People

Johnson Capital, Irvine, Calif., has opened an office in New York City that will do commercial mortgage loan sales and syndication, with Daniel Lisser and William Nichols as managing directors and co-heads of the company.Mr. Lisser was previously head of the mortgage sales group at The Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group, and Mr. Nichols was the president and founder of RE-Portal, according to Johnson Capital, a real estate investment advisory firm. They will both work on providing financial institutions with the right pricing for commercial mortgage loan portfolios in the secondary market, and liquidity for the loans. "There is a great demand by lenders and investors alike for more loan liquidity in the secondary market, especially outside of the CMBS conduits," said Guy Johnson, president of Johnson Capital.

Scott Braly has been named president of Venture West Funding Inc., El Segundo, Calif., which specializes in apartment, single-family, and commercial mortgage loans.Mr. Braly was formerly president and chief executive officer of Hawthorne Financial Corp. and Hawthorne Savings, whose turnaround from near insolvency he orchestrated, Venture West said. He was previously president and CEO of Valley Federal Savings and Loan and chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Bel-Air Savings and Loan.

C. Paul Sandifur Jr. has resigned as chairman, president, and chief executive of Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Inc., Spokane, Wash., citing a desire to help the company put recent controversies behind it.Metropolitan is in a fight for survival as a going entity. Investors in securities issued by the company and one of its affiliates have filed a class action lawsuit, and the company's auditor, Ernst & Young, has resigned because it said it could no longer rely on the representations of management. Moreover, the Securities and Exchange Commission has started an informal inquiry. In a statement, Mr. Sandifur said Metropolitan "is entering a crucial stage, and I offered my resignation in an effort to try to put the distractions and controversies of the past year behind us." He remains a member of the company's board. Replacing Mr. Sandifur as acting chairman, president, and CEO is Irv Marcus. Mr. Marcus is a former officer of the company, most recently in 1995 when he retired as senior vice president.

Raymond Davison has been named chief financial officer of Lenders First Choice, a national provider of settlement services and title insurance based in Simi Valley, Calif.Mr. Davison was previously the company's director of accounting. Before joining Lenders First Choice, he was a partner at Star Value, a telecommunications company, and senior vice president and controller for Coast Fed Services, the financial services subsidiary for Coast Federal Bank.

Marangal "Marito" Domingo has been named president and chief executive officer of Downey Financial Corp., Newport Beach, Calif., and Downey Savings and Loan Association.He will assume the new posts on Feb. 2, replacing Daniel D. Rosenthal. Mr. Rosenthal will remain on Downey's board of directors and will be president of DSL Service Co., Downey's real estate development subsidiary, Downey said. Mr. Domingo was most recently executive vice president in charge of capital markets for Washington Mutual's Home Loans and Insurance Services Group, and his previous positions included stints as senior vice president and treasurer at both WaMu and American Savings (before the latter was acquired by WaMu). Downey can be found online at http://www.downeysavings.com.

J. Mitchell Collins has been named chief financial officer of Equity Inns Inc., Germantown, Tenn., replacing Donald H. Dempsey, who is retiring.Mr. Collins was most recently special adviser to Gaylord Entertainment Co., which recently acquired ResortQuest International, where he had been CFO for about four years, the real estate investment trust said. He will take over as CFO at Equity Inns on Jan. 26. The retiring Mr. Dempsey joined Equity Inns in 1998 and has served as executive vice president, secretary, and treasurer as well as CFO. The hotel REIT can be found on the Internet at http://www.equityinns.com.

Mark Ettenger has been named president of The Mills Corp., a retail and entertainment real estate investment trust based in Arlington, Va.Mr. Ettenger was previously a managing director at Goldman, Sachs & Co., where he oversaw the company's real estate asset sale business, Mills said. He will report to Mills chairman and chief executive officer Laurence C. Siegel, who will now focus more on building strategic relationships and seeking opportunities for expansion, the company said. Mills can be found online at http://www.millscorp.com.

Timothy J. Good has been named president of Baird & Warner Financial Services, a mortgage company based in Chicago that plans to make a transition this year from mortgage broker to mortgage banker.Mr. Good was president and chief executive officer of Weichert's Mortgage Access Corp., Morris Plains, N.J., for 15 years, Baird & Warner said. He succeeds Rick Nash, who will remain with Baird & Warner as president of North Shore Mortgage, a B&W company based in Winnetka, Ill. B&W can be found on the Web at http://www.bairdwarner.com.

Wachovia Securities, Charlotte, N.C., has created a real estate services group and named Leslie Fairbanks to head the unit.Wachovia said the new unit will include its commercial real estate services group, which services a portfolio of commercial mortgages and commercial mortgage-backed securities; a tax credit investment asset management group; and an asset and portfolio management group that handles special servicing assignments. Ms. Fairbanks will report to Bill Green, head of Wachovia's real estate capital markets unit. "Mortgage servicing and tax credit investment asset management are core businesses in our commercial real estate finance platform, and aligning these businesses is part of a natural evolution," Mr. Green said. Ms. Fairbanks was previously a managing director in Wachovia's structured finance group, the company said. In a related development, Alan Kronovet has been named head of Wachovia's commercial real estate services group.

Bruce Maita has been named president of Financial Title Co., Folsom, Calif.He will oversee all 50 of the company's branch operations throughout California and collaborate with the executive team on management objectives in the areas of title insurance, escrow services, sales and marketing, and other personnel support services. Prior to joining FTC, Mr. Maita was president of the Sacramento division of Alliance Title Co. and national account manager for the Lender's Advantage division of First American Title Insurance Co. Financial Title can be found online at http://www.financialtitlecompany.com.