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D. Keith Johnson, formerly president and chief executive officer of Long Beach Mortgage, has been named president and chief operating officer of Clayton Holdings Inc., a Shelton, Conn.-based information and analytics company serving lenders, servicers, and the debt markets.Mr. Johnson was president and CEO of Long Beach, a subprime lending subsidiary of Washington Mutual Inc., from 2003 until March of this year, Clayton said. He was previously executive vice president and COO of WaMu's commercial group and chief financial officer of Bank United's mortgage division. Clayton CEO Frank Filipps said Mr. Johnson brings "a deep understanding of the dynamics of both origination and securitization, and the skills and track record to improve the efficiency of our clients' operations and our own." The company can be found online at http://www.clayton.com.

Jerry Schiano, president and chief executive officer of Wilmington Finance, Plymouth Meeting, Pa., has left the company, industry sources have confirmed to MortgageWire.Neither Mr. Schiano nor Wilmington Finance could be reached for comment by deadline time. A subprime lender, Wilmington Finance is a subsidiary of insurance giant American International Group. A receptionist at Wilmington Finance had no information on Mr. Schiano, but said the new CEO is George Roach.

Tony Meola, the production chief for Washington Mutual Inc., Seattle, has resigned from the company, accepting a position with competitor New Century Financial Corp., Irvine, Calif.A spokeswoman for WaMu, the nation's third-largest residential lender, confirmed his departure to MortgageWire on Friday. Mr. Meola, who served as executive vice president of WaMu's home loan production unit, will hold a similar title at New Century, the nation's second-largest subprime funder. New Century released a statement on Monday saying it had hired Mr. Meola. The executive will be charged with expanding the company's national production franchise and broadening its product menu. "He's known as a problem solver," said one executive familiar with his career.

Alexander Gordon Jardin has been named chief executive officer of Franklin Credit Management Corp., a New York-based company that specializes in buying, managing, and selling subprime residential mortgage assets.Mr. Jardin, a member of the company's board, was most recently a consultant to start-up life and health reinsurance companies, Franklin said. From 2000 to 2004, he was president and chief operating officer of General USA Life Reassurance Co. and senior vice president for reinsurance at Business Men's Assurance Co., both wholly owned subsidiaries of Assicurazioni SpA, a global insurer based in Italy. Franklin can be found online at http://www.franklincredit.com.

President Bush is expected to appoint James B. Lockhart III as acting director of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, which supervises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to sources.Mr. Lockhart is currently the second-ranking official at the Social Security Administration, and the White House wants him to take over OFHEO immediately and replace acting director Steven Blumenthal. The timing may be important because OFHEO is expected to release its long-awaited report on Fannie's $10.8 billion accounting scandal soon. Recent news reports indicate that OFHEO may release a report in a few weeks, but an OFHEO spokeswoman declined to specify a timeframe when asked by MortgageWire. Mr. Lockhart was a co-founder and managing director of NetRisk, a risk management software firm, before joining the SSA. During his career, he was a senior vice president at Nation Re (1996) and a managing director at Smith Barney (1993-95).

Russell E. Johnson has been hired as senior vice president for loss management at Radian Guaranty Inc., a Philadelphia-based provider of mortgage insurance.Radian said Mr. Johnson was most recently senior vice president and director of servicing operations for American Residential Equities Inc. He was previously vice president and national servicing manager at Washington Mutual Bank, Radian said. Mr. Johnson also spent nine years at Wells Fargo, where he created and directed a subprime mortgage servicing platform. Radian, a subsidiary of global credit risk management company Radian Group Inc., can be found online at http://www.radian.biz.

ING Real Estate has appointed Michiel Rang as senior managing director for international real estate finance and a member of the management board of ING Real Estate Finance.Mr. Rang was previously managing director for international property finance and was responsible for business in continental Europe. When he assumes his new title on May 1, he will be responsible for ING Real Estate Finance's business outside the Netherlands.

Mortgage industry veteran Ed Abufaris has been named national sales director for correspondent lending at CitiMortgage, St. Louis.CitiMortgage said Mr. Abufaris has nearly three decades of experience in the mortgage business, including 13 with CitiMortgage. He will oversee the sales organization, which has been reorganized into three geographical divisions from four, the company said. Mr. Abufaris was most recently division manager for CitiMortgage's Southeast Division. He began his career with Fidelity Federal Savings and Loan in Florida. He later managed secondary marketing for First Atlanta Mortgage, followed by 10 years as capital markets manager with MGIC.

Gareth Davies has been named senior vice president for enterprise operational risk at Freddie Mac, effective April 24.Mr. Davies was most recently vice president and chief risk officer for GE Asset Management, and has spent nearly 20 years with General Electric, Freddie Mac said. At GE Asset Management, Mr. Davies developed a risk framework and an operational risk structure, as well as an in-house system to automate operational risk reporting, Freddie Mac said.

Mortgage industry veteran John Gibbons has been named head of capital markets for the residential lending businesses of Wells Fargo & Co.'s Home and Consumer Finance Group.Mr. Gibbons' responsibilities will include all loan sale, securitization, and hedging activities, Wells Fargo said. He will support Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Des Moines, Iowa; Wells Fargo Financial, a Des Moines-based provider of consumer and commercial credit products; and Wells Fargo Consumer Credit Group, a San Francisco-based provider of home equity and personal credit accounts. Mr. Gibbons was most recently a senior consultant with Hollister LLC and vice chairman of Overture Corp. During his 20-plus years in the mortgage industry, he has been employed by Federal Home Loan Banks, insurance companies, banks, and investment management firms, and he was executive vice president and chief financial officer of Freddie Mac from 1996 to 2000, Wells Fargo said. The company can be found online at http://www.wellsfargo.com.