Fannie Mae announced the appointment of Chetlur S. Ragavan to its board of directors, where he will serve on the agency’s risk policy and capital committee and its nominating and corporate governance committee. Ragavan is the founder and principal of Risk Response LLC and was previously the executive vice president and chief risk officer at Voya Financial until his retirement in April 2019. Prior to joining Voya, Ragavan was managing director and co-head of the portfolio analytics group for BlackRock from 2006 to 2008. He began his career at Merrill Lynch in 1980 and held several senior leadership roles during his 26-year career with the company, including managing director, global head of fixed-income research of Merrill Lynch Investment Managers and head of risk management of Merrill Lynch Asset Management. He also serves on the board of directors of CNO Financial Group and the Council for Economic Education.
LoanDepot appointed David Hayes as chief financial officer, effective June 26. Hayes, who will be based out of the company’s headquarters in Irvine, California, will be responsible for managing LoanDepot’s financial functions, including its accounting, treasury, tax, corporate finance, and investor and lender relations activities. He joins LoanDepot from CoreLogic, where he most recently served as executive of finance and treasurer.
Union Home Mortgage (UHM) announced that Linda Thomas has been named regional manager of the company’s Florida operations, focusing on recruitment of loan officers across the state. A 25-year veteran of the mortgage industry, she joined UHM through its acquisition of Amerifirst Home Mortgage. Thomas has been a district manager in the Tampa market for the past four years.
Cenlar FSB announced the promotion of two leaders in its wholesale bank division. Keith Austin was elevated to director of asset management and valuation services, and Tristan Watson was promoted to director of subservicing pricing. Austin, who joined Cenlar in 2005 and served as senior asset manager and manager of the valuation team, will manage and mitigate default costs for the wholesale bank’s loans and mortgage servicing rights portfolio. He will also continue to manage the valuation team, which is tasked with placing valuation requests from operations with approved vendors, as well as meeting regulatory and compliance requirements. Watson will be responsible for overseeing all revenue pricing generated by the subservicing business. He has been with Cenlar since 2016, previously serving as senior pricing analyst.
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) announced that Christine Chandler, executive vice president, chief credit officer and chief operating officer with M&T Realty Capital Corp., was nominated to serve as MBA’s vice chair for the 2024 membership year. She is expected to be installed at the association’s 110th Annual Convention in Philadelphia in October. Chandler has more than 30 years of experience in commercial real estate finance and has been with M&T since 1991.
JLL Capital Markets announced the hiring of Tom Sullivan as a senior managing director in its Boston office. Sullivan will focus on debt and equity advisory transactions throughout the Northeast.
Regions Bank announced that Fred Behnke has been named as head of the bank’s homebuilder finance team. Behnke most recently served as regional manager for the company’s East region. Behnke joined AmSouth Bank, a predecessor to Regions, in 1999 as a homebuilder finance relationship manager serving clients across Florida. He was elevated to regional manager in 2007. A graduate of the University of South Florida with a degree in finance, Behnke earned an MBA from the University of Florida. As part of the same team, David Jewell succeeds Behnke as regional manager for the company’s East region, while Justin Smith succeeds Jewell and will serve as relationship manager for the East region.
Merchants Bank of Indiana hired Paul Jastrzebski as vice president and senior business development officer for its Small Business Administration (SBA) lending division. Jastrzebski brings more than a decade of business development experience to his new role. He has prior lending expertise as a senior vice president, team lead and business development officer for SomerCor 504.
