00:00 When did it first occur to you that you could be CEO of one of the 30 largest companies in the country?
00:06 Yeah, I guess I never thought of I'm going to be a CEO. If I'm honest, I always, even from a young age,
00:14 thought I would be leading something. I didn't know what. Yes. I mean, I tell this funny story.
00:20 It's a bit embarrassing, but at six years old, I had an attaché case as my book bag.
00:26 So I think from I think that says it all. Welcome to Leadership Next, the podcast about
00:32 the changing rules of business leadership. I'm Alan Murray and I'm Michal Evron.
00:36 We're a B2B company, so we don't deal directly with the consumer. So right there, the consumer
00:43 directly does not know us. We deal with our lenders and they deal with the consumer. So that,
00:47 by definition, is always an issue. But most consumers don't understand that the lender
00:54 who probably originated that mortgage is not the one who continues to own that mortgage. It's
00:59 probably not the one who's servicing the mortgage. I think what we're trying to do is build that
01:04 awareness through our home education programs. More and more, we are filling that void for the
01:09 consumer and we're leaning into our mission and our charter. I mean, our duty to serve is to make
01:15 the housing system more fair, more equitable. And I think the consumers are starting to become aware
01:21 that something is changing. So, for example, when I think about our strategy today, first of all,
01:27 number one job is liquidity in the market. And the pandemic is just a great example of why that is so
01:33 important. But our two strategic objectives are how do we make the housing system more fair and
01:39 more sustainable? And we look at everyone from renters to homebuyers to homeowners, and it's
01:45 about sustainable, whatever you might have, a renter or a homeowner. And we're making it more
01:52 fair by using technology. So, for example, before, if you were a renter in this country, your rent
01:57 did not count. Today, through technology, Fannie Mae is taking that credit risk. And if the consumer
02:03 shows us through their bank statements, we can tell what probably is a rent payment, the regularity
02:09 of that payment, and we could make that consumer eligible. That's huge. That's huge. And that's
02:14 story. You can qualify people instead of a credit score, qualify them on a renter score.
02:19 That did not exist two years ago. And it's something Fannie Mae led the charge. We started
02:24 with renters. We went to our landlord partners and said, we're willing to pay for it because
02:29 we wanted to test the concept. And today, I'm happy to say over 500,000 rental units are
02:37 reporting their rent payments. On the home ownership side, we have qualified like 5,000
02:43 now homeowners that did not have FICO scores. Those that didn't have a FICO score have one
02:48 today. And those that did have seen an increase of like 38 points. That's quite meaningful.
02:53 So, you know, one thing we've learned is that housing payment is a housing payment,
02:57 whether it's a rental payment or principal and interest payment. And we're making that count.
03:01 So it's those types of innovations that I'm hopeful. Job number one for a CEO is to make
03:06 sure your story is told and people understand that. And I'm very committed to doing that.
03:11 You are the only Latina CEO on the Fortune 500. So tell us more about your background and how
03:18 it informs your leadership today at Fannie Mae. Yeah. Yeah. Look, I'm the only but I'm so I'm so
03:24 optimistic it won't be for long because, again, the Latino cohort is real and women also. But
03:31 the Latino core cohort is having a lot of gains educationally and otherwise. So as I mentioned,
03:36 I grew up in in Brooklyn. My family there, I'm Puerto Rican. My parents came to the mainland
03:45 in the 1950s, like many Puerto Rican, the Puerto Rican diaspora for a better life.
03:50 And I grew up in a very optimistic household. And at my kitchen table, I heard like probably many
03:57 American families do today, talked about a good job education was like, you know, that's why
04:03 neither of my parents at the time had gone to college. So an education and saving for a home.
04:08 And I still remember when I was five years old, they bought their first home. I still remember
04:12 the first night I slept in my room. And I think that's informed a lot of what I do.
04:16 You must have had moments along the way coming up through Wall Street finance where you were
04:23 sitting in a room surrounded by a bunch of guys and where you said to yourself,
04:29 this system is never going to allow me to get to the top.
04:32 That's not true.
04:34 You never felt it.
04:34 I know it's the kind of thing where, again, look, I in 1990s, there were very few women
04:40 in finance and law, banking. And I never saw that as an obstacle. You know, if anything,
04:47 I was in the room, I worked so darn hard. I wasn't really trying to figure out man, woman thing. I
04:52 just did my job and did it well. And did project finance for the first 10 years. And then I went
04:58 to JP Morgan. I ran a state housing finance agency for three years. Then went to JP Morgan,
05:03 had an incredible career there. You know, were there times when I was the only woman in the room?
05:09 Absolutely. But I still did my work really well. And I think, if anything, one of the great things
05:15 of my position now and my age, you know, I could help change how people think. The face of
05:22 leadership is changing. And I am just so excited to be part of that.
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