WASHINGTON, DC—Lisa Pendergast has been named executive director at the CRE Finance Council. Her appointment is part of the association's restructuring of its executive lineup since the departure of Steve Renna earlier this year and the subsequent hiring of Michael Flood as deputy executive director.

A 25-year industry veteran, Pendergast was most recently managing director and head of CMBS Strategy & Risk for Jefferies LLC in the Fixed Income Division's MBS/ABS/CMBS Group. Prior to that, she was a managing director in the Fixed-Income Strategies Group at the Royal Bank of Scotland. Pendergast also served as president of CREFC from 2010 to 2011. She has been a member of the Board of Governors for over nine years.

CREFC's Transition Committee of CREFC worked with executive recruiter Ferguson Partners to identify and vet candidates. Some 35 people were considered, including trade association professionals, real estate lenders, investors, special servicers, attorneys, accountants and executives with GSE experience, according to CREFC's Chairman Greg Michaud, who is also managing director and head of Real Estate Finance for Voya Investment Management.

CREFC has always been a special organization to Pendergast, she said in a prepared statement. "The commercial real estate finance sector is as vibrant as it has ever been, but it is not without its challenges. CREFC will continue to work with its member firms to ensure that this important sector of the US economy continues to thrive in the years and decades ahead," she said.