Mary Lou Christy Promoted to Managing Director of The Collingwood Group

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Collingwood Group today announced the promotion of Mary Lou Christy from Senior Vice President to Managing Director of the organization.  An industry veteran, Mary Lou will launch a new Investor Relations practice for The Collingwood Group.  In addition, she will provide support to the firm's growing hedge fund/private equity advisory business, furthering its relationships with hedge funds and private equity sponsors that have made significant investments in real estate related assets, including whole loan portfolios, mortgage back securities and critical vendors necessary to diligence, value and service real estate related assets, as well as identifying opportunities for the firm to make principal investments.

"The Collingwood Group's new Investor Relations practice comes at a critical time, particularly in light of the existing financial crisis which has exposed gaps in the ability of public firms to address their obligations to communicate with their investors," said Joe Murin, the firm's Chairman and former President of Ginnie Mae.  "We also recognize that these principals apply to many private firms, as well -- predominantly those that seek to expand their activities into the federal sector and need assistance in communicating their value proposition to the community of economic buyers in the Washington, DC area.  Sending out accurate and proper messages is vitally important to any business that seeks to be successful in this arena."  

Mary Lou has extensive corporate experience leading Investor Relations and Marketing for several large cap financial companies. Prior to joining Collingwood in September 2010, Mary Lou held several executive-level positions at Fannie Mae, including Senior Vice President of Investor Relations, Vice President of MBS trading desk, and VP of Sales and Marketing in the Southwestern Region.   Earlier in her career, Mary Lou was a Regional Director at PMI Mortgage Insurance Company.

Mary Lou's specific areas of expertise include advising clients on ways to develop new business, expanding equity and debt ownership, creating transparent market disclosures, building high-performance marketing teams, and assisting executives on ways to communicate during financial, regulatory, and/or economic crises. She has an MBA in Business Management from University of Dallas and completed her undergraduate work at Villanova University.

"Mary Lou has done a phenomenal job as Senior Vice President of The Collingwood Group, and we are delighted to appoint her as Managing Director to launch and oversee the company's new Investor Relations practice, and to continue to support the firm's growing hedge fund/private equity advisory business," said Brian O'Reilly, President and Managing Director of The Collingwood Group.  "Her experience has been and will continue to be an invaluable asset to the organization which will further help our clients build their businesses, drive growth, and accelerate value creation."  

The Collingwood Group (www.collingwoodllc.com) is a Washington, DC-based advisory firm focused on growing client's businesses, promoting revenue growth and increasing investment returns. The firm is led by Joe Murin, former President and CEO of Ginnie Mae, and Brian Montgomery, former Assistant Secretary for Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner. Both played major roles in the federal government's efforts to address the nation's financial crisis and restore stability and liquidity to financial markets. The firm's expertise spans all aspects of Agency, non-Agency and FHA/VA housing financing programs; Ginnie Mae securitization activities; domestic and international secondary market activities and issues; primary and special servicing; full asset lifecycle vendor and talent management; and all elements of portfolio acquisition, property management and asset disposition.

SOURCE The Collingwood Group