People

American Home Bank, Mountville, Pa., has announced the combination of its Northeast and Southeast wholesale units and the promotion of mortgage veteran William J.S. "Bill" Kelley to head the division. The company said it is expanding its whole product offerings and delivery systems at a time when "many major wholesalers are withdrawing from the third-party origination business." Mr. Kelley, whose title will be president of the wholesale division, will be based in Jacksonville, Fla. He previously held positions at Travelers Mortgage Services, Anchor Mortgage Services, Tucker Federal Bank, and FNB Bank. The AHB wholesale division can be found on the Web at http://www.bankahbwholesale.com.

Carla Gallas has been promoted to senior vice president of claims at Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp., the Milwaukee-based primary subsidiary of MGIC Investment Corp. MGIC said Ms. Gallas will be responsible for the company's loss mitigation efforts as well as maximizing its efficiency in claim operations. Ms. Gallas has been with MGIC for 24 years and has held various positions in sales and underwriting, most recently as vice president of field operations.

Jason Gillespie has been named senior vice president and mortgage purchase credit manager in the National Mortgage Purchase Division of Dallas-based Southwest Securities FSB. Mr. Gillespie has nearly two decades of experience in finance and mortgage banking, Southwest Securities said. His background includes production, secondary marketing, operations, credit management, and compliance. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.swsgroupinc.com.

A consultant and veteran mortgage- and asset-backed securities researcher has been named chief credit officer of Standard & Poor's in one of a series of executive appointments at the company. Mark Adelson, a former researcher for Nomura Securities International and Moody's Investors Service, has been named to the chief credit officer post as a managing director. In addition, former S&P chief credit and quality officer Clifford Griep has been named executive managing director of ratings risk management; and Neri Bukspan, previously the company's chief accountant, has been named chief quality officer and managing director.

After suffering huge mortgage-related losses, Wachovia Corp. has announced the separation of its chairman and CEO functions. At the close of business on May 8, Ken Thompson relinquished his title as chairman but remains as president and chief executive officer. Lanty Smith, Wachovia's "lead" director, was named chairman. The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank has suffered large writedowns because of its collateralized debt obligation business. In a new report, Sandler O'Neill notes that Wachovia is suffering more than most because of its purchase of Golden West Financial, Oakland, Calif., a large player in the payment-option adjustable-rate mortgage market.

Cantor Fitzgerald LP, New York, has announced the formation of Cantor Real Estate LLC and named Andrew N. Stark to lead the group. Cantor said it plans to create a real estate fund focused chiefly on opportunistic investments in various sectors, including dislocated assets. Mr. Stark, who will be executive managing director of Cantor RE, was previously president of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions of WCI Communities Inc. after starting his career as a real estate attorney at Lord Day & Lord, Barrett Smith. Cantor can be found on the Web at http://www.cantor.com.

Regions Financial Corp., Birmingham, Ala., has announced that David H. Rupp will join the company on May 19 as senior executive vice president and head of consumer services, which includes its mortgage business. Mr. Rupp, who had been the sales, service, and execution executive for Bank of America's global consumer and small business bank, will lead Regions' consumer banking and mortgage lines of business, its largest business segment by revenue. He will also be a member of Regions' Executive Council, its highest-level management committee. Mr. Rupp succeeds Candice Bagby, who is retiring after a 38-year banking career. Ms. Bagby will remain with the company through a transition period. Mr. Rupp, 44, led BoA's home equity business and was previously its chief financial officer for consumer real estate. He has also worked for Wachovia Bank as controller for consumer products and structured products.

KBW, a New York City-based investment bank, has announced the addition of two principals and an associate to its recently formed Real Estate Investment Banking Group. The new hires are principals Michael Hawkins and Robert Woomer and associate Christopher Hanley. Mr. Hawkins will focus on client coverage and Mr. Woomer will head KBW's real estate private equity team. All three join KBW from the Real Estate Investment Banking Group of Wachovia Securities. KBW, the parent company of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc., can be found on the Web at http://www.kbw.com.

Jonathan Polansky, group managing director of the Asset Finance Group at Moody's Investors Service, has been named to the rating agency's newly created position of structured finance global surveillance coordinator. Mr. Polanksy will work closely with the rating agency's surveillance and line-of-business managers to enhance the monitoring of Moody's-rated structured deals, Moody's said. "Over the past several years, as the number of rated deals outstanding has grown rapidly, so has our investment of resources in the monitoring of those ratings," said Moody's executive vice president Noel Kirnon. "We have transferred a significant number of analysts and management resources to surveillance teams globally, and this latest appointment is another example of our commitment to this important area." Moody's can be found online at http://www.moodys.com.

Digital Risk LLC, a risk mitigation firm based in Maitland, Fla., has named former Credit Suisse conduit and credit products group founder Bruce Miller as the head of its structured finance consultancy practice in New York. Mr. Miller was most recently managing director and group head at ING Capital Markets. Before his post at Credit Suisse, he headed the securitization group at The Daiwa Bank, Ltd., where he ran the firm's U.S. securitization business.