News & Moves: May 9, 2008

The International Monetary Fund's forecast discusses predictions of losses to come in the mortgage market. Jaime Caruana, IMF director of

James T. Ryan

monetary and capitalization, analyzes the situation and believes the worst of the housing recession has not happened yet. Watch the forecast from IMF on this clip from Bloomberg TV.

W. W. Grainger announced that as part of the company's planned succession process, James T. Ryan, Grainger's president, will be the new CEO as of June 1. He is succeeding Richard L. Keyser, who will remain with the company as chairman of the board. Founded in Chicago in 1927, Ryan is the fourth CEO in company history.

Bloomberg TV offered perspective on U.S. home sales in a recent report. Watch an interview with Lawrence Yun, National Association of Realtors chief economist. Despite the falling home prices and the mortgage crisis, Yun remains optimistic.

CityView, a national institutional real estate investor, announced the promotion of Sean Burton as CityView's president and chief operating officer. Burton previously served as managing director

Kaylynn Poplawski

and chief operating officer for the company. In his new position, Burton will manage all senior staff, run the company's operations, and ensure that CityView's goals and mission are met. "I'm deeply honored and committed to be the President of CityView," Burton said in a press release. Burton and others at CityView wrote a collaborative series for Housing Giants that focused on workforce housing. Read the articles online at HousingGiants.com.

Fiber Composites has hired its first builder accounts specialist. This marks the company's next step in reaching out to builders and contractors. Kaylynn Poplawski will work with contractors in the Seattle and Portland, Ore., areas. She will be responsible for converting contractors to Fiber Composite products, introducing the contractor loyalty programs and educating contractors on new products. Adding the position is part of a larger task, which began with Carol Kelly's hire last month as director of national builder accounts and specialists. The company's goal is to build brand awareness and demand for products at the contractor level.