People

Michelle Korsmo has been named senior vice president for marketing and member programs at the American Land Title Association, the national trade association for the title insurance industry. Ms. Korsmo was most recently executive vice president of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group dedicated to educating citizens about economic policy. Before joining the foundation, Ms. Korsmo served three years as deputy chief of staff to U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. ALTA can be found on the Web at http://www.alta.org.

Teji Singh and Melinda Napoli have been named executive vice presidents at EMC Mortgage Corp., Lewisville, Texas. Ms. Singh will concentrate on the development of EMC's proprietary servicing default system and will be based out of the company's office in Irvine, Calif., EMC said. She has more than 17 years of mortgage and financial industry experience and previously served as EVP and chief loan administration officer for ResMae Mortgage Corp. and senior vice president and chief servicing officer at Option One Mortgage Corp. Ms. Napoli, also based in Irvine, will focus on re-engineering the operation of EMC's real estate owned department, the company said. Ms. Napoli previously served as SVP of continuous improvement at ResMae and held various posts with Option One, First Union Bank, and Associates Financial Services. EMC also appointed Katherine "KC" Reynolds vice president in the company's Customer Relations Division. The company can be found online at http://www.emcmortgage.com.

Deutsche Bank managing director Michael Commaroto, who has overseen the foreign bank's whole-loan trading operation for much of the decade, has left the company, industry sources have confirmed to MortgageWire. A few months back Paul Mangione, managing director in charge of subprime trading and asset-backed securities for the bank, also departed. He was Mr. Commaroto's deputy. A spokeswoman for Deutsche Bank declined to comment. Mr. Commaroto's departure has been the subject of rumors since December. Sources say he is looking at employment opportunities in the "scratch-and-dent" market. (For full details, see the April 7 issue of National Mortgage News.)

Teresa A. "Terri" Dial has been named to the newly created post of chief executive officer of Citi Consumer Banking in North America, which includes oversight of CitiMortgage, and to the post of global head of Citi consumer strategy. As CEO of consumer banking, Ms. Dial will oversee Citi's Retail Branch Network, CitiFinancial, CitiMortgage, and all other consumer businesses with the exception of Citi Cards, the company said. She will report directly to Citi CEO Vikram Pandit. Ms. Dial previously headed the consumer banking operations of Wells Fargo Bank in the United States and of Lloyds TSB UK Retail Banking.

Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson is "stepping down" on April 18 after being dogged by allegations of using his office to help friends and Bush supporters as well as recent calls for his resignation by two senators that oversee the Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD officials said they didn't know whether the White House is ready to appoint Mr. Jackson's successor. Under normal circumstances, Deputy Secretary Roy Bernardi, a former mayor of Syracuse, N.Y, would be in line to become the acting secretary. At a HUD news conference, Mr. Jackson said he is stepping down to attend to "personal and family matters" and abruptly left the room without taking questions from the news media. In testifying before two Senate panels, the secretary refused to answer questions about a lawsuit by the Philadelphia housing authority, which alleges that HUD tried to punish the agency for refusing to sell land to one of Mr. Jackson's friends. Sens. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., called for the secretary's resignation on March 21 after he declined to answer questions about his conduct. At a time when the country is facing a national housing crisis, the "allegations of cronyism and favoritism against Secretary Jackson are a worsening distraction at HUD," Sen. Murray said. "It is time for Secretary Jackson to go." Sen. Murray chairs a HUD appropriations subcommittee.

PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., Walnut Creek, Calif., has announced the formation of a homeownership preservation team led by John Jelavich, PMI's newly appointed vice president of homeownership preservation initiatives. PMI said it plans to expand its national accounts servicing team, whose primary responsibility will be to assist lenders in developing ways to help borrowers avoid foreclosure. "We're confident that providing additional manpower and resources to aid our customers will ultimately help people who have the ability to make a reasonable mortgage payment preserve their home," said Gene Campion, PMI's senior vice president of servicing operations, loss mitigation, and claims. PMI Mortgage can be found online at http://www.pmi-us.com.

Lexington Realty Trust, a New York-based real estate investment trust, has announced the election of E. Robert Roskind, who served as chairman from 1993 to 2006, as chairman of its board of trustees. Mr. Roskind replaces Michael L. Ashner, who has resigned as executive chairman and director of strategic acquisitions. "In view of the complexity of the ongoing joint ventures between Lexington Realty Trust and Winthrop Realty Trust, where I serve as chairman and chief executive officer, and our collective desire to pursue future joint venture investment opportunities between the companies, I believe it best that I focus my efforts from the perspective of Winthrop Realty Trust," Mr. Ashner said.

Real estate investment banking firm and commercial mortgage broker Johnson Capital has opened an office in Chicago and named vice president Brendan Hotchkiss to head it. The office will specialize in debt and equity as well as structured finance with a focus on commercial properties. "A contributing factor to Johnson Capital's decision to expand to Chicago was the resilience of the city's commercial real estate market despite the downturn in the credit markets," the company said.

Alvaro G. de Molina has been named CEO of GMAC Financial Services, replacing Eric Feldstein, who is taking a position at parent Cerberus Capital Management. The company said Mr. de Molina will oversee all GMAC operations and focus on strengthening the company's core businesses while positioning GMAC for long-term growth. In his new role at Cerberus Capital Management, which holds a majority interest in GMAC Financial Services, Mr. Feldstein will advise Cerberus with regard to its large financial services portfolio and with new investment opportunities. Mr. de Molina, 50, had a long career with Bank of America before joining GMAC in August of 2007.

Ameriquest Mortgage founder Roland Arnall -- an entrepreneur who once symbolized subprime lending in America -- has died at UCLA Medical Center, according to a statement released by his family. He was 68. No cause of death was given. Mr. Arnall, who started out in the industry by forming Long Beach Savings three decades ago, recently resigned as ambassador to the Netherlands. Based in Orange, Calif., Ameriquest and its sister company, Argent, together dominated the subprime industry for much of the early decade until state investigators began to accuse it of predatory lending. This past fall Mr. Arnall sold Argent and what was left of Ameriquest's servicing platform to Citigroup for an undisclosed sum.