Women prosper at Fannie Mae

Fannie Mae again was ranked among the top 30 companies for offering women the best opportunities for success, according to the National Association for Female Executives.

The sixth annual ranking of leading companies found companies in the top 30 actively work to retain women by offering opportunities to grow and advance, and offer a work culture where female executives can prosper while attaining work-life balance. The list ranks publicly held Fortune 100 companies with at least two women on the board of directors and a significant percentage of women in senior management positions.

NAFE selected the top 30 based on some of the following criteria: high proportion of women at all levels; tenures of high-ranking women; increased work-family programs; programs and policies that ensure job training and job rotation while enforcing accountability for grooming women for upper management positions; and a steadily increasing percentage of women in senior management. NAFE also looked at how companies measure women’s progress and hold managers accountable, particularly with financial incentives. Fannie Mae has appeared on the top 30 list for six consecutive years.

“I firmly believe that unwavering commitment from the top and appropriate financial resources are critical to the success of any diversity initiative,” said Maria Johnson, vice president for Diversity, Health and Worklife Initiatives at Fannie Mae. “Companies must fund diversity initiatives as a business objective and not view it as a human resource program. Fannie Mae used this approach when we implemented our diversity program 11 years ago, and as a result, women make up 50 percent of Fannie Mae’s work force, and almost 43 percent of its management group.” Johnson added, “For us, diversity is a business imperative because of the strong competition in the market.”

The National Association for Female Executives is a women’s professional and business association that publishes NAFE Magazine, a bi-monthly publication distributed to 65,000 members. NAFE will honor the top companies at a gala dinner in March in New York City.

Fannie Mae is a New York Stock Exchange company that operates pursuant to a federal charter and is one of the nation’s largest source of financing for home mortgages.