The Collingwood Group — recently launched by former Ginnie Mae president Joe Murin — is expanding into asset management and has hired industry veteran Jim Russell to head the new group.
"Jim brings [us] a unique blend of banking, capital markets and hands-on experience in the commercial real estate and residential housing markets," said Murin, who co-founded Collingwood along with former Federal Housing Administration commissioner Brian Montgomery.
A spokesman for Collingwood said the advisory group is launching the new business "at a time when many in the financial services sector expect major disruptions in commercial real estate to compound the losses in the residential sector."
Prior to joining Collingwood, he was a managing director at Prescient, where he managed real estate assets in the government and private sectors. During his career, he also served as president and CEO of DRS Realty Services/Crown NorthCorp.
