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Craig Macnab, chief executive officer of National Retail Properties Inc., Orlando, Fla., has been appointed to the additional post of chairman of the board. Mr. Macnab succeeds Clifford R. Hinkle, who will remain on the board as lead director. Mr. Macnab joined the real estate investment trust in February 2004. The company also announced that Dennis Gershenson has been appointed to the board. Mr. Gershenson currently serves as president, CEO, and chairman of Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust, a shopping center REIT. National Retail Properties can be found online at http://www.nnnreit.com.

Joe McNally, a veteran mortgage industry executive, has joined BankAnnapolis, Annapolis, Md., as vice president and mortgage sales manager. Mr. McNally, who has more than 30 years of experience in the banking industry, comes to BankAnnapolis from First Horizon Home Loan, where he was district/area manager for the Mid-Atlantic Region. He previously spent 25 years with Bank of America and its predecessor institutions, where he held a variety of mortgage lending management positions.

Gary C. Dunton, chairman and chief executive officer of MBIA Inc., a bond insurer that has been wrestling with mortgage-related woes, has resigned and been replaced by former executive chairman Joseph "Jay" Brown. Mr. Brown had been executive chairman of the Armonk, N.Y.-based company until his retirement in May of last year and previously served as chairman/CEO between January 1999 and May 2004. MBIA can be found online at http://www.mbia.com.

The lender processing division of Fidelity National Information Services Inc., which the company plans to spin off in midyear, will be named Lender Processing Services Inc., the Jacksonville, Fla.-based FNIS has announced. Jeff Carbiener, currently executive vice president and chief financial officer of FNIS, will become president and chief executive officer of the new company. George Scanlon, who recently joined FNIS as executive vice president of finance, will assume the role of CFO of FNIS after the spinoff is complete, the company said. FNIS can be found on the Web at http://www.fidelityinfoservices.com.

Andy Morris has been named executive vice president and commercial real estate director at The South Financial Group Inc., Greenville, S.C. Mr. Morris, most recently an executive vice president at Regions Bank, spent 30 years with SouthTrust Bank and Wachovia (following its acquisition of SouthTrust in 2004). At SouthTrust, Mr. Morris built and led their commercial real estate line of business. At Wachovia, he served as the regional manager for commercial real estate activities in Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

Conrad Vasquez has been named executive vice president of operations at Clayton Holdings Inc., a Shelton, Conn.-based information and analytics company serving the debt markets. Mr. Vasquez, a 25-year industry veteran, will be responsible for the day-to-day operations for Clayton's due diligence and surveillance businesses and will focus on increasing operational productivity, improving service quality, and expanding product offerings, the company said. Mr. Vasquez joins Clayton after five years with Washington Mutual, where he was most recently an executive vice president and head of retail bank operations. He previously held executive positions at Advanta Bank Corp., First USA, Household Finance, American Express, and Sears.

UBS AG, the corporate parent of Wall Street firm UBS, has named a Morgan Stanley executive to head an investment banking unit that has been wrestling with U.S. mortgage-related writedowns. Jerker Johansson, a vice chairman in Europe for Morgan Stanley, has been appointed chairman and chief executive officer of UBS Investment Bank. UBS, which has dual headquarters in Zurich and Basel, also made three appointments to its executive board: Robert Wolf, chairman and CEO of UBS Group Americas and president and chief operating officer of the investment bank; Alexander Wilmot-Sitwell, joint global head of the investment banking department; and Martin Hoekstra, head of wealth management for the Americas.

Certain directors of Bank of America and Washington Mutual may face an election challenge if they do not provide a satisfactory explanation of what they did "to protect shareholders from excessive mortgage-related risk" in the past two years, according to CtW Investment Group. CtW called for the explanations, and threatened to urge shareholders to vote against the directors, in letters to BoA's Jackie M. Ward, Frank P. Bramble Sr., and Robert L. Tillman and WaMu's Mary Pugh, Stephen E. Frank, and William G. Reed Jr. The six directors sit on the BoA and WaMu committees designated to oversee risk for their respective banks, CtW said. "The meltdown of the U.S. mortgage market is among the worst financial disasters of the past 50 years," said Bill Patterson, executive director of CtW. "At the epicenter of this crisis are Bank of America, Washington Mutual, and four other U.S. banks whose failure to manage mortgage-related risk not only destroyed almost $300 billion in combined shareholder value, but also helped destabilize the global capital markets and precipitate a credit crunch that now threatens to throw the U.S. economy into recession." CtW can be found online at http://www.ctwinvestmentgroup.com.

Frederick Cannon, an equity researcher in the mortgage sector, has been promoted to the newly created positions of associate director of research and chief equity strategist of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. Mr. Cannon, 51, joined KBW in 2003, providing equity research on banks and thrifts specializing in the mortgage sector. He was previously executive vice president and director of investor relations at Golden State Bancorp and its subsidiary, California Federal Bank.

The Mortgage Bankers Association has promoted John Mechem to senior director of public affairs. In this capacity, Mr. Mechem will be responsible for developing and implementing MBA public affairs campaigns, serving as a primary spokesperson for the association and acting as a liaison between MBA and other industry communications representatives. "John's strategic vision and excellent communications skills have made him an invaluable asset to the MBA," said Jonathan Kempner, MBA's president and chief executive officer. "As the mortgage industry continues to evolve, we are very fortunate to have John communicating on behalf of MBA and our members." Mr. Mechem joined MBA in 2006 from the American Forest & Paper Association after serving as director of communications. He has over 12 years of experience in public and legislative affairs. His background includes serving as press secretary for Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., and previously as deputy press secretary for Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. He began his career as a legislative assistant for Rep. Jay Kim, R-Calif.