Deephaven Mortgage named Lisa Heitzmann as its new chief operating officer. In her new role with Deephaven, she will oversee operations of Deephaven’s internal underwriting, wholesale and correspondent teams. Her experience before joining the company includes six years at Wells Fargo and four years at Bank of America. She holds a bachelor’s degree and a business administration degree from Merrimack College.
Ascendant National Title announced that Andrew Howard has joined the company as senior vice president of national commercial services. In this new role, Howard will be responsible for strategic direction, growth and performance of the company’s commercial services on the West Coast. He has more than 17 years of industry experience in major commercial transactions, previously serving in management positions with WFG, Title365/Stewart Title and Commonwealth Land Title. He holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from California State University at Fullerton and an MBA specializing in project management from the Keller Graduate School of Management.
Merchants Mortgage, a division of Merchants Bank of Indiana, announced the hiring of Ron Berry as vice president and retail mortgage sales manager. Berry will join the Merchants Mortgage office at the company’s headquarters in Carmel. In his new role at Merchants Mortgage, Berry will oversee the recruiting, hiring and training of all mortgage sales professionals as well as hold responsibility for the financial performance, budget adherence and growth in customer base for a defined local region. Berry brings more than 30 years of industry experience, most recently as vice president of mortgage lending for STAR Financial Bank. Prior to that, Berry served as vice president and regional sales manager at PNC Bank for the Indiana and Michigan regions, and as a branch manager at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. He is a graduate of Ball State University with a bachelor’s degree in management.
AmeriSave Mortgage Corp. hired Sudhir Nair as the company’s first chief digital officer. He brings more than 25 years of experience to the position. He has held leadership roles across the industry, including at LoanDepot, Bank of America, Xome/Mr. Cooper, CountryWide, Amazon and others. He earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science engineering from the University of Madras, and he has a master’s degree in systems and information from Birla Institute of Tech and Science. He also graduated from the executive management program at Harvard Business School.
The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) announced that Cerita Battles, managing director and head of community and affordable lending at JPMorgan Chase, will chair the organization’s 2022 corporate board of governors. She has more than 31 years of experience in the financial industry, including 23 years specifically dedicated to mortgages. She will serve with co-chair Sara Rodriguez, the immediate past president of the national board of directors.
CBRE Group announced that Susan Meaney has joined the company’s board of directors. Currently, she serves as a senior advisor to KSL Capital Partners and also sits on the boards of the Hewlett Foundation and KKR real estate fund KREST. Earlier in her career, Meaney was director of real estate and real assets investments for the Hewlett Foundation, and prior to that, she co-managed the real estate group at the Stanford Management Co. She also was managing director and founding partner of Makena Capital Management. She holds an undergraduate degree with honors from Stanford University and earned an MBA from Dartmouth University.
Cushman & Wakefield announced that it hired Kevin Holland as executive director for the company’s Texas markets. He will be based in the firm’s Houston office and will be focused on assisting clients in the disposition of office, industrial and retail properties in the greater Austin, San Antonio and Houston markets. Before joining Cushman & Wakefield, Holland worked for EDGE Realty, CBRE, Weingarten Realty and the Archon Group, a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs.
JLL Capital Markets welcomed senior managing director Angela Kelcher to lead its national affordable-housing debt production team. Kelcher, based in Dallas, will provide leadership and oversight to the company’s affordable-housing platform as it expands its staffing, programs and value creation in the space. She joins JLL after 17 years with Fannie Mae, most recently leading a team responsible for strategy and deliveries from Fannie Mae’s nationwide network of lenders. She is a graduate of Southern Methodist University.
