People in the News June 24, 2022: VA Loan Guaranty Service Taps John Bell III as Executive Director
VA Loan Guaranty Service Taps John Bell III as Executive Director
Loan Guaranty Service of the Department of Veterans Affairs appointed John E. Bell III as Executive Director, effective immediately.
Bell joined VA in 2010 after a 20+ year career in mortgage finance in the management development program of a nationwide lender. He was promoted to Assistant Director of Loan Policy and Valuation, overseeing key programs including Loan Policy, Valuation, Specially Adapted Housing and the Native American Direct Loan Program nationwide. He is a U.S. Navy veteran.
Bell also serves as 2022 Chairman of the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization (MISMO) Government Forum.
Sandra Thompson Sworn in as FHFA Director
Sandra L. Thompson was sworn in June 22 to a five-year term as the third Senate-confirmed Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
Thompson was appointed to head the Agency by President Joe Biden and had strong support from the Mortgage Bankers Association. Previously, she served as Deputy Director of the Division of Housing Mission and Goals. As the Deputy Director, Thompson oversaw FHFA’s housing and regulatory policy, capital policy, financial analysis, fair lending and all mission activities for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks. She had served in this position since March 2013. Prior to joining FHFA, Thompson worked at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. for more than 23 years in various leadership positions, most recently as Director of the Division of Risk Management Supervision.
MBA’s Steve O’Connor Named Chair of National Housing Conference Board
The National Housing Conference announced its 2022-23 Board of Governors, led by longtime member and first-time Chair Steve O’Connor, Senior Vice President for Affordable Housing Initiatives with the Mortgage Bankers Association.
O’Connor will replace Anne Segrest McCulloch, Chief Legal Officer of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, who is retiring after two years as Chair. Ali Solis, Founder and Principal of S3 Advisory Services, will serve as the Board’s Vice Chair. The Board also includes three new members: Bryan Greene, Vice President of Policy Advocacy at the National Association of Realtors; Kathryn Monet, CEO of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans; and Akilah Watkins-Butler, President and CEO of the Center for Community Progress.
“I am honored to serve as NHC chairman. NHC has a long and distinguished history as one of the nation’s leading advocates on affordable housing,” O’Connor said. “I look forward to working with NHC to advance affordable housing opportunities for all Americans.”
NHC noted the 2022-23 is the most diverse in its history; it is 25% Black, 15% Hispanic and 10% Asian and Pacific Islander. NHC President and CEO said the Conference is committed to building a Board of highly qualified leaders in affordable housing from across the country that “looks like America.” The Board is also sector-diverse; no industry sector makes up more than 25% of either membership. The Executive Committee of the Board is even more diverse.
“NHC has been committed to building a Board of Governors that represents all of the people we serve,” Dworkin said. “We look forward to working with this incredibly talented and experienced group of leaders to realize our vision of an America where everyone is able to live in a quality, affordable home in a thriving community.”
“I appreciate the opportunity to serve as the Vice-Chair of the NHC Board of Governors,” Solis said. “NHC is an important leader in affordable housing, and with the success of the Black Homeownership Collaborative and new Racial Equity Working Group, is also a leader in diversity, equity and inclusion.”
“I am excited to welcome a new generation of leadership to the NHC Board and gratified for NHC to be a model of nonprofit corporate governance,” said McCulloch. “Our vision is an America where everyone is able to live in a quality, affordable home in a thriving community, and that begins with leadership that looks like America. I am also proud of the work that the National Housing Conference has done during the pandemic, when having a safe place to shelter, to call home, has been more important than ever. The Conference has engaged broadly, with policy makers and thought leaders, activists and service providers, tenants, landlords and homeowners, to focus on solutions to our housing challenges. The work continues and I look forward to supporting the Conference’s new leadership team in this work.”
GPARENCY Hires Evguenia Yerukhimovich as Product Manager
GPARENCY, Howell, N.J., hired Evguenia Yerukhimovich as product manager to oversee discovery, design and solution exploration for GPARENCY products.
Yerukhimovich most recently served as a multifamily product manager for Freddie Mac, where she was responsible for developing and maintaining complex web-based engines and apps for multifamily business management. She served as multifamily small balance loan underwriting manager at Freddie Mac.
Susan A. King, Caroline A. Simonson Appointed Adjunct Directors to Moss & Barnett Board of Directors
Moss & Barnett, Minneapolis, appointed Susan A. King and Caroline A. Simonson as Adjunct Directors to the firm’s Board of Directors for one-year terms.
