With Fannie Mae execs' retirement goes key institutional knowledge

A pair of long-time Fannie Mae executives are leaving as President David Benson is retiring sometime in early to mid-2024, while Chief Administrative Officer Jeffrey Hayward is making his exit at the end of this year.

Priscilla Almodovar, who joined Fannie Mae in December 2022 as chief executive, will take on the president title as well, meaning she will now directly manage both the single-family and multifamily businesses.

Both had decades at the company — Benson was an employee for 21 years, while Hayward has 36 years. Former Mortgage Bankers Association CEO David Stevens said their departures likely remove the last remaining key executives with a vast amount of institutional knowledge at the government-sponsored enterprise.

"Between Dave's knowledge of the business, particularly risk and capital markets, along with Jeff's long commitment to the customer and expanding access and affordability to creditworthy borrowers, these two leader will leave a massive gap in the leadership at Fannie Mae," Stevens, currently the CEO of Mountain Lake Consulting and also the former Federal Housing Commissioner, said in an emailed comment.

"Dave and Jeff represent the type of accessible leadership that helped build the culture of Fannie Mae for decades and unfortunately they perhaps complete the massive waves of exodus of the long term leadership that helped lenders and homeowners at both Fannie and Freddie Mac for so many decades, and looking forward will no longer exist," he said.

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Sandra Thompson, also remarked on the decades of experience Benson and Hayward brought to Fannie Mae's leadership in a statement on the regulator's website.

"Their many contributions have positioned Fannie Mae to excel in serving its mission of providing affordable and sustainable housing to creditworthy homeowners and renters while also ensuring the safety and soundness of the enterprise," Thompson said. "I am confident that Fannie Mae, under Priscilla's leadership, will build upon their efforts and effectively fulfill this mission."

Benson became president of Fannie Mae in July 2018, at the same time that then-CEO Timothy Mayopoulos announced his intentions to leave the company. After the retirement of Hugh Frater, he added the interim CEO job for approximately seven months until Almodovar's hiring. Prior to joining Fannie Mae, she was president and CEO of affordable housing nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners.

The CEO title at both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is subject to a Congressionally mandated compensation cap of $600,000. A 2019 report from the FHFA's Office of the Inspector General in the wake of changes at both, including the Mayopoulos/Benson announcement, examined whether they used the president's position to circumvent that cap. Almodovar's compensation is still subject to that cap and she understands that even taking on this additional role doesn't change that, a Fannie Mae spokesperson said.

"We're deeply grateful to both Dave and Jeff for their leadership and decades of service," said Michael Heid, Fannie Mae chair in the company's press release. "As they depart, we are implementing our succession plans and streamlining our leadership structure to continue advancing our strategy and our mission to serve homeowners, renters, and the housing market as a whole."

Hayward was the first person to occupy the chief administrative officer position, previously having been head of multifamily. At that time, Fannie Mae said "The new CAO position was created to oversee affordable housing, green financing, enterprise workplace and ESG, human resources, diversity and inclusion that will support our mission in new and more holistic ways."

Terry Theologides, Fannie Mae's general counsel, will succeed Hayward. Danielle McCoy will be taking his vacated position as General Counsel & Corporate Secretary. McCoy currently is senior vice president, deputy general counsel & deputy corporate secretary.

Theologides joined Fannie Mae in April 2019 after previously working at CoreLogic as senior vice president, general counsel and secretary.

"Fannie Mae is well prepared for these transitions thanks to thoughtful succession planning and the strong leadership corps that Dave, Jeff, and others have helped develop through the years," Almodovar said in the release. "Our bench of leaders is deep, and I look forward to continuing to grow our talent and working with Terry and Danielle in their new roles."