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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.

Enterprise Community Partners Inc., a Columbia, Md.-based promoter of community development and affordable housing, has announced the appointment of Lori Chatman as president of the Enterprise Community Loan Fund, effective April 1. Ms. Chatman, currently senior vice president and chief credit officer, joined the fund in November 2004 with more than 15 years of experience in the field, the company said. She was previously the director of lending for the Calvert Social Investment Foundation. Enterprise Community Partners can be found on the Web at http://www.enterprisecommunity.com.

Pam K. Saylors will be promoted to president of commercial services at LandAmerica Financial Group Inc., Richmond, Va., effective April 2. Ms. Saylors, who now serves as group senior vice president of commercial title operations, is replacing Jeffrey C. Selby, who is retiring after 38 years with the company but will continue in a consulting capacity through the end of the year, LandAmerica said. Ms. Saylors has held a variety of leadership positions in 31 years at LandAmerica. The company can be found online at http://www.landam.com.

Real estate developer Stanley Tate, who served as chairman of the Resolution Trust Corp.'s National Advisory Board in 1990 and 1991, has been named chairman of the board of Las Vegas-based AmeriBid. Termed a "real estate legend" by AmeriBid CEO Larry Latham, Mr. Tate was nominated in July 1993 to become CEO of the RTC but withdrew his name in November in the wake of allegations that he improperly used his influence as chairman of an RTC regional advisory board in Florida. Mr. Tate strongly denied the allegations. In the news release from AmeriBid, Mr. Tate compared today's foreclosure problems with the situation after the savings-and-loan crisis. "The RTC sold hundreds of billions of dollars of assets, but this housing crisis is much bigger," Mr. Tate said. "We must sell these homes now, before neighborhoods suffer further deterioration." AmeriBid said the strategy behind its method is to share with the community a portion of the marketing savings or earned conversion revenue through donations and other means. AmeriBid can be found online at http://www.ameribid.com.

After 20 years with what is now Wolters Kluwer Financial Services, Roger Gudobba has joined Compliance Systems Inc., Grand Rapids, Mich., as the company's chief strategy officer. Mr. Gudobba was most recently a senior principal with Wolters Kluwer, where he was instrumental in developing and maintaining business relationships. In addition, he was a key contributor to the success of VMP Mortgage Forms, now part of Wolters Kluwer Financial. In 2004, Mr. Gudobba was the recipient of Mortgage Technology magazine's Steve Fraser Award. Compliance Systems, an automated document compliance provider, can be found on the Web at http://www.comliancesystems.com.

Thomas Karanian has been named to the newly created post of senior vice president of technology and data operations of Lewtan Technologies Inc., a provider of asset-backed securities surveillance data and analytics based in Waltham, Mass. Mr. Karanian will retain his title of chief technology officer. The creation of the new post reflects the combination of the data services, development, and operations departments into a single organization, Lewtan said. Before joining Lewtan in 2005, Mr. Karanian was vice president of engineering and services of NewsEdge Corp. and vice president of technology for Dialog at Thomson Corp., which acquired NewsEdge.

Donald D. Bradley has been promoted to executive vice president and chief investment officer of Nationwide Health Properties Inc., Newport Beach, Calif., and Abdo H. Khoury has been promoted to EVP and chief financial and portfolio officer. Mr. Bradley joined the real estate investment trust in March 2001 as senior vice president and general counsel, adding the title of chief investment officer in early 2004, the REIT said. Mr. Khoury joined NHP in August 2004 as senior vice president and chief portfolio officer, and added the role of chief financial officer to his responsibilities in early 2005. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.nhp-reit.com.

Jerry Pavlas has been appointed chief operating officer of Southwest Securities FSB, a Dallas-based residential construction and mortgage warehouse lender. Before joining Southwest Securities, Mr. Pavlas was chief executive officer of Presidential Finance Co. in Atlanta. He served as president and COO of First State Bank of Texas, part of the Pohlad Banking Group, from 1998 to 2002, and as a senior banker with Hibernia Corp. from 1990 to 1998. Southwest Securities, the subsidiary bank of SWS Group Inc., can be found online at http://www.swsgroupinc.com.