Patrick M. Sheehy, fired from GMAC Mortgage Co. last June in a management shake-up, has gone to Norwest Mortgage to work for his old boss, Mark L. Korell.
Mr. Sheehy joined the Des Moines company last week as executive vice president for institutional lending. In the newly created position, he reports to Mr. Korell, who resigned in May as chief executive of GMAC Mortgage.
Mr. Sheehy was a top lieutenant at GMAC, where he served as a managing director and headed national production.
Industry speculation is that Mr. Sheehy will now help Norwest oversee a unit of Prudential Home Mortgage once Norwest acquires it. Norwest is close to a deal to buy the majority of the Prudential unit. Executives at Norwest would not comment on the deal.
First Union had been considered a top contender in the bidding for some of the Prudential unit. If the deal had gone through, Mr. Sheehy was expected to run the unit for First Union, according to people familiar with the negotiations. But since First Union dropped out of the running at the end of November, Norwest is expected to buy the unit instead.
According to information released by Norwest, Mr. Sheehy will be in charge of correspondent, warehouse, and wholesale lending.
He will also oversee so-called B and C lending - loans to borrowers with tarnished credit histories - the company said.
"We needed another leader here to look at all these areas of the business," Mr. Korell said. Mr. Sheehy "will help us expand these areas."
The addition of Mr. Sheehy is the latest management shuffling at Norwest this fall. Mr. Korell joined the company in September, taking the new position of group president overseeing all aspects of the business except retail.
Last month, the company named Peter Wissinger to head retail lending after years of relying on two regional executives. Mr. Wissinger reports to Mark Oman, president and chief executive of Norwest Mortgage.
Juliana Ratner contributed to this article.
