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After a few months without a permanent leader, mortgage giant Fannie Mae has tapped Priscilla Almodovar, the head of a nonprofit that’s focused on building affordable rental housing, as its next CEO.
Almodovar, 55, is a former JP Morgan Chase managing director who has served as president and CEO of Enterprise Community Partners Inc. since September 2019.
Almodovar’s “vast experience in large, complex businesses and her commitment to affordable housing makes her an ideal choice to further Fannie Mae’s mission to facilitate equitable and sustainable access to homeownership and quality affordable rental housing across America,” Fannie Mae Chairman Michael Heid said in a statement Thursday.
In a regulatory filing, Fannie Mae noted that it has purchased billions in loans from a lender connected to Enterprise and has “business relationships” with Enterprise and its related entities which provided “less than 15 percent” of the company’s revenue.
Almodovar, who will earn a base salary of $600,000 a year as Fannie Mae’s CEO, is scheduled to take over for interim CEO Dave Benson on Dec. 5. Benson stepped into the interim CEO role in April with the retirement of Hugh Frater.
During her nearly decade-long tenure at Chase, Almodovar led national real estate businesses that focused on commercial real estate and community development. For three years before that, she was president and CEO of New York state’s housing finance and mortgage agencies.
Almodovar has served on the board of directors of Realty Income Inc., a publicly-traded real estate investment trust (REIT), since November 2021, when Realty Income acquired another company on whose board she served, VEREIT Inc.
Often sought out as an expert source by the news media, Almodovar holds a law degree from Columbia University and has been named to Fortune’s “50 Most Powerful Latinas” and Hispanic Business’ “100 Most Influential Hispanics.”
Priscilla Almodovar
“It’s an honor to join Fannie Mae and lead the company as it carries out its vital role in the housing finance market and works to help ensure that equitable, affordable housing is available to people in communities across the country,” Almodovar said in a statement. “I look forward to working with the board, management, and my new colleagues at Fannie Mae to continue this important work, which has benefited so many people over the company’s more than 80-year history.”
In detailing Fannie Mae’s dealings with Enterprise and its related entities, Fannie Mae executives described them as “customary arms’-length commercial relationships, comparable to those that Fannie Mae has with other participants in the multifamily mortgage industry.”
Fannie Mae said it expects to make a total of $150 million in equity investments this year in low-income housing tax credit (“LIHTC”) funds for which a subsidiary of Enterprise serves as the syndicator and fund manager.
Enterprise also owns a controlling interest in Bellwether Enterprise Real Estate Capital LLC, a lender that does business with Fannie Mae as a Delegated Underwriting and Servicing (“DUS”) lender. Fannie Mae said it holds “less than $10 billion in loans” it has acquired from Bellwether and which are also serviced by the company.
Fannie Mae has also paid $650,000 this year and last to Enterprise for consulting and advisory services related to multifamily housing and conferences on affordable housing issues.
A portion of Almodovar’s 2021 compensation from Enterprise was based on Enterprise’s performance and she “may receive performance-based compensation for 2022 as well,” Fannie Mae noted.
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