People

ECC Capital Corp., Irvine, Calif., says its executive vice president and chief operating officer Steven Szpytek has resigned to take a production job at a subsidiary.Mr. Szpytek will be based in Downers Grove, Ill., and will serve as director of production in the Midwest for Encore Credit Corp. The nonconforming wholesale lender is also losing its spokesman, Rob Asghar, who is departing to take a position at the University of Southern California. Recently, ECC/Encore, a real estate investment trust, trimmed 440 full-timers, or 27% of its work force.

Jeffrey Johnson has resigned as president and chief executive officer of Franklin Credit Management Corp., a New York-based finance company specializing in residential mortgage loans, according to Franklin Credit.Mr. Johnson, who also resigned from the company's board of directors, left to pursue other business interests, the company reported. Thomas Axon, the chairman and founder of the company, has been appointed president and CEO. Mr. Axon has been chairman since 1994 and was president and CEO from December 1994 through June 2000. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.franklincredit.com.

Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, has agreed to step aside temporarily as chairman of the House Administration Committee because of allegations about his links to a lobbying scandal, but he will continue to chair a housing subcommittee."He plans to continue to chair the [House Financial Services] housing subcommittee," a Ney spokesman said. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., urged the Ohio congressman to step down as chairman of the Administration Committee because of his relationship with lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who recently pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bribe public officials, including Rep. Ney. Rep. Ney has denied any wrongdoing and maintains that he will be vindicated when the investigations are completed. But the Speaker's spokesman, Ron Bonjean, said it would be a "big problem" having Rep. Ney lead the Administration Committee, which is expected to take up lobbying reforms early this year. "There are people that have pled guilty who have conspired to bribe him," Mr. Bonjean said. Rep. Ney announced his decision to relinquish the Administration Committee post after chairing housing subcommittee hearings Jan. 13-14 in New Orleans and Gulfport, Miss, on housing problems related to Hurricane Katrina.

Ronald D. Rice has been named director of operations at Houston-based Stewart Default Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of Stewart Mortgage Information.Mr. Rice will report to SDS president C. Alan Paylor. He was most recently chief operating officer of the Houston office of Barrett Burke Wilson Castle Daffin and Frappier LLP, where he was a leader of the firm's Houston bankruptcy division. Mr. Rice previously served as vice president of loan administration for Bank United, focusing on default management, real estate owned, and outsourcing relationships. He was also vice president of loan servicing at Mellon Mortgage, and senior vice president and servicing manager at North American Mortgage Co. SDS can be found online at http://www.stewartdefaultsolutions.com.

Samuel D. Marsico has been named senior vice president and chief risk officer of Genworth Financial Inc., a Richmond, Va.-based holding company that provides mortgage insurance and other insurance products.Mr. Marsico was most recently CRO of the company's mortgage insurance business, where he helped support its international expansion, Genworth said. He replaces Mark W. Griffin, who became the company's chief investment officer in October. Before joining Genworth in 1997, Mr. Marsico held various posts in auditing and finance with Price Waterhouse and General Electric Co. Genworth can be found online at http://www.genworth.com.

Thomas M. Goldstein, chairman and chief executive officer of ABN Amro Mortgage Group Inc., has been elected to a three-year term on the board of the Chicago Federal Home Loan Bank.He was elected by the Illinois member financial institutions of the FHLBank. Mr. Goldstein is also senior executive vice president of LaSalle Bank Corp., the parent company of ABN Amro Mortgage, the FHLBank reported. He has served on the Chicago FHLBank board since April 2005, when he was appointed by the board to assume the term of Scott Heitmann, who retired from the board and from his position as vice chairman of LaSalle Bank Corp. The Chicago FHLBank can be found online at http://www.fhlbc.com.

Ron Kessinger, senior executive vice president and chief operating officer of Triad Guaranty Inc., Winston-Salem, N.C., has been named senior EVP and assistant to the mortgage insurer's president and chief executive officer, Mark Tonnesen.Triad said Mr. Kessinger "will reduce his day-to-day involvement with the company but continue to work on strategic matters" during a transition period of unspecified duration, adding that he plans to retire following the transition period. The appointment is effective Jan. 16. The company said it does not plan to fill the COO position. "Mr. Tonnesen will assume direct responsibility for the operations of the company and its subsidiaries, including Triad Guaranty Insurance Corp.," Triad said. The company can be found online at http://www.triadguaranty.com.

The National Housing Conference has announced that Jeffrey Lubell is the new executive director of its research arm, the Center for Housing Policy.An expert in housing and community development, Mr. Lubell previously worked at the Department of the Housing and Urban Development as the director for policy development. "You are going to see a much stronger and more robust Center for Housing Policy under director Jeff Lubell," NHC president Conrad Egan said. After Hurricane Katrina, Mr. Lubell authored a discussion paper for NHC advocating the use of a land bank to help New Orleans rebuild its housing stock, which was devastated by flooding. Rep. Richard Baker, R-La., incorporated a similar concept into his Louisiana Recovery Act bill (H.R. 4100), which is pending in Congress. "We were pleased to see the Baker bill passed the House Financial Services Committee," Mr. Egan said. NHC, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, will continue to push for its enactment, he added.

Stephen M. Bessette has been named executive vice president of consumer lending (including mortgages) at the Washington Trust Co., Westerly, R.I.Mr. Bessette joined the company in 1997. He was previously president of New England Pacific Mortgage Co., Warwick, R.I., and president of Old Stone Mortgage Co., Seattle. Washington Trust can be found on the Web at http://www.washtrust.com.

AMCO, a Cleveland-based valuation management company, has announced the addition of Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., former chairman of the Republican Party, to its advisory board.Mr. Fahrenkopf said he believes in "market-driven solutions" to problems related to noncompliant and inaccurate valuations in the mortgage industry. "AMCO's total independence, single-focused approach to the valuation industry, and unique proprietary solutions are exactly what the mortgage lending industry needs, before government is forced to enact more onerous regulation," he said. Mr. Fahrenkopf joins a board already consisting of two former secretaries of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Andrew M. Cuomo and Jack F. Kemp, and William C. Apgar, a former commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration who is now senior scholar at Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies.