People

Mark Elliott McLeod has been named president and chief executive officer of MEM Financial Solutions Inc., a mortgage brokerage based in the Albany suburb of Half Moon, N.Y.Mr. McLeod formed the company, which is licensed in New York and Florida, in June 1999. He describes it as being based on a new corporate model in which 100% of an employee's income is based on production. "If you don't produce, you don't get paid," Mr. McLeod said. "It's very simple -- we do not have mediocre sales people sitting around and receiving a predetermined salary for work they may or may not be doing." Mr. McLeod was formerly employed by UC Lending, Baton Rouge, La., and First United Mortgage Co., Kenilworth, N.J.

Mortgage technology pioneer Michael Jackman has been named to the advisory board of LogicEase Solutions Inc., San Francisco, according to the company's ComplianceEase division.Mr. Jackman was most recently president and chief executive officer of Interlinq Software Corp., a software development company serving the mortgage industry. Mr. Jackman also served as president of Fiserv Inc., where he developed the company's electronic commerce strategy. During his tenure at HNC Software Inc., now a part of Fair Isaac, Mr. Jackman "played a key role in the design and development of Falcon, the most advanced consumer credit fraud detection system in the world," ComplianceEase said. In addition, the company said Mr. Jackman pioneered the electronic fulfillment of real estate information products and services in the 1980s.

PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. Ltd. has appointed Alberto Constantini as senior adviser to the company in Italy.Mr. Constantini has held several executive-level jobs in the European mortgage industry, including chief executive officer of Banca delle Marche and vice chairman of the European Mortgage Federation. In his role with PMI, Mr. Constantini will assist the company in developing strategies for the future growth of the mortgage market while identifying and broadening market opportunities across Europe, the company said.

Carlos M. Velez-Cruz has been named president of Oriental Mortgage, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and executive vice president of the parent company, Oriental Financial Group Inc.With the advent of Mr. Velez, the company said it expects to announce plans to "significantly expand" its mortgage business. Mr. Velez was most recently president of the equity wholesale division of Equity Financial Services of San Juan, a mortgage banking company. He was previously senior vice president and secondary market manager for the Popular Mortgage division of Banco Popular de Puerto Rico of San Juan, Oriental said.

Jason Oelrich, formerly chief financial officer of Liberty Financial Group, a mortgage bank based in Bellevue, Wash., has been promoted to president and managing director of the company.As president, Mr. Oelrich will succeed Barry Horn, who will remain chairman and chief executive officer and concentrate on new business development initiatives. Before joining Liberty Financial, Mr. Oelrich founded and served as president of Virtual CFO Solutions, a provider of business process outsourcing systems. He was previously a partner with MW Capital, a venture capital firm that works with early and mid-stage technology companies. Liberty Financial can be found online at http://www.lfgloan.com.

John K. Wulff, the non-executive chairman of the board of Hercules Inc., a manufacturer and supplier of specialty chemicals, has been elected to Fannie Mae's board of directors.Fannie Mae said Mr. Wulff will fill the unexpired term of Anne Mulcahy, who resigned in October. Mr. Wulff, who was a member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board from July 2001 to June 2003, has been appointed to the Fannie Mae board's Audit and Compensation Committee. Fannie Mae can be found on the Web at http://www.fanniemae.com.

Thomas Murphy has been named executive vice president and chief information officer of Arbor Commercial Mortgage LLC, Uniondale, N.Y.Arbor said Mr. Murphy, who has more than 25 years of experience in the information technology field, was most recently CIO at Titleserv Inc., an electronic real estate title and settlement services company. He has also held positions at Bank America Mortgage, Lending Solutions Inc., and First Boston Capital Group, among other companies. Mr. Murphy also held the CIO position at Arbor earlier in his career.

Curt A. Caspersen has been named chief operating officer of First American Title Insurance Co., Santa Ana, Calif.First American said Mr. Caspersen joined the company in 1986 and has held various sales and executive posts, most recently executive vice president and director of national lenders services and, since May, senior executive vice president. First American Title is the largest subsidiary of The First American Corp., which can be found on the Web at http://www.firstam.com.

Gary Bierfriend, president of the wholesale lending division of MortgageIT Inc., has been named to the new post of president of the New York-based company.He will be responsible for all the company's retail, wholesale, and correspondent lending activities, as well as HomeCloser LLC, MortgageIT's settlement services business. Doug Naidus, chairman and chief executive of MortgageIT, said Mr. Bierfriend is a "recognized authority" in the industry, who as president of MIT Lending, the company's wholesale operation, "spearheaded what was merely a business idea at its inception in early 2000 to what is today a top-25 national wholesale platform." Before joining MortgageIT, Mr. Bierfriend served as managing director, chief compliance officer, and general counsel for MortgageIT's wholly owned predecessor company, IPI Skyscraper Mortgage.

John Teweles has been named president of AmeriCU Mortgage Co., Sterling Heights, Mich.Mr. Teweles will be responsible for expanding AmeriCU's correspondent, wholesale, outsource, and loan servicing to credit unions, the company said. Mr. Teweles, who has a long track record of working with credit unions to increase their production, was most recently president of MBS Mortgage Co. AmeriCU has been a behind-the-scenes mortgage lender for credit unions since 1993. It be found online at http://www.americu.com.