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NetMore America Inc., a retail and wholesale mortgage banker based in Walla Walla, Wash., has hired Michele Sophia Newsham as its executive vice president, operations. Ms. Newsham brings to this new position over 20 years of national operation management experience within the mortgage industry with a strong focus on process design, efficiency modeling and team building. She will be based at NetMore's operations center in Clackamas, Ore. In her new role, Ms. Newsham is responsible for national operations for wholesale lending and the company's professional branch system. Most recently, she was the vice president, national operations at Senior Lending Network, Melville, N.Y. Before that she was senior vice president, national wholesale operations at American Brokers Conduit, the wholesale unit of American Home Mortgage, Melville. NetMore America funded its first loan in October 2007. Last year, it had volume of $586 million and is expecting to triple that this year. January 2009 mortgage production was over $126 million and for the year, NetMore America is projecting volume of over $1.50 billion.

The Austin, Texas-based Amherst Securities Group L.P., a broker-dealer specializing in residential mortgage-backed securities, said it has hired executives to expand its reach in securitized products. Joining the firm are Andrew Beal, managing director, agency collateralized mortgage obligation trading and Kenneth Dinovo, senior vice president, agency CMO structuring and trading. Also joining the firm are Daniel Farrell, senior managing director, structured products group; and Mark J. Castiglione, managing director, structured products group. Mr. Beal - who will be specializing in secondary and new issue CMOs for Amherst -previously worked at Merrill Lynch for 12 years, where he traded CMOs with a focus on secondary and new issue fixed and derivatives. Mr. Dinovo - who will be responsible for structuring and trading CMOs for Amherst - previously worked at Merrill Lynch in the agency CMO area, where he traded new issues, ran the new issue business and served as head structurer. Mr. Farrell, the former founder of a venture capital firm, and Mr. Castiglione, a former hedge fund manager, will help develop Amherst's non-mortgage asset-backed securities and structured finance business.

Residential Finance Corp., Columbus, Ohio, a nationwide lender specializing in Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgage refinancing, has hired Darren S. Fleishman to fill the newly created position of chief financial officer. In this position, Mr. Fleishman will lead the company's finance and accounting team and oversee all aspects of financial planning and strategic growth for the home mortgage lender. Most recently, he led the consulting group, Stein Fleishman, and earlier served as first vice president of corporate development at ABN AMRO/LaSalle Bank. Mr. Fleishman also served as a senior level consultant at The Cambridge Group and Gemini Consulting/The MAC Group.

Tim Wilson is the new president of affiliated businesses for The Long & Foster Cos., Chantilly, Va. In this position, he oversees Long & Foster Real Estate Inc., Prosperity Mortgage Co., Long & Foster Insurance Agency Inc., and Long & Foster Settlement Services. Mr. Wilson replaces Dave Stevens, who was recently promoted to president at The Long & Foster Cos. Most recently, Mr. Wilson was executive vice president and director of wholesale lending at Wachovia Bank, Charlotte, N.C. and before that, group senior vice president and national loan manager for World Savings & Loan, Oakland, Calif.

Apartment Investment and Management Co., Denver has promoted Tim Beaudin to president and chief operating officer and David Robertson to president and chief investment officer. Mr. Beaudin will continue to be responsible for property operations, redevelopment, construction services and information technology. Mr. Robertson also will become chief financial officer effective March 1, 2009, replacing Tom Herzog, who is resigning effective that date. Mr. Herzog will continue in an advisory capacity to Aimco following his departure. The timing of the CFO change is to accommodate the filing of the firm's 10-K form. The moves are being made as part of a management consolidation at the real estate investment trust brought on by the company's reduced scale and scope of activities.

Echo Loans, Foothill Ranch, Calif., announced today that Paul Rodriguez has been promoted to president of the company. The company's primary business focus is on the restructuring of unsustainable home loans through an 11-step loss mitigation process. Mr. Rodriguez's responsibilities will be all facets of the company's operations including production, development of products and services, recruitment and staffing. Mr. Rodriguez said "These are very challenging times for homeowners and lenders and we think we can play a key role in assisting consumers in keeping their homes and at the same time assist the lender in maintaining a return on their investment." His most recent positions were as executive vice president of Sage Credit Co., managing director of Quick Loan Funding Inc. and chief executive of Wall St. Funding Inc.

Gabe Minton, the former Mortgage Bankers Association vice president of industry technology and most recently chief operating officer at LOS vendor Mortgage Cadence, has joined Motivity Solutions Inc., a provider of optimization and risk mitigation software for the mortgage industry, as its chief strategy officer. In his new position, Mr. Minton is responsible for the overall strategic sales marketing and licensing of Motivity's products, third party alliances and strategic initiatives. Together with the engineering team, he will assist in further strengthening and expanding the foundation of their products and services. Also, in working closely with Motivity chief executive Tyler Sherman, Mr. Minton will create the architecture for smart imaging, e-mortgages, increased data integrity, and security to strengthen the positioning of Motivity's technology.

Millard Fuller, who co-founded affordable housing concern Habitat for Humanity International but split from the organization in 2005, died Feb. 3 after a brief illness. Mr. Fuller, 74, founded the Americus, Georgia-based Habitat in 1976 with his wife, Linda. When he left Habitat he started the Fuller Center for Housing, which also is based in Americus.

The co-chief executive officer of New York Mortgage Trust Inc., David A. Akre, has resigned from the company, effective immediately. Steven R. Mumma, who had been co-CEO, president and chief financial officer, is now the company's sole CEO, while retaining his other positions. Mr. Akre was one of the founders of NYMT and held the co-CEO position from when the company went public in 2004. Until the first quarter of 2007, NYMT had been a wholesale and retail mortgage lender. Now the company is a real estate investment trust that invests in mortgage-backed securities and adjustable-rate mortgages.

Jim Miller, a former managing director at J.P. Morgan Chase, has joined First American Information and Outsourcing Solutions as managing director of operations for the company's outsourcing and technology business lines. In his new role, Mr. Miller will be responsible for the unit's seven businesses, which include national default outsourcing, national claims outsourcing, loss mitigation services, loan production solutions, real estate owned servicing, default technologies and global offshore services. Mr. Miller has nearly 25 years of experience in prime, nonprime, and home equity servicing. He managed J.P. Morgan Chase's default servicing operations for the past three years.