Freddie Mac has named a new CEO, appointing housing industry veteran Michael J. DeVito to the position effective June 1. DeVito brings more than 30 years of experience in the mortgage and financial services industry to Freddie Mac, most notably at Wells Fargo. He spent more than 23 years at the bank, rising to the level of executive vice president and head of home lending. He also served in various other leadership roles during his tenure at Wells Fargo, including head of home lending production, home lending servicing, default servicing and loan workout, head of education financial services, and mortgage retail underwriting and operations.
Fannie Mae has appointed Malloy Evans to the position of executive vice president and head of Single-Family, effective immediately. He will lead the team responsible for establishing Fannie Mae’s single-family mortgage acquisition standards that help lenders safely originate mortgages, providing liquidity to the single-family mortgage market, and enabling credit to help U.S. homeowners buy, refinance, and rent homes. Evans was previously senior vice president and chief credit officer for Fannie Mae’s Single-Family Business.
Nations Lending has welcomed Tim Dowling to its team as Midwest regional manager. Dowling previously served as a senior vice president at Guaranteed Rate. Prior to his tenure there, he spent nearly a decade at Prime Lending as vice president of Illinois and Wisconsin. On the depository side, Dowling served as a divisional manager at Bank of America after a decade at Harris Bank as a regional manager and vice president.
Finance of America Reverse (FAR) has added Naomi Hart as senior director of marketing intelligence. In her new role, Hart, based in San Francisco, will focus on further enhancing FAR’s digital consumer engagement and reaching new audiences. Prior to joining FAR, she held leadership positions at Catalogic Software, the National Council of Aging and John Snow, Inc. She is a graduate of UC Santa Cruz with a bachelor of arts in World Literature in Cultural Studies. She has a master’s degree from San Jose State University in English Language and Literature.
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) announced that Alden Knowlton has been named associate vice president of legislative affairs and Rachel Kelley has been hired as associate vice president of political affairs. In her new role, Knowlton will be responsible for advocating on behalf of MBA’s legislative and policy priorities on Capitol Hill, with a primary focus on Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Knowlton previously was MBA’s associate vice president of political affairs; she will be succeeded by Kelley, who assumes the job of leading and managing MBA’s political advocacy efforts via MAA, MORPAC, and MBA’s National Advocacy Conference. Prior to joining MBA, Kelley worked in a variety of roles, including finance director for the Republican National Convention Host Committee in Charlotte; Western regional finance and PAC director for the Republican national Committee; PAC Director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee; and political manager and fundraising manager with the International Council of Shopping Centers and the National Association of Home Builders, respectively. Kelley also founded and was the principal owner of Tuesday Solutions Inc. She graduated from the University of Alabama with a bachelor of arts in political science.
FormFree has welcomed Kevin Watters to its board of directors. Watters has served in a variety of leadership roles within banking, including chief marketing officer of Wingspan and president of Bank One’s corporate internet group until its acquisition by JP Morgan Chase. Watters served in multiple senior executive positions during his 18-year tenure at JPMorgan Chase, including five years as president of its corporate internet group and five years as CEO of its business banking division. Subsequently, he served as CEO of mortgage banking before being named CEO of Chase card services.
Merchants Bank of Indiana has announced the hiring of Robert Stringer as vice president, business development officer, Small Business Administration (SBA) Lending. Stringer brings more than 10 years of experience to his new role at Merchants Bank, having most recently served as senior vice president, loan production officer at Bank of Hope in Dallas. In his new role with Merchants Bank SBA Lending, Stringer will be responsible for originating SBA 7(a) and 504 loans as well as leveraging his existing referral network and business contacts within the Dallas area and throughout the larger central south region. Additionally, Stringer will oversee strategy development for generating new business. Stringer is a graduate of Texas A&M University with a bachelor of business administration in marketing. He also received an MBA in management from the University of Dallas.
