Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems announced the appointment of former chairman and CEO of CitiMortgage, Bill Beckmann, as president and chief executive officer of MERSCORP. MERS provides a national national, real-time database that tracks mortgages. Previously Beckmann lead Beckmann Insights, his independent consulting firm. Beckman will replace interim head Paul Baganno. Bognanno recently served as chairman of private mortgage insurer Radian Guaranty. The former MERS president and CEO R.K. Arnold retired in January. During Beckman’s tenure at CitiMortgage, the company had four million residential mortgage customers, representing over $800 billion in serviced assets. In a statement, Beckman said he is “looking forward to leading an organization that provides a unique and vital service to the nation’s housing finance system.” Write to Jacob Gaffney. Follow him on Twitter @JacobGaffney.