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Joseph Falk, a past president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers and its current legislative chair, has been named to the Consumer Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Board.The council, which meets three times a year in Washington, D.C., advises the Fed on important policy issues related to consumer financial services. Mr. Falk will serve a three-year term on the council. He is a consultant with the law firm Akerman Senterfitt, where he serves as an expert on lending, brokering, insurance, and other business issues. Mr. Falk is one of 10 new members who were added to the Consumer Advisory Council.

Martin J. Levine, co-founder, executive vice president, and chief operating officer of Opteum Financial Services, will retire March 31, according to Opteum Financial's parent company, Opteum Inc., a real estate investment trust based in Vero Beach, Fla.Opteum said Mr. Levine will continue in his EVP role pending his retirement. Mr. Levine co-founded Opteum Financial in 1999 with Peter R. Norden, and he was previously the founder and president of First Builders Financial Corp., which merged with Olde Town Mortgage in 1989 to form First Town Mortgage Corp. Opteum also announced that Robert Filiberto and G. Hunter Haas IV have been appointed co-COOs of Opteum Financial. Mr. Filiberto is senior vice president and chief servicing and technology officer at Opteum Financial, and Mr. Hunter is senior vice president and head of mortgage research at Opteum Inc. Opteum can be found on the Web at http://www.opteum.com.

Bob Repass has been promoted from senior vice president to managing director of Dallas-based Bayview First Funding, a division of Bayview Financial, a Miami-based real estate lending and investment finance company.In his new position, Mr. Repass will oversee the acquisition and servicing of seller-finance loans, Bayview Financial said. Before joining Bayview, Mr. Repass was operations vice president for the private mortgage operation of Associates Financial Services, which was acquired by Citigroup, and a national contract buyer for Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities. Bayview can be found online at http://www.bayviewfinancial.com.

A top Federal Housing Administration staffer, Meg Burns, is leaving the agency and joining Potomac Partners, a Washington consulting firm, in February.Ms. Burns is the director of the FHA's single-family program development office, and she has worked on developing legislation to revitalize the FHA mortgage insurance program. She is best known for managing the FHA's reverse mortgage program, according to Brian Chappelle, a founding partner of the mortgage banking consulting firm. "Having Meg join Potomac Partners further strengthens one of our core competencies -- government lending -- and further expands our services into the rapidly growing field of reverse mortgages," Mr. Chappelle said.

Hanover Capital Mortgage Holdings Inc., a real estate investment trust, says senior managing director George Ostendorf has resigned from the company, effective Dec. 29.Mr. Ostendorf, who concentrated his efforts on Hanover's taxable subsidiaries (which include due-diligence reviews), said he is parting on good terms. He was a co-founder of Hanover's predecessor firm, which commenced business in 1989. The REIT primarily invests in subordinate mortgage-backed securities. Company chief executive John Burchett said Mr. Ostendorf "has been a valued member of our management team and our board since inception," but noted that the firm has reduced "many activities of its taxable subsidiaries." The publicly traded Hanover is based in Edison, N.J. Its stock is trading near a 52-week low. Mr. Ostendorf told MortgageWire that he will still have a "business relationship" with the firm but is looking at other opportunities.

John A. Ward III has resigned as chairman of the board of Doral Financial Corp., San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Dennis G. Buchert, an independent director on the board, has been named non-executive chairman of Doral.Mr. Ward's decision "reflects the fact that he holds different views as to the best process to be followed by the company to meet its capital and liquidity needs and maximize shareholder value," Doral said. Mr. Ward's views on disclosure were reviewed by members of the board's audit committee, management, and outside counsel, and the audit panel's chairman has "satisfied himself" that disclosures have been appropriate, the company said. Mr. Buchert has 35 years of experience in the banking industry, including stints as chief executive officer of Credit Agricole Indosuez and president and CEO of IBJ Whitehall Bank & Trust Co., Doral reported. In September 2006, Doral announced an agreement with the SEC to pay a $25 million civil penalty in connection with a probe of its restatement of financial results for 2000-2004, which slashed $694.4 million from retained earnings. Doral can be found online at http://www.doralfinancial.com.

Deutsche Bank has announced that Doug Naidus, chairman and chief executive officer of MortgageIT Holdings Inc., will become head of mortgage origination in the bank's residential mortgage-backed securities group now that Deutsche Bank's acquisition of MortgageIT has been completed.Mr. Naidus will also hold the title of managing director. Deutsche Bank said the purchase price of the acquisition was $430 million, or $14.75 a share. A real estate investment trust, MortgageIT Holdings owns MortgageIT Inc., a residential mortgage lender that employs 2,100 full-timers in 47 branches and is licensed to originate mortgages in all 50 states. "Expanding our origination platform provides us with access to a steady source of product for distribution into the mortgage capital markets," said Phil Weingord, head of Global Markets in the Americas at Deutsche Bank. The bank can be found online at http://www.db.com.

Richard J. Wrensen has been named president and chief executive officer of Capital Alliance Income Trust Ltd., a real estate investment trust based in San Francisco.The board of directors of the mortgage REIT, a specialty residential lender, also unanimously approved the company's transition to the status of a self-advised REIT. The company said its move to self management has resulted in "significant transition and termination expenses." The REIT's former adviser received a termination payment of approximately $500,000, CAIT reported. The company estimated that its net loss for the year will exceed $900,000, including one-time transition and termination expenses. CAIT can be found on the Web at http://www.calliance.com.

Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson is planning to stay on as head of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to news reports.Since the November elections, rumors have been circulating that Secretary Jackson would resign to avoid facing hostile questioning by Democrats who now control Congress and the committees that oversee HUD. However, Mr. Jackson told Reuters that he has no plans to resign and expects to have good relations with the Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee, including the incoming chairman, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.

Feldman Mall Properties Inc., Great Neck, N.Y., has announced the resignation of Wayne Snider as executive vice president of development to pursue private real estate investment opportunities.Feldman said the resignation of Mr. Snyder, 65, will take effect in mid-January. The real estate investment trust said it plans to name someone to replace Mr. Snyder in the EVP position. The REIT can be found online at http://www.feldmanmall.com.