I have been Freddie Mac’s CEO for just over six months. I spent 2021 listening and learning, working to understand all areas of the organization’s business — from what it has been, to what it can be. As we enter a new year, I’d like to share my reflections on the organization and what I believe we can accomplish together in the year ahead.

Our Mission is Our Priority

As someone who spent the bulk of his career in the housing finance industry, I knew Freddie Mac well before joining. I understood Freddie Mac’s longstanding mission of delivering liquidity, stability and affordability to the housing market. I have a strong belief in that mission, particularly the importance of quality, affordable housing to families, neighborhoods and communities. Everything I’ve seen and heard thus far in my tenure as CEO only has reinforced that belief.

In 2022 and beyond, our strategic priorities will all flow from our mission — which we interpret expansively to meet the country’s broader housing needs in both good and challenging times. These strategic priorities include:

  • Enhancing liquidity within the mortgage and capital markets.
  • Stabilizing the housing market throughout the economic cycle, including helping families facing hardship remain in their homes.
  • Working with an array of housing market participants to promote greater access to and supply of affordable and sustainable homes throughout the country.
  • Promoting equity in housing.
  • Working with lenders of all sizes to better serve their communities.
  • Integrating environmental, social and governance strategies into our business and operations.

To deliver on our mission and meet these priorities, Freddie Mac must continue to practice risk management excellence, deliver results and grow our world-class team. We must also commit to continuously examining our current business and risk environment in search of new and better ways to achieve our objectives. These are the pillars that we will focus on each day to support our mission of Making Home Possible.

Practice Risk Management Excellence

As an organization, we are intensely focused on being effective risk managers. The better we are at ensuring our safety and soundness, the more broadly we can support our mission through the economic cycle and particularly in times of crisis. By continuously improving our operations and risk management, we may better ensure the safety and soundness of the organization and position the company to make the overall housing finance system safer and more effective.

Deliver Results

To support the market and serve our mission, Freddie Mac must continue to generate solid financial results, build capital and excel with respect to our company’s objectives.

Our performance in recent years has been strong, but there is more work to do. We must continue to deliver innovative solutions to advance our mission. We must increase efficiency at all levels of the company to enhance productivity and save costs throughout housing finance. And we must continue to work together with our partners and stakeholders to serve borrowers, renters, investors and lenders.

Grow Talent for Today and Tomorrow

It is my privilege to lead a strong and committed team. To support the company and the market for the future, we must ensure we’re developing our next generation of leaders. That is why we are also focused on advancing a culture where the talented individuals from all backgrounds, who do things the right way, can succeed.

Meeting a Moment of Great Potential

Freddie Mac delivered very strong results in 2021. We were able to make home possible for 5 million homeowners and renters, despite being faced with a global pandemic and unprecedented housing supply challenges. In fact, we provided $1.3 trillion in liquidity to the mortgage market last year.

We have the potential to do even more. For example, promoting equity in housing is an important focus in 2022, and we will soon unveil a comprehensive Equitable Housing Finance Plan to increase sustainable homeownership and rental opportunities. It complements our existing mission work, such as our Duty to Serve plan, meeting our affordable housing goals, and efforts to educate and assist borrowers and renters.

For me, 2021 was a year primarily spent listening, learning and exploring the potential of a great organization. This included engaging with leadership and employees as they worked to deliver extraordinary results for our housing finance market and economy. As we look to 2022, we at Freddie Mac are excited to take those efforts to the next level. Let’s get to work.

©2024 by Freddie Mac.