A number of executives have been recruited or promoted by a variety of mortgage firms. Among the roles filled are economist, chief compliance officer and chief operations officer.

Freddie Mac has finally filled the vacancy left open when Dr. Frank Nothaft left his job as chief economist in January to join CoreLogic Inc.

On Tuesday, the McLean, Virginia-based government-controlled enterprise said that Sean Becketti has been hired as vice president and chief economist. Becketti previously worked for Freddie for three years at the turn of the century.

Becketti
was recruited from Flagstar, where he spent two years — most recently as senior vice president and head of modeling and analytics. He worked the four years prior to that at rival Fannie Mae. Other previous employers include Wells Fargo & Co., the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and the University of California, Los Angeles.

He obtained a Ph. D from Stanford University in 1981.

Also in McLean, Virginia, Capital One Financial Corp. said in a May 19 statement that Desmond P. Smith
has joined Capital One Home Loans in Plano, Texas. He’ll head up sales for the mortgage unit.

Smith reportedly has more than 20 years in the mortgage business — including time at Citibank, N.A.; JPMorgan Chase & Co.; and Wells Fargo.

Debbie Turner was hired by Primary Capital Mortgage LLC as senior vice president, chief compliance officer, according to a statement last month. Her three decades in the business includes a stint at Premier Lending Corp.

“Debbie connected with Primary Capital Mortgage in 2000, providing consulting that was instrumental in the development of our policies and procedures,” George Phelps, who is president of the Atlanta-based firm and previously worked with Turner at Premier Lending, said in the announcement.

Gateway Mortgage Group LLC announced last month that Mike Goyer has been hired as the new chief operations officer. He previously worked for Capital One Auto Finance and HireRight.

A host of executive appointments were announced Tuesday by Boca Raton, Florida-based ResMac Inc.

Among them was the promotion of Gregory D. Lutin to senior vice president of third-party originations.
Before joining ResMac late last year,
Lutin spent two decades at Flagstar Bank.

ResMac said it brought on
William L. Barkley and Shane O’Dell as regional vice presidents. Barkley will oversee growth in the Southeast, and O’Dell will be responsible for the West.

In addition,
Tim Verinder joined ResMac as regional vice president of sale for the South, and Robert Germano joined the firm as vice president of wholesale.

In Strongsville, Ohio,
Union Home Mortgage Corp. issued a May 25 press release indicating that Steve Runnels was hired as south-central regional sales manager. Runnels’ more than 30-year career included time at PNC Mortgage and Washington Mutual. Most recently he worked at Caliber Funding.

The new chief technology officer at GuardHill Financial Corp. is Chris Reyes, the New York-based firm announced Monday.
Reyes most recently worked for Town Residential for four years.

GuardHill reports a staff of more than 80 employees.