""Fannie Mae"":http://www.fanniemae.com/portal/index.html CEO Michael Williams announced Tuesday that he will resign once the mortgage giant selects his successor.
[IMAGE]""I decided the time is right to turn over the reins to a new leader,"" he said in a statement. ""As I told our employees today, I am extremely proud of what we have achieved together, and I am confident that they will continue to make a positive difference.""
Fannie Mae chairman Philip Laskawy commended the outgoing CEO for helping make the GSE ""a better company"" and said ""our country benefits from a stronger housing finance system.""
""Federal Housing Finance Agency"":http://www.fhfa.gov/ (FHFA) director ""Edward DeMarco"":http://www.fhfa.gov/Default.aspx?Page=67 likewise praised Williams in a separate statement for conserving Fannie's losses and shoring up financial restatements.
""I am grateful for Mr. Williams' steadfast dedication to
[COLUMN_BREAK]ensuring Fannie Mae meets its public mission of providing stability, liquidity, and affordability to housing finance while both leading his company and working with government officials to that end,"" he said.
A 21-year veteran with Fannie Mae, Williams accepted an appointment to head up the mortgage company just as the FHFA placed it into conservatorship during the financial crisis.
In a statement, the company billed his tenure as one that allowed Fannie to build credible books-of-business, help more than 1 million homeowners finance their homes, and assist millions more in refinancing their loans.
The announcement follows Ed Haldeman's decision last fall to step down as CEO of ""Freddie Mac"":http://www.freddiemac.com/ in tandem with a larger leadership shakeup at the mortgage company that saw chairman John Koskinen and a number of other board members leave.
Williams and Haldeman recently found themselves embroiled in scandals over multimillion-dollar bonuses they and eight other executives received last year.
DeMarco, Haldeman, and Williams agreed to appear before the House Financial Services Committee in November to address outcry by lawmakers over their bonuses, which many criticized as excessive.
The House voted to slash executive pay for GSE senior-level executives by reducing their annual salaries to just more than $200,000, approximately equal to the same pay grade for a ranking government official.