The Real Estate Lenders Association's (RELA) national board of directors has elected former vice chairman John Gunther-Mohr, senior vice president at Sovereign Bank/Santander, to the position of chairman. Kip Sanford, also of Sovereign Bank, will take Gunther-Mohr's place as vice chairman of the board. In his new role as chairman, Gunther-Mohr will work together with the national board of directors to maintain and develop initiatives that will increase RELA's membership base and cohesiveness, as well as other proposals that will be reflected in the day to day operation of RELA chapters nationwide. Gunther-Mohr is a real estate professional with over 25 years of experience in real estate finance. He joined Sovereign Bank/Santander in 2011 as a senior banker focused on building a lending platform in the New York and Washington, D.C., markets. His clients include large scale private developers, real estate funds and public companies. Gunther-Mohr is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. He is a member of the Urban Land Institute and serves as chair of the board of Jazz Forum Arts, Inc. Sanford is a real estate finance professional with over two decades of experience in various financial institutions in the northeast region of the U.S. He currently serves as senior vice president of commercial real estate loan syndications at Sovereign Bank in Boston. Sanford holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Syracuse University and a Master's degree in Business Administration from Boston College. The Real Estate Lenders Association, Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation formed in 1991 to provide a forum for real estate lenders to advance their knowledge and expertise in their industry. With a focus on education, networking, and opportunity, RELA brings together talented real estate finance professionals with leaders in the industry to discuss focused topics that promote member growth and future opportunity.