People in the News May 17, 2022: PGIM Real Estate Names Christy Lockridge Chief DEI Officer
PGIM Real Estate Names Christy Lockridge Chief DEI Officer
PGIM Real Estate appointed Christy Lockridge as its chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer, based in Chicago. She will build upon the firm’s expanded commitment to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion and will lead the business’s first formal DEI office.
As a 30-year industry veteran, most recently serving as head of Debt Originations for the Midwest, Lockridge acted as the co-lead for PGIM Real Estate’s DEI Talent Management efforts over the past year. She will work in conjunction with two veterans, Stephanie Katz, director of Strategic Initiatives for DEI, and Ivy Tsui, director of Program Management for DEI.
Stella Pappas Joins TruAmerica Multifamily as Senior Managing Director, Head of Investor Relations
Stella Pappas joined TruAmerica Multifamily as Senior Managing Director and Head of Investor Relations. With nearly two decades of real estate investment experience, Pappas will be responsible for all facets of the firm’s fundraising efforts and investor relations program and will serve on the firm’s investment committee.
Prior to joining TruAmerica, Pappas was Vice President of Investor Relations at Waterton, a Chicago-based real estate investment firm. She played a key role in helping the firm achieve its fundraising target for its flagship multifamily fund in 2021 and was responsible for the firm’s capital raising efforts across the eastern U.S. and select markets abroad.
Pappas spent most of her career with Allstate Investments, the private equity real estate acquisitions and asset management arm of the largest publicly held insurance company in the U.S. There she co-launched the direct real estate equity platform and sourced, structured, underwrote and managed $3 billion of fund investments and joint venture partnerships.
Transwestern Promotes Josh Richards to Corporate Director of ESG
Transwestern, Houston, promoted Josh Richards to Corporate Director of ESG.
Richards joined Transwestern in 2017 as Director of Sustainability for Asset Services. There, he advanced Transwestern’s energy and sustainability platform through extensive benchmarking and compliance of the firm’s managed assets, educating internal and external audiences on the value and implementation of ESG, and increasing transparency through integrated communications and reporting.
Additionally, Richards reinforced the firm’s commitment to culture by leading the Transwestern Experience, a unique approach to customer service. He is also actively involved in the firm’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts, leading the national Awareness & Belonging Committee which provides resources and strategies to create a more open and inclusive work environment.
JLL Valuation Advisory Hires Tasha Gould to Lead its Institutional Sector
JLL Valuation Advisory hired Managing Director Tasha Gould to lead its institutional sector for its U.S. valuation advisory services for institutional clients.
Gould has 19 years of experience in institutional valuations, financial analysis and planning, audit and compliance, strategic partnerships, project management and client relationship building. She previously served as Director of Valuations for Invesco Real Estate, where she led a team of 12 valuation managers and analysts while overseeing valuations for Invesco’s direct real estate. Prior to that, she was the senior appraiser for Principal Real Estate Investors managing the valuation process for their North American portfolio that included office, retail, industrial and multi-housing assets. She is based in Dallas.
Mortgage Coach Promotes Suszanne Duniphin, David Bowser to VPs
Mortgage Coach, Irvine, Calif., promoted Suzanne Duniphin from director of eLearning to VP of customer experience and David Bowser from director of account management to VP of customer engagement. In their new roles, Duniphin and Bowser will oversee Mortgage Coach’s customer-facing initiatives and services.
Duniphin has a 25-year background in mortgage banking and technology, having previously served as training and documentation manager at Optimal Blue, and in multiple leadership roles at a mortgage consulting firm and independent mortgage lender First Horizon Home Loans. She joined Mortgage Coach in 2020 as director of eLearning.
Bowser has two decades’ experience, having held positions at financial services marketing platform Volly and mortgage lending platform ICE Mortgage Technology. He joined Mortgage Coach as director of account management in January 2021.
Freddie Mac Taps Kevin Palmer to Lead Multifamily Business
Freddie Mac, McLean, Va., promoted Kevin Palmer to head its multifamily business. He will serve as a member of the company’s Senior Operating Committee.
Palmer has served at Freddie Mac in a variety of positions since 2001, most recently as senior vice president for Single-Family Portfolio Management. In previous roles, he had broad responsibility for Freddie Mac’s single-family portfolio, overseeing pricing, servicing, credit risk transfer, and various other capital markets and risk management activities.
Xactus Names James Owens, CMT, Chief Technology Officer
Xactus, Philadelphia, hired James Owens, CMT as Chief Technology Officer. He will set and oversee Xactus’ technology strategy, including all technical aspects of new product development and implementation across its platforms, and direct other corporate technical initiatives including IT and data security.
