XL Capital Assurance, a financial guarantor, has recently added three securitization veterans to its growing New York operation. David Blakeslee, v.p. in the mortgage and asset-backed securities analytics group at Merrill Lynch, joined as v.p. in its analytics group; Scott Madden, assistant v.p. public finance in its structured single risk group, and Kate Manion, assistant v.p. in its surveillance and research group, both joined from MBIA where they were assistant vice presidents. Blakeslee will do quantitative analysis and modeling of structured finance products, reporting to Hong Jiang, v.p. analytics group. Madden will focus on new business and underwriting, reporting to Wynne Morriss, senior managing director in the structured single risk group. Manion will focus on surveillance for consumer ABS, franchise loans and CDO deals, reporting to Dick Heberton, managing director.
Mitch Karig, a spokesman with XL, said all three positions are newly created. He declined to comment on the hiring spree and declined to mention how many staffers the firm was planning to bring on board.
Blakeslee has more than 15 years experience primarily in the asset-backed securities, mortgage-backed securities and investment banking areas, said Karig. At Merrill Lynch he reported to Jeffrey Shapiro, managing director. Madden reported to Thomas McLoughlin, managing director of the Western region, and Manion reported to Amy Mauer-Litos , managing director of global insured portfolio management.
