Mazzei will be responsible for the origination and securitization of debt financing for real estate companies, including commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), syndicated loans and term loans. In a statement, Nierenberg says Mazzei's hiring "underscores our commitment to the CMBS and commercial real estate debt markets, and to the opportunities that are ahead."

At Barclays Capital, where he had been based since 2004, Mazzei was a managing director and co-head of global real estate capital markets and CMBS. He developed a commercial real estate finance group from the ground up. Prior to that, Mazzei had worked at Lehman Brothers, where he began with the company's mortgage trading operation at its inception in 1986, rising to the head of CMBS and subsequently co-head of its real estate investment banking unit. Lehman is now part of Barclays.

Although the BofA announcement says Mazzei joined from Barclays, a source tells GlobeSt.com that Mazzei had left Barclays some time ago, and that Haejin Baek, the other co-head of global real estate capital markets and CMBS, has since assumed sole leadership of the operations. A spokesman for Barclays says the company has no comment.