Another Fannie Mae executive leaves

April 18, 2005

Real estate loan giant's VP of law and policy departs


Inman News

Fannie Mae's executive vice president of law and policy is leaving the mortgage giant to return to his former law firm, marking another executive departure from the government-sponsored enterprise.

Tom Donilon will be returning to his former law firm, O'Melveny & Myers LLP, as a partner, Fannie Mae announced Friday.

In December 2004, Fannie Mae replaced Franklin Raines, its chairman and CEO, who announced he was taking early retirement, and Fannie Mae's chief financial officer, Timothy Howard, resigned Dec. 21.

The two left in the wake of the SEC directive to make accounting corrections that could knock out some $9 billion of Fannie Mae's past profit. Fannie Mae's financial accounting troubles have drawn shareholder lawsuits and investigations by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The government-sponsored enterprise has been searching for a chief executive since December. Daniel Mudd, Fannie's vice chairman and chief operating officer, has been acting as interim chief executive since Raines' departure.

Mudd said, "Tom's experienced counsel and guidance on a range of policy matters have been critical to the company over the past five years."

Before he came to Fannie Mae, Donilon was a partner with O'Melveny & Myers. Before that, he was Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and Chief of Staff for Secretary of State Warren Christopher. Donilon has held his current position at Fannie Mae since 2000.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Michael G. Oxley, R-Ohio, has pledged to work toward a legislative reform package for Fannie Mae this Congress. Oxley has said that it is necessary to build a regulator for the GSE with the power, independence and funding to confront and handle such matters.

Copyright 2005 Inman News


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