More than a dozen mortgage firms have named new senior and mid-level executives to lead their companies. Among the appointments are managers who worked for some of the nation’s biggest mortgage lenders.
Former PHH Corp. chief financial officer Sandra E. Bell joined Prospect Mortgage LLC as its CFO earlier this month. Bell has almost 30 years of experience in the financial services and energy industries as a CFO and investment banker. Prospect’s chief executive officer, Ron Bergum, said her experience is a tremendous asset.
“Sandra’s participation further enhances our ability to execute our strategic vision,” said Bergum. “She brings the expertise necessary to help position the Company for the future.”
Most recently, Bell provided financial advisory services, and Prospect Mortgage was on her client list this year. Before this, Bell was CFO at PHH until 2011. She left the corporation to pursue other opportunities, reported PHH’s Mar. 1 press release. Prior to PHH, Bell’s resumé comprises CFO of Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati and more than 21 years, including 13 years at Deutsche Bank Securities, financing energy companies on Wall Street.
Christy Bunce was promoted to chief operations officer at New American Funding, an announcement Tuesday said. Bruce originally joined the Tustin, Calif.-based company in 2008 after stints with Countrywide Home Loans and Greenlight Financial Services. Since Bruce came on board, New American reportedly added wholesale and Realtor lending divisions and was approved as a seller-servicer for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp.’s board of directors appointed 12-year Farmer Mac veteran Timothy L. Buzby its new president and CEO, an effective immediately position, according to the Oct. 3 media statement. As well, Buzby will continue his CFO duties until he and the board of directors can find a replacement. Most recently, Buzby was Farmer Mac’s CFO and treasurer.
Impac Mortgage named Sean McCluskey as executive vice president of national sales to the residential lending division in October. McCluskey will oversee the company’s nationwide wholesale lending channel and continue supervising the Pacific Northwest’s mortgage lending production.
Impac also appointed Judy Treichler as vice president of operations to the correspondent lending division. Treichler, a 15-year mortgage operations veteran, will manage Impac’s correspondent loan acquisition platform and enhancements related to acquisition workflow. Treichler’s work history includes roles as PNC Mortgage’s processing director and One West Bank’s vice president and operations manager.
The Real Estate Mortgage Network Inc. hopes to strengthen its servicing capabilities with two new employees: vice president of loan administration Cindy Cook and managing director of loan administration Bob Filiberto. Cook and Filiberto will manage a servicing helpdesk team focused on REMN’s existing servicing and sub-servicing relationships, according to REMN’s Oct. 9 media statement.
New chief compliance officer Ingrid Amberg adds to Gold Star Mortgage Financial Group’s leadership team. The company revealed that Amberg, a former Flagstar Bank corporate attorney, will manage and institute Gold Star’s corporate compliance programs and policies related to loan origination and lending regulations.
Michigan-based United Shore Financial Services LLC rounded out its senior management team, according to an Oct. 15 news statement. USFS announced the addition of CFO Tim Forrester, a former capital markets group partner at Deloitte & Touche USA LLP, and executive vice president of capital markets Kirstin Hammond, previous president of Flagstar Capital Markets Corp. The company called both new-hires a timely move in light of more than doubling its workforce in the past 14 months.
Privately held Greenlight Financial Services appointed David Norris to it CEO position in early October. Before accepting his role at Greenlight, Norris was president of LendingTree Loans, which became Discover Bank’s subsidiary in June 2012.
Radha Thompson — a former senior leader in technology at JPMorgan Chase & Co., Washington Mutual, Providian and Accenture — joined Vericrest earlier this month as the company’s chief information officer. With 15-years in financial services and information technology, Thompson will lead strategic planning, oversight and global operation initiatives of all information systems and technology functions.
In Atlanta, Invesco Mortgage Capital revealed James Balloun was elected chairman of the board of directors. Since the company’s initial public offering in June 2009, Balloun was a board member as well as a member of the audit and compensation committees and chairman of the nominating and corporate governance committee.
Earlier this month, Meridian Capital Group LLC announced Geoffrey D. Harris as a managing director responsible for Meridian’s newly formed Arizona office. With a specialization in financing commercial assets focusing on triple-net lease and sale-leaseback transactions, Harris will use his 14-years of mortgage banking experience to originate national debt and equity transactions. The company said current market trends will help benefit Harris and his team’s initiatives.
Nationwide mortgage lender Residential Finance Corp. named Michael Timms as director of capital markets and Betty Ann McCloud as director of operations on Oct. 30. A former MetLife Bank director of capital markets, Timms will be based out of the company’s headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, and manage RFC’s secondary marketing and capital markets. McCloud will manage the operations team in Charlotte, N.C., and her career consists of management roles in underwriting, quality assurance and branch administration and production with various mortgage companies such as Allen Tate Mortgage.
From White Plains, N.Y., Guaranteed Home Mortgage’s early Oct. media releases announced Jean LeBlanc as director of marketing and Nichole Guthneck as division leader. A previous western division marketing director, LeBlanc spent 10 years at Fairfield Properties and Fairfield Residential in San Diego. Meanwhile, Guthneck, a 10-year employee of Access Mortgage Service, most recently served as the Access’ vice president of lending and operations.
Southern Colorado-based Ent hired Rick LaFave as director of mortgage lending. The Oct. 9 company announcement said LaFave came from H&R Block where he was a five-year district manager and franchise consultant.
Finally, ICON Residential Lenders hired Sean Finn for its wholesale area sales manager of the company’s Midwest region. Finn left Wells Fargo, currently in the process of leaving wholesale sales, to join ICON. This new-hire comes on the heels of ICON being sold by Hamilton, N.J.’s, Grand Bank, N.A., to Rushmore Loan Management. The transaction is forecast to close in the fourth quarter or early next year.
