People moves and key promotions in securitisation

Job swaps weekly: US Modular Capital lures Transwestern veteran

This week’s securitisation job swaps have seen an industry veteran leave her role as head of structured finance at Transwestern to take up a new C-suite position at US Modular Capital. Elsewhere, US Bank has named a successor to Stephen Philipson as head of commercial products, while Barclays, Winston & Strawn and Cardo AI have all made senior additions to their teams.

Jan Sparks has left her role as executive md for structured finance and capital markets at Transwestern to become head of credit and underwriting at US Modular Capital in its Houston office. A founding partner of Transwestern’s structured finance platform, she leaves after a 12-year stint with the business to join the construction-focused private credit fund as its new chief credit officer.

Sparks holds more than 30 years of experience in real estate finance and financial products. This includes structuring debt and equity transactions, debt origination, real estate portfolio underwriting and due diligence.

In her new role, Sparks will oversee US Modular Capital’s underwriting operations as well as creating new lending strategies. The company says she will play an integral role in its development through her extensive industry and leadership experience.

Meanwhile, US Bank has promoted Jimmy Whang to head of its commercial products group, where he will oversee its fixed income and capital markets team and its working capital finance team. Whang joined the bank in 2009 and is promoted from head of credit fixed income, municipal products and structured credit. He is based in US Bank’s Charlotte office and takes over from Stephen Philipson, who was promoted to head of global markets and specialised finance in April.

Barclays has poached structured credit sales professional Daniel Jimenez from Deutsche Bank. Jimenez joins Barclays’ structured credit sales team in New York as a director after spending more than 10-years with DB, where he most recently served as a director within its structured credit origination and syndication team.

Law firm Winston & Strawn has expanded its structured finance practice with the hire of new partner Claudine Chen-Young in its Washington DC transactions department. She is Winston’s third new mortgage finance partner recruited this year, as the firm seeks to expand its structured finance practice beyond the CLO and esoteric asset classes. Chen-Young joins from Katten Muchin Rosenman and has more than 20 years of experience as a securitisation and mortgage finance attorney.

Artificial intelligence-focused structured finance fintech Cardo AI has made two new senior management hires as it prepares for the next stage in its international development. Allvue Systems duo Tim Ferguson and Omar Dapul have been appointed as London-based global head of sales and Singapore-based chief growth officer respectively. Both new recruits will report directly to the firm’s co-founder and ceo, Altin Kadareja.

Ferguson leaves his role as EMEA md at Allvue after 11 years with the firm and will have responsibility for Cardo AI’s business development worldwide. Dapul departs as head of strategic engagements at Allvue after 12 years with business and will lead Cardo AI’s global revenue growth strategies. 

In other fintech news, MBS-focused Pennsylvania software business Agile has appointed former Wells Fargo executive Greg Vacura as president. Vacura has 30 years of experience in the mortgage industry and was previously svp of correspondent pricing at Wells Fargo. Agile’s platform is designed to facilitate the exchange of TBA MBS between mortgage lenders and broker-dealers.

National Bank of Egypt (NBE) has promoted Ahmed Abbas to manager on its syndication, corporate banking, debt and structured finance team. Abbas works out of NBE’s Cairo office and was promoted to deputy manager on the same team in 2021. He has been with the bank since 2010.

Houston-headquartered geothermal energy firm Fervo Energy has hired Carbon America’s Alex Clopton as structured finance manager. Clopton will work out of Denver and leaves his position as a manager in the corporate and structured finance team at Carbon America after a year and a half with the business.

Finally, Denver-headquartered credit-focused investment manager ArrowMark has appointed KBRA’s Lacey O'Dowd to its CLO structuring team. O'Dowd leaves her role as a funds-focused senior analyst at KBRA after two years with the agency. ArrowMark’s credit division has US$10.3bn in assets under management across liquid and private credit markets, including leveraged loans and bonds, commercial real estate and specialty lending. Its CLO division operates as a manager, investor and warehouse lender.