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The Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization, a not-for-profit subsidiary of the Mortgage Bankers Association, has announced the appointment of its inaugural board of directors.The MISMO board consists of five members selected from the real estate finance industry and one ex-officio member elected from the ranks of MISMO's Governance Committee. Specifically, the new board includes Edward Godycki of Countrywide Financial Corp., Simi Valley, Calif.; Michael Petree of First Franklin Financial Corp., Irvine, Calif.; Michael Bixby of LandAmerica Financial Group Inc., Norcross, Ga.; Joseph Beggins of GEMSA Loan Services LP, Houston; Niraj Patel of GMAC Commercial Mortgage, Horsham, Pa.; and Adam Hall of IndyMac Bank, Pasadena, Calif., who will serve as the ex-officio MISMO governance director. MISMO develops data-transfer protocols that reduce costs and increase investor confidence in mortgage transactions across the residential and commercial real estate finance industry. It can be found online at http://www.mismo.org.

Greg Jacobson has been named executive vice president and chief operating officer of KB Home Mortgage Co., a subsidiary of the Los Angeles-based homebuilder KB Home.A 20-year veteran of the mortgage industry, Mr. Jacobson was most recently chief executive officer of Closing Guard Inc., a multistate provider of real estate settlement services and mortgage-related software. He has also served as EVP/COO of Countrywide Warehouse Lending; president of Arlington Mortgage Investors; and managing director of Dryson Mortgage Finance Corp. KB Home can be found online at http://www.kbhome.com.

M. Wayne Lee, president of Argent Mortgage Co., has been named chief executive of corporate sibling Ameriquest Mortgage Co.Ameriquest Mortgage and Argent Mortgage are subsidiaries of Ameriquest Capital Corp., Orange, Calif. Ameriquest Mortgage is the retail unit, Argent the wholesale. Mr. Lee, who will remain as president of Argent, succeeds Kirk Langs. The company said Mr. Langs is retiring to spend more time with his family and pursue other interests. Mr. Lee became president of AMC Wholesale, the forerunner to Argent, in 2000. He has been with the Ameriquest organization for 20 years.

Manfred Schepers has been appointed senior managing director and head of The Bond Market Association International in London.Mr. Schepers, who has also been named an executive vice president of the association, was previously vice chairman of European Fixed Income, Rates & Currency at UBS. The Bond Market Association can be found online at http://www.bondmarkets.com.

Thomas S. Johnson, chairman and chief executive officer of GreenPoint Financial Corp., has been elected to the board of directors of Freddie Mac.Mr. Johnson has served as chairman and CEO of GreenPoint, a specialty mortgage lender and consumer banking company based in New York, since 1993. His banking career spans nearly 35 years, Freddie Mac said. Freddie Mac can be found online at http://www.freddiemac.com.

In a surprise move, Alex Pollock has resigned as president of the Chicago Federal Home Loan Bank to become a resident fellow at a Washington think tank.Under Mr. Pollock's leadership, the Chicago FHLBank broke with tradition in 1997 and began purchasing single-family loans to give its member banks and thrifts a secondary-market alternative to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Other FHLBanks have adopted his innovative Mortgage Partnership Finance program, which has generated $95 billion in mortgage originations. "I am exceptionally proud of the accomplishments of the Chicago FHLBank," Mr. Pollock said in a letter to employees. "However, it has been my plan for a long time, at this age (I am 61) to move to the broader area of national public policy issues." He is joining the American Enterprise Institute, which has held several seminars on privatizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Chicago FHLBank plans to name his successor on June 30.

Richard F. Syron, Freddie Mac's chairman and chief executive officer, has been elected chairman of the board of the Freddie Mac Foundation.Two other new members of the board were also named: Michelle Engler, an attorney, a Freddie Mac board member, and a member of the board of managers of JNL Variable Funds Investment Cos.; and Dwight P. Robinson, Freddie Mac's senior vice president for corporate relations. Mr. Syron has previously served as chairman and CEO of the American Stock Exchange and president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston.

Christina Seix has resigned from the board of directors of Freddie Mac to avoid a conflict of interest that could arise from a pending acquisition of her investment advisory firm.Freddie Mac said Ms. Seix's firm, Seix Investment Advisors Inc., is being acquired by SunTrust Banks Inc., a Freddie Mac customer. Ms. Seix is chairman and chief executive officer of the firm. She has been a member of Freddie's board since 1990. Freddie Mac can be found on the Web at http://www.freddiemac.com.

Patrick F. Stone, a former chief executive officer of Fidelity National Information Solutions Inc., has been named to the board of directors of Digital Map Products, a developer of Internet-hosted mapping applications.Mr. Stone, whose career spans three decades, was also president and chief operating officer of Fidelity National Financial and president of Fidelity National Title of Oregon. DMP provides map-enabled software for the building, land development, and real estate sectors, among others. It can be found on the Web at http://www.digitalmapproducts.com.

W. Kirk Wycoff has been named chief operating officer of O'Neill Properties Group, King of Prussia, Pa.Mr. Wycoff is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Progress Bank, which merged with Fleet Bank earlier this year, and he was regional CEO of the Pennsylvania market of Fleet Bank. O'Neill Properties is a real estate development company focused on transforming abandoned properties into viable communities. Mr. Wycoff will be responsible for managing finance, development, marketing, property management, and operations, the company said.