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Tom Frunzi has been named executive vice president for sales and marketing at ValuAmerica, a Pittsburgh-based provider of title and settlement services delivery and mortgage supply chain systems.For the past two years, Mr. Frunzi has been an independent marketing consultant to leading mortgage, technology, and insurance companies, ValuAmerica said. For nearly 20 years before that, he was a senior executive at Lenders Service Inc., an appraisal management and title company.

The First American Corp., Dallas, has promoted Chris Leavell to the position of chief operating officer for the company's Mortgage Information Services Group, and Anthony Merlo will become the new president of eAppraiseIT, taking the post vacated by Mr. Leavell.Mr. Leavell will now assume responsibility for MISG's enterprise initiatives, international expansion, and product bundling programs. In addition, he will have direct operating responsibility for various MISG companies. Mr. Merlo will now oversee eAppraiseIT's continued growth in the property valuation market. He joined eAppraiseIT in July 2000 as a vice president of sales for the Eastern Region.

Thomas Wind and Scott Powell have been promoted to the positions of co-chief executive officers of JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s home finance business.Mr. Wind, who has been head of capital markets at Chase Home Finance, now has responsibility for the company's prime mortgage business. Before joining the company last year, he was chief financial officer at Nexstar Financial, and he was previously CFO and then president of CitiMortgage. Mr. Powell, who has held the post of chief credit officer for Chase's consumer businesses, is now responsible for home equity and subprime mortgage loans and community development. He joined Bank One in 2002 as chief risk officer for consumer businesses, became president of retail lending in 2003, and then became chief risk officer for JPMorgan Chase's consumer businesses last year after the merger of Bank One and JPMorgan Chase. In addition, the company announced that Thomas Garvey has been named vice chairman of Chase Home Finance. Mr. Garvey, who has been an executive vice president, will focus on prime mortgage production. The parent company can be found online at http://www.jpmorganchase.com.

Guy M. Cheramie has been named chief financial officer of New Orleans-based Sizeler Property Investors Inc., replacing Charles E. Miller Jr., who has resigned.Mr. Miller "intends to pursue other business opportunities," the company said. Mr. Cheramie, 58, has served as CFO of Sizeler Real Estate Management Co., a Sizeler subsidiary, for the past 10 years. The parent company can be found on the Web at http://www.sizeler.net.

DeepGreen Financial, a Cleveland-based home equity lender and business process outsourcer, has announced the hiring of well-known industry veteran Saiyid (Sy) T. Naqvi as chief executive officer.The appointment was announced following the departure of Jerome J. Selitto. Mr. Naqvi, the former president and chief executive officer of PNC Mortgage Corp., was most recently president and CEO of Setara Corp., a consulting firm specializing in business process outsourcing for financial services companies. Before his tenure at PNC, Mr. Naqvi was president and CEO of Sears Mortgage Securities Corp., and before that he was the vice president of secondary marketing at Citicorp Homeowners Inc. (now Citibank Mortgage). DeepGreen can be found online at http://www.deepgreenfinancial.com.

Rob Cone has been hired as managing partner of the reputation risk practice in the mortgage origination and servicing areas for Imag, a New York-based consulting firm.Mr. Cone has 24 years of experience in the international capital markets as a trader, salesman, and manager of risk products and people, according to Imag, which provides practical advice on reputation risk issues in the financial services industry. Mr. Cone is a former president of National Australia Capital Markets. "The mortgage industry has been tarnished by recent predatory lending and financial accounting scandals and is in dire need of the reputation risk tools and solutions that Imag provides," said Imag president Gary Peterson. The company can be found online at http://www.imagny.com.

Chito Schnupp has been named senior vice president for capital markets at ComUnity Lending, a mortgage company based in Morgan Hill, Calif.The company said her responsibilities will cover all secondary marketing operations, including pricing, trading, hedging, product development, and managing investor and warehouse relationships. Ms. Schnupp has been employed by numerous lenders over the past two decades, including Olympia Funding, Medallion Mortgage/AccuBank, First Franklin/National City Mortgage, Wells Fargo, and Capitol Commerce Mortgage Corp., the company said. ComUnity Lending can be found online at http://www.comunitylending.com.

James P. Witkins has been named senior vice president for technology and chief information officer at Freddie Mac, replacing William I. Ledman, who is retiring on April 1.Mr. Witkins was most recently managing director for technology and operations at Fleet Boston Financial. He previously held positions with Barclays Bank PLC, Manufacturers Hanover Trust, and Chemical Bank. Mr. Ledman has been senior vice president of information and systems and services at Freddie Mac since January 1995. "Bill expressed an interest in retiring two years ago, but agreed to stay on to help the company meet the challenges it was facing," said Eugene M. McQuade, Freddie Mac's president and chief operating officer.

The American Financial Services Association has hired Matthew J. Gannon to run its lobbying operation.AFSA's new director for federal government affairs previously served as director of individual donor programs at the National Republican Congressional Committee. The association can be found on the Web at http://www.americanfinsvcs.com.

Scott Coburn has been promoted to vice president and division manager of CreditFlex Funding, the nonprime lending division of ComUnity Lending, a mortgage lender based in Morgan Hill, Calif.Mr. Coburn has nearly 30 years of experience in the mortgage industry, and was most recently vice president and national sales manager for CreditFlex, the company said. His credentials include management roles with Fremont Bank, World Savings, and Freddie Mac, among others. CreditFlex also announced three other personnel changes and said it plans to double the number of its offices around the country this year and begin operations in several new states. The other personnel changes were as follows: Betty Milledge was named vice president of wholesale operations; Suzanne Martindale was named nonprime underwriting manager; and Lynn Terrell was named sales coordinator. CreditFlex can be found online at http://www.creditflexfunding.com.