technology visionary and evangelizer. The award ceremony is scheduled for Oct. 11, at the annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association being held San Diego.

Steve Abreu is the new president of GMAC's mortgage operations, working out of the company's Fort Washington, Pa., office. His most recent position was president and chief executive of GreenPoint Mortgage Funding of California. (GreenPoint, a subsidiary of a bank, closed two years ago.) Mr. Abreu is a 20-year veteran of the mortgage banking industry. He will report to Thomas Marano, chairman and CEO of GMAC's mortgage operations. Mr. Marano recently assumed additional responsibilities as GMAC's chief capital markets officer, coordinating the firm's capital commitments, risk analytics and broker/dealers. The hiring of Mr. Abreu will provide ongoing, strategic focus for the firm's mortgage operations, GMAC said. Mr. Abreu will be representing the company at the upcoming Mortgage Bankers Association convention in San Diego.

Bank of America chief executive Kenneth Lewis — the man responsible for the bank buying both Countrywide Financial and Merrill Lynch — is stepping down at yearend. Late Wednesday BoA said its board is evaluating successors, with expectations of having the new CEO named by the time Mr. Lewis departs. Thanks to the Countrywide purchase, which closed last summer, BoA is the nation's largest servicer of home mortgages and second largest originator. His departure ends what has been a stormy 12 months for the handpicked successor to Hugh McColl Jr. In regard to the Merrill deal, Mr. Lewis tussled with regulators over the purchase (the bank almost backed out), and drew ire from shareholders and others over disclosure decisions over bonuses and losses at the investment bank late last year. (Merrill was a large player in the subprime ABS, CDO and warehouse lending market.) Mr. Lewis, 62, in his most recent pubic appearance, gave no indication that he might step down, instead using a Sept. 14 speech in Japan to sound a positive tone about the company and the global economy.

Joseph P. Campanelli has been hired as president and chief executive at Flagstar Bancorp Inc., Troy, Mich. Mr. Campanelli will replace Mark T. Hammond, who had served as Flagstar's president since 1995 and CEO since 2002. He is the former president and chief of Sovereign Bank and its parent Sovereign Bancorp Inc., Philadelphia. Mr. Campanelli said, "Flagstar has an excellent core franchise, a dedicated and skilled workforce and a strong market position originating and servicing residential mortgages. We have a great future ahead of us." For the second quarter, Flagstar was the nation's 11th largest originator with volume of $9.3 billion, according to the Quarterly Data Report. The QDR lists Flagstar as the nation's 18th largest servicer as of June 30, 2009, with a portfolio of $61.5 billion.

Former mortgage banker Walter C. Klein, who managed such lenders as First Nationwide Mortgage and Sears Mortgage during his long career, died this past Monday after a battle with renal carcinoma. His age was not immediately available. In 2002 Citigroup purchased Frederick, Md.-based First Nationwide and its bank parent. Mr. Klein stayed for a few months in a transition mode and then moved on. During his career he also worked as an executive consultant at Cerberus Operations and Advisory Co. and Aztec American Bank. His wife, Patricia, a daughter and two grandchildren survive him.

CitiMortgage, in yet another reorganization move, has terminated its residential production chief, Brad Bunts, a 13-year veteran of the company. Also let go was Jeffrey Walker, head of national sales. A memo provided to National Mortgage News confirmed the dismissals which were described by CitiMortgage CEO Sanjiv Das as a way for the lender to simplify its "reporting structure." In the memo both men were described as valuable members of the CitiMortgage team. Mr. Brunts oversaw CitiMortgage's entire origination business. In their place, the bank-owned mortgage company named Ed Abufaris to lead its correspondent channel and Fred Bolstad to manage the consumer mortgage channel. Both will report directly to Mr. Das. According to the Quarterly Data Report, CitiMortgage ranked fourth nationwide in residential fundings in the second quarter with $31 billion, a 2% decline from the same period last year. It also is the nation's fourth largest servicer of home mortgages.