By Gina Heeb
In his first full week as head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, home-builder heir and former private-equity executive William Pulte ousted more than a dozen board members at mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Pulte made himself the chairman of the boards and installed a set of new directors (one of them was Christopher Stanley, an Elon Musk ally who resigned from the post a day later). He removed senior executives at the companies and the FHFA, which regulates Fannie and Freddie. Among those let go was Freddie CEO Diana Reid.
“There are some really great people inside of these businesses, and the good news for them is there is a lot of upward mobility, to earn and grow MORE!” Pulte said on X on March 16, a day before the board changes. The FHFA declined to comment further.
At the FHFA, at least dozens have been placed on administrative leave, according to the National Treasury Employees Union. Some employees were told to go to an old cafeteria space, where they were told they were being placed on indefinite leave, according to a person familiar with the matter. The FHFA had more than 700 employees in 2024.
Far bigger changes have been discussed as well. Trump officials have said they would pursue efforts to privatize Fannie and Freddie, a monumental undertaking that the first Trump administration wasn’t able to pull off.
A proposal floated to the administration last week by a Trump ally laid out how the government could transfer Treasury’s ownership of the mortgage giants to the sovereign-wealth fund that President Trump has vowed to create, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also last week suggested on a podcast that the administration could use Fannie and Freddie for a sovereign-wealth fund, though he didn’t elaborate on specifics.
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