Taylor Morrison CEO and President Sheryl Palmer said Barnes' experience and fiscal responsibility complements the current leadership team in place at Taylor Morrison. Palmer said the company is looking forward to drawing on Barnes' financial background as Taylor Morrison continues to expand amid a resurgent housing market.

"Ed provides us with the hands-on financial management experience that will be a driving force and valuable asset as we look to the future and continue to grow," Palmer said.

Prior to joining JetBlue Airways, Barnes served in the role of vice president for Phoenix-based JDA Software, Inc. Barnes has also held executive positions with Assisted Living Concepts, Inc., Pegasus Solutions and America West Holdings Corporation.

"I'm very much looking forward to joining the Taylor Morrison team," Barnes said. "It's a new opportunity and a market sector that shows tremendous promise as we move forward."

Steve Wethor, who had served as interim chief financial officer, will return to his role as regional president of the West.

For more information on Taylor Morrison homes and communities, please visit www.taylormorrison.com.

About Taylor Morrison
Taylor Morrison was named the No. 1 private homebuilder in the United States in 2010 and 2011 by Builder magazine and builds a wide range of product for discerning home buyers across the country. With more than 130 communities in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida and Texas, Taylor Morrison offers first-time, mid-market and mid-to-upscale housing in both master-planned communities and urban infill neighborhoods. The company also operates one of Canada’s largest homebuilding companies, Monarch, in Ontario, Canada, where it builds single-family homes and high-rise condominiums in Toronto and Ottawa. For more information, visit www.taylormorrison.com.

Participants can register each day of the contest period at dreamhome.taylormorrison.com. The promotion is only open to legal residents of the United States and Puerto Rico who are 21 years old or over. The contest runs from January 31, 2012 to July 30, 2012.

As previous winners have discovered, winning the Dream Home Giveaway can be life changing. The winner selects the floor plan and home options that best suit their lifestyle and Taylor Morrison creates a home the lucky winner can truly call their own. Winners have included a Sacramento single mother, an unemployed father, a first-time mother and a Chicago grandmother.

"Our Dream Home Giveaway contests are a definite highlight of our year at Taylor Morrison," said Sheryl Palmer, Taylor Morrison President and CEO. "We're able to grant the dream of homeownership, help our winner build their home and then watch as they walk through that front door the first time. It's a truly special event and one that we're particularly proud to participate in."

Since it first started in 2008, the contest has been a runaway success, with almost $1 million worth of homes given away in the process. The Dream Home Giveaway is inspired by the Innoventions Dream Home located at the Disneyland® Resort in Anaheim, Calif., which Taylor Morrison built in a partnership with Disneyland, Microsoft and HP.

For more information on the 2012 Dream Home Giveaway or Taylor Morrison homes and communities, please visit www.taylormorrison.com.

About Taylor Morrison
Taylor Morrison was named the No. 1 private homebuilder in the United States in 2010 and 2011 by Builder magazine and builds a wide range of product for discerning home buyers across the country. With more than 130 communities in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida and Texas, Taylor Morrison offers first-time, mid-market and mid-to-upscale housing in both master-planned communities and urban infill neighborhoods. The company also operates one of Canada's largest homebuilding companies, Monarch, in Ontario, Canada, where it builds single-family homes and high-rise condominiums in Toronto and Ottawa. For more information, visit www.taylormorrison.com.

"We have the ability to work differently in each market, to adapt to the market conditions," Heuser said. "We're pursuing deals that make financial and strategic sense within the context of our business model."

Heuser points to a sizeable purchase that allowed Taylor Morrison to secure lands accommodating 450 lots in the 8,500-acre master planned community of Lakewood Ranch, near Sarasota, Fla. The purchase is advantageous in that the section, to be named Esplanade, will enable Taylor Morrison to develop a bit of a niche and build the community on its own.

"We have control over our own destiny, in many respects, as we create and grow in the gated and amenity-rich community," Heuser said.

Taylor Morrison has also made select purchases in the Bay Area of Northern California, Orange County , California, and Orlando, adding land to a portfolio that already boasts such opportunistic buys as Crystal Falls in Austin and Adora Trials in Phoenix, acquired before the company's sale.

Taylor Morrison also counts new developments in Houston - Avalon at Riverstone, and Ladera in Austin. As recent as September, Taylor Morrison also took advantage of opportunities in Denver and again in Houston - where the local division has performed exceptionally well despite the national real estate slump of recent years.

"These developments are typical of what we look for - strategic purchases that leverage local expertise in developing attractive communities and offering well-suited homes in good neighborhoods with well-ranked schools," Heuser said.

"We've invested in each of our markets in 2011 and we will continue to - as long as the opportunity is the right fit," Heuser said. "The downturn presented challenges in forcing us to rebalance the land bank; but we're a leaner, stronger company than we were just a few years ago and we intend to stay that way."

For more information on Taylor Morrison homes and communities, please visit www.taylormorrison.com.

About Taylor Morrison
Taylor Morrison was named the No. 1 private homebuilder in the United States in 2010 and 2011 by Builder magazine and builds a wide range of product for discerning home buyers across the country. With more than 130 communities in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida and Texas, Taylor Morrison offers first-time, mid-market and mid-to-upscale housing in both master-planned communities and urban infill neighborhoods. The company also operates one of Canada's largest homebuilding companies, Monarch, in Ontario, Canada, where it builds single-family homes and high-rise condominiums in Toronto and Ottawa. For more information, visit www.taylormorrison.com.

Denver agent Judy Pitt won the promotion but when it came time to collect her prize, she had a surprise for Taylor Morrison.

"Instead of receiving the Mercedes, Judy asked that we make a donation to help complete a well in Othoo, Kenya," said Kip Gilleland, division president for Taylor Morrison's Denver division. "We were more than happy to oblige."

It turns out that real estate agent is only one hat that Pitt wears. She also serves as executive director of the Kazi Yake Foundation, which provides much needed help to rural villages in Kenya.

"To me, the gift was very generous but I knew the money could be put to a better use," Pitt said.

According to Gilleland, the Taylor Morrison donation helped Pitt's group finish a well under construction in the tiny village of Othoo. With the well now complete, the villagers are enjoying clean water for the first time ever.

"Judy's generosity made it all possible," Gilleland said.

For more information on Taylor Morrison homes and communities, please visit www.taylormorrison.com.

About Taylor Morrison
Taylor Morrison was named the No. 1 private homebuilder in the United States in 2010 and 2011 by Builder magazine and builds a wide range of product for discerning home buyers across the country. With more than 130 communities in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida and Texas, Taylor Morrison offers first-time, mid-market and mid-to-upscale housing in both master-planned communities and urban infill neighborhoods. The company also operates one of Canada's largest homebuilding companies, Monarch, in Ontario, Canada, where it builds single-family homes and high-rise condominiums in Toronto and Ottawa. For more information, visit www.taylormorrison.com.