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The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) announced that Michael Bright, EVP and COO at Ginnie Mae will be stepping down on January 16 and has requested that his nomination for President of the agency be withdrawn to pursue a new opportunity in the private sector.
In his resignation letter to HUD Secretary Ben Carson, Bright said that he would institute an orderly transition process, including handing over delegated authority for policy decisions immediately.
"The opportunity to serve the country and our economy in this capacity has been a tremendous honor… I am incredibly proud of what we have accomplished since early 2017," Bright said. "As you are aware, over the past two years, Ginnie Mae’s total outstanding