The five new directors are: John R. Cooper, senior vice president, finance of PG&E National Energy Group and chief financial officer of PG&E National Energy Group, a subsidiary of the National Energy Group, Bethesda, MD; Alan M. Jacobs, president, AMJ Advisors LLC, Woodmere, NY, a company that provides expertise in business turnarounds, corporate restructuring and reorganization; Donald J. MacKinnon, CEO and president of REALM, New York, NY, a business-to-business e-commerce hub that combines the resources of several real estate software companies; Donald C. Wood, president and CFO, Federal Realty Investment Trust, Bethesda, MD; Michael F. Wurst, principal, Meridian Realty Advisors, Inc., Dallas, TX, a real estate investment firm focusing on out-of-favor or liquidity-challenged sectors and assets.

Directors to remain on the board are CRIIMI Mae's chairman William B. Dockser and president William Willoughby; Robert J. Merrick, chief credit officer and director, MCG Capital Corp., Richmond, VA; and Robert E. Woods, managing director and head of loan syndication for the Americas, Societe Generale, New York, NY.

Garrett G. Carlson, Sr. and G. Richard Dunnells resigned as directors in conjunction with the effective date of the reorganization plan.

CRIIMI Mae came out of bankruptcy on Tuesday after filing for protection in October 1998 when several of its lenders made collateral calls that the company couldn't cover. According to CRIIMI Mae, the company and its two affiliates paid in full all of their allowed claims using the proceeds that resulted from selling off some of its assets, financing from an affiliate of Merrill Lynch Mortgage Capital Inc. and German American Capital Corp. and the issuance of two new series of senior secured notes. CRIIMI Mae's assets include more than $1.3 billion of subordinated commercial mortgage-backed securities, other mortgage-backed securities and equity investments in mortgage funds, a trading portfolio of CMBS and residential mortgage-backed securities and approximately $42 million of restricted and unrestricted cash.

The firm still hasn't resolved litigation with First Union National Bank and, as such, the classification of First Union's claim as secured or unsecured under CRIIMI Mae's reorganization plan is unclear.