King serves as co-chair of the firm’s wealth preservation and estate planning team. She focuses her practice on estate planning, probate and trust administration and guardianship/conservatorship and has experience covering a broad range of services, from the simple estate plan to the administration of complicated estate or trust matters. She also works closely with families to address issues of capacity and planning for disability or death.
Simonson is a member of the firm’s multifamily and commercial real estate finance and real estate teams. She has significant experience representing institutional lenders in commercial real estate finance transactions and primarily represents lenders who originate loans for multifamily housing projects around the country, which loans are then sold to Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae. Simonson also has a broad range of experience in other real estate matters, including representing life insurance companies and banks in financing matters involving industrial, retail, and multifamily projects and representing commercial tenants in negotiating and preparing lease documentation.
Anthony Savala, Nicholas Turansky Join Appraisal Logics
Appraisal Logistics, Washington, D.C., named Anthony Savala as Senior Vice President of Sales. He will lead the company’s sales team, adding new clients for both the company’s Appraisal Management Company business and its appraisal management technology AIM-Port.
Savala has more than 20 years of experience. Before joining Appraisal Logistics, he was Director of Strategic Accounts – Financial Services for Experience.com. Prior to that he served as Enterprise Director of Business Development for Reggora and Vice-President of Enterprise Sales for Cloudvirga, a cloud-based point of sale system. Before that, he spent eight years with Mortgage Coach, ultimately serving the company as National Account Director. He started his career as a mortgage loan officer for Western Capital Corporation.
Appraisal Logistics also hired Nicholas Turansky as National Account Director. In his new role he will oversee services delivery and client success for the company’s national client base of mortgage lenders.
Turansky has more than 20 years of experience. Before joining Appraisal Logistics, he served as National Sales Director for LenderX; before that, he served as Vice-President at Community National Bank and was a Regional Banking Manager for MetLife Bank. He started his career as a Branch Manager/AVP for Roslyn Savings Bank (formerly Roosevelt Savings Bank) and then as Senior Branch Manager for Accredited Home Lenders.
Xactus Names Michael Crockett Chief Data Officer
Xactus, Philadelphia, named Michael Crockett to the newly created role of Chief Data Officer. He will develop and manage the data strategy for Xactus, including data-related functions such as data management, data science and the continual advancement of data innovation.
Crockett has nearly 25 years of experience. He was formerly EVP of Data Solutions with Xactus and served as EVP of Product Development at Credit Plus prior to Xactus’ acquisition of the company in September 2021. He joined Credit Plus in 2013 to create its QA/QC division. Prior to that he held several senior executive roles at a national mortgage information company including Senior Strategic Executive and EVP of Operations. He is on the Consumer Data Industry Association Board and oversees and manages all of Xactus’ mortgage industry collaborations/co-ops including The Mortgage Collaborative, Lenders One and Capital Markets Cooperative. He also formerly served on several advisory boards for mortgage industry associations and the credit bureaus.
WFG National Title Insurance Co. Launches Rocky Mountain Region
WFG National Title Insurance Co., Portland, Ore., expanded its agency footprint to include four additional western states — Colorado, Utah, Montana and Wyoming – with formation of the company’s new Rocky Mountain Region.
Vice President and Rocky Mountain Area Manager Brian Phillips will head operations for the new region and share responsibility for growing the new region’s title agent base with Agency Sales Representative Kristen Jorgensen. Randy Williams will serve as Underwriting Counsel for the new region.
A 12-year veteran of the title industry, Phillips began his career litigating real estate and title insurance matters, and later moved on to serve as underwriting counsel before transitioning into the sales and agent support side of the business.
With more than a decade of experience in virtually every facet of the title industry, Jorgensen leverages her knowledge to support independent title agents, serving as a hands-on extension of their own teams and helping them grow and succeed in their daily operations. During the past year, Jorgensen served on the Executive Committee for the Utah Land Title Association as the Underwriter Section Chair.
7 LLC Taps Travis Morrow as President of 7 Mortgage
7 LLC, Knoxville, Tenn., appointed Travis Morrow as President of 7 Mortgage, a jointly owned credit union service organization of ORNL Federal Credit Union and Consumer Credit Union. He replaces Wendy Robinson, who retired earlier this year.
Morrow began his career with ORNL FCU in 2012 when he joined the Mortgage Lending Department as a Mortgage Loan Originator. In 2017, he transitioned to Mortgage Sales Manager and oversaw the production staff for the Mortgage Department. In 2019, Morrow was promoted to AVP Mortgage Lending, and later assumed the position of VP Mortgage Lending in 2020. In his role as VP, Morrow was responsible for all activities related to mortgage lending for ORNL FCU including loan production, residential and construction loan portfolio management, and secondary market pricing and delivery.