Owens has nearly 30 years of executive-level experience in the financial services and software development industries. Prior to joining Xactus, he served as Chief Architect/Head of Technology Strategy and previously Chief Technology Officer at OneMain Financial. Before OneMain, he held several senior executive consulting, sales and product roles at Black Knight Financial Services, and the first 10 years of his career included engineering, technology leadership and transformation consulting positions. He is a Certified Mortgage Technologist (CMT) from the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Ascendant National Title Adds to Colorado Team; David Kennedy Named Vice President of Title Operations.
Ascendant National Title, Denver, hired David Kennedy as Vice President of Title Operations Colorado -Texas. In this new role, he will be responsible for supporting the company’s continued growth in the Colorado and Texas markets.
Kennedy has more than 30 years title industry experience. Most recently he served as Vice President Mortgage Fulfillment at PennyMac Loan Services. He has also served as State Title Operation Manager and Division President, Northern Colorado for Stewart Title and was Title Operations Manager for Chicago Title of Colorado.
CBC Mortgage Agency’s Tai Christensen Named Chair of American Mortgage Diversity Council
CBC Mortgage Agency, Cedar City, Utah, announced Tai Christensen, the company’s director of government affairs and diversity, equity and inclusion officer, has been named chair of the American Mortgage Diversity Council. Christensen, who succeeds outgoing chair Lola Oyewole, will lead the Dallas-based organization’s efforts to promote DEI throughout the mortgage industry.
Christensen, who was installed as AMDC chair on Thursday during the Five Star 2022 Diversity & Inclusion Symposium in Washington, D.C., originally joined the organization’s advisory board in April 2021. She has two decades of real estate finance experience and has been with CBCMA since January 2018.
NewPoint Expands Seniors Housing Finance Platform Sean Huntsman, Katherine Stewart
NewPoint Real Estate Capital LLC, Irvine, Calif., hired Sean Huntsman as Senior Managing Director of Seniors Housing Originations and Katherine Stewart as Managing Director and lead for NewPoint’s Seniors Housing Agency Platform. The team will target expansion into the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac seniors housing space in addition to originating proprietary bridge loan solutions for independent and assisted living properties.
With a career origination volume totaling more than $5 billion, Huntsman brings more than 30 years of experience originating agency, bridge and construction loans for multifamily and seniors housing communities. He joins NewPoint from M&T Realty Capital Corp., where, as Executive Managing Director, he expanded the bank’s West Coast Healthcare Lending Group. Prior to that, he was an Executive Managing Director with Barings Multifamily Capital, working to establish the firm’s Seniors Housing Platform. He has also held roles with PNC Real Estate and ARCS Commercial Mortgage.
Stewart has more than 20 years of real estate lending experience, 15 of which have focused on building and managing agency seniors housing platforms. She has analyzed over 1,500 transactions during her career and has been instrumental in the origination and closing of more than $2 billion in seniors housing loans.
Stewart joins NewPoint from M&T Realty Capital Corp., where she was a Senior Vice President focused on structuring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debt products. She held prior roles at Barings Multifamily Capital, PNC Real Estate and ARCS Commercial Mortgage.
Eastern Union Names Ben N. Weiss to Lead N.Y. Investment Sales Division
Eastern Union, New York, named Ben N. Weiss to Senior Managing Director of Investment Sales for New York City and the Greater Tri-State region.
Weiss comes to Eastern Union after an 18-year tenure with The Besen Group, a NewYork City-based investment sales firm. He most recently servedas Managing Director for Investment Sales. Prior to that, he served as Director of Business Development with a major pharmaceutical vendor. He began his career in the operations and management of one of New York State’s largest assisted living facilities.
Gary D. McKiddy Named Chief Financial Officer at Mid America Mortgage
Mid America Mortgage Inc., Addison, Texas, promoted Gary D. McKiddy from Chief Risk Officer to Chief Financial Officer. He will manage financial operations and strategy.
McKiddy has nearly 40 years of experience in corporate financial management across multiple verticals. Before joining Mid America, he was CFO of NTFN Inc, where he was responsible for managing finance, accounting, compliance, servicing, quality control, human resources and IT departments. Over his 19-year tenure at NTFN, he negotiated and maintained $200 million warehouse line commitments with multiple financial institutions, reduced financial closing timelines by 50% and converted $10 million in non-performing assets into cash. He also held various financial roles at Ascent Energy Inc., the pre-2003 iteration of Mid America Mortgage, Atlantic Richfield Co. and Arco Corporate.
