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Fremont General Corp., Santa Monica, Calif., has put in place a new executive management team in the wake of the failure of a deal involving an investment in the company by Gerald J. Ford.The new chairman and chief executive is Stephen H. Gordon, the former chairman and chief executive of Commercial Capital Bancorp Inc., Irvine, Calif., until its sale to Washington Mutual Inc. in October 2006. Several other former CCBI executives are joining Fremont, including David S. DePillo, vice chairman and president; Richard A. Sanchez, executive vice president and chief administrative officer; Thea Stuedli, EVP and chief financial officer; and Donald E. Royer, EVP and general counsel. Mr. Gordon is the chairman and chief executive of Vitruvian Group LP, which in turn is the general partner of Vitruvian Financial Partners LP. The latter will focus on investing in regulated financial institutions in need of capital. Mr. DePillo developed the multifamily and commercial real estate lending platforms at CCBI and is the former vice president and director of multifamily banking at Home Savings of America. Mr. Sanchez is a former deputy regional director for the Office of Thrift Supervision. Fremont can be found online at http://www.fremontgeneral.com.

Reverse Mortgage Solutions Inc., a Houston-based servicer, subservicer, technology, and consulting firm, has acquired Mortgage Asset Systems LLC, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. As part of the acquisition, MA Systems president and chief information officer Kevin Gherardi has joined RMS as CIO and executive vice president. RMS said Mr. Gherardi has planned and implemented aspects of the Department of Housing and Urban Development's mortgage servicing system to support several reverse mortgage products as well as systems that support conventional mortgage products. The company can be found online at http://www.rmsnav.com.

Mortgage banking attorney Robert Lotstein and two other members of his firm have joined the Washington law firm of Buckley Kolar LLP.Grant Mitchell and Erika Jackson are moving along Mr. Lotstein to Buckley Kolar, which provides comprehensive legal services to the mortgage banking industry. The law firm can be found on the Web at http://www.buckleykolar.com.

Lawrence Yun has been named chief economist and senior vice president of research at the National Association of Realtors.Mr. Yun has served at the NAR since 2000, most recently as vice president and senior economist. He has been the chief forecaster at the NAR for several years, pioneering the development of the Commercial Leading Index after assisting in the development of the association's residential Pending Home Sales Index, the NAR said. The NAR can be found on the Web at http://www.realtor.org.

David M. Applegate has been named president of Radian Guaranty and Paul F. Bognanno has been appointed to the newly created position of vice chairman, according to Radian's Philadelphia-based parent company, Radian Group Inc.Mr. Applegate has more than 20 years of mortgage banking and residential real estate industry experience, most recently as chairman and chief executive officer of GMAC Residential and chief operating officer of GMAC ResCap. He was previously executive vice president and chief financial officer of GMAC Residential. Mr. Bognanno served as president and CEO of Principal Residential Mortgage Inc. for the past 11 years. Concurrent with his mortgage banking duties, Mr. Bognanno was a senior vice president at Principal Life Insurance Co. and chairman of the board of Principal Bank. Radian also announced that Mark A. Casale is leaving the company.

Matt T. Weaver, a former president of Capital Mortgage of South Florida, has announced the formation of The Finance Group Worldwide in Boca Raton, Fla., as a specialist in mortgages and other lending for shopping centers, restaurants, and multi-unit buildings.Mr. Weaver, who will be the president of the new company, is partnering with Athan "Tom" Prakas, president/broker of The Prakas Group Inc. restaurant and commercial brokerage firm. The Finance Group will provide commercial and Small Business Administration loans, equity financing, and noncollateralized restaurant financing. It can be found on the Web at http://www.financegroupworldwide.com.

Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros has resigned from the board of Countrywide Financial Corp., Calabasas, Calif., to spend more time managing CityView, a company that lends money to urban homebuilders.According to a public filing, Mr. Cisneros' resignation letter is dated Oct. 18, but Countrywide did not issue a news release on his departure until Oct. 24. A HUD secretary during the Clinton administration, he joined Countrywide's board in 2001. In his letter of resignation he notes his "immense admiration" for Countrywide as a company. Countrywide can be found on the Web at http://www.countrywide.com.

Clear Capital, a property valuation outsourcing firm based in Truckee, Calif., has announced the hiring of Dave Shepard as vice president and Scott Richardson as director of product development to lead the company's new Appraisal Division.The pair will immediately begin a search for an appraiser staff and a network of experienced appraisers across the country, the company said. Mr. Shepard, a third-generation real estate professional with 35 years' experience as an appraiser, has built and led appraisal departments for the National Lending Center, Centex Home Equity, Goldman Sachs, and New Century, Clear Capital said. Mr. Richardson worked most recently for Collateral Risk Solutions managing the review and reconciliation of appraisal and other valuation products. He was previously the due diligence manager for Countrywide Securities. Clear Capital can be found online at http://www.clearcapital.com.

Joseph H. Badal will retire as senior executive vice president and chief lending officer of Thornburg Mortgage Inc., Santa Fe, N.M., effective Dec. 31.Mr. Badal, who will also leave his position as one of Thornburg's directors, will be succeeded as senior EVP and chief lending officer by Paul Decoff. Mr. Badal joined Thornburg as a founding director in 1993 and was named to his current positions in 2001, the company said. Mr. Decoff joined Thornburg in January 2007 after 13 years at Countrywide Financial Corp., where he was most recently managing director and chief operations officer at Countrywide Bank. Thornburg, a real estate investment trust, can be found on the Web at http://www.thornburgmortgage.com.

Luminent Mortgage Capital, San Francisco, a struggling real estate investment trust that invests in mortgage-backed securities, says its chief financial officer has resigned effective Dec. 31.The resignation comes a few weeks after Luminent disclosed that Deloitte & Touche had quit as its independent auditor. The company said Christopher Zyda, its CFO and senior vice president, resigned because he did not want to relocate to Philadelphia when Luminent closes its San Francisco headquarters and moves its operations there. Luminent has already named vice president and controller Karen Chang to replace Mr. Zyda. Meanwhile, Luminent recently sued HSBC Capital, alleging that the lender wrongfully confiscated about $24 million in mortgage bonds that served as collateral for lines of credit. Luminent says HSBC seized the bonds this summer in regard to what it calls an "unreasonable" $5.75 million margin call. HSBC "confiscated the bonds for itself at an artificially steep discount by exploiting an aberrational market," Luminent says. HSBC has declined to comment on the lawsuit. The REIT can be found online at http://www.luminentcapital.com.