In Brief: Ex-Norwest Executive Joins an REIT in Calif.

The former head of Norwest Mortgage's subprime unit has been named chief financial officer of American Residential Investment Trust.

Judith A. Berry's new post reunites her with John M. Robbins Jr., the chairman and chief executive of the real estate investment trust. In the early 1990s, Ms. Berry worked for Mr. Robbins at American Residential Holding Corp., which was bought by Chase Manhattan Mortgage in 1994.

Meanwhile Norwest Mortgage, a unit of Wells Fargo & Co., has put Kathleen Vaughan in charge of Directors Acceptance, the unit that Ms. Berry had led. Ms. Vaughan has worked at Norwest since 1994, most recently as senior vice president of its direct-marketing division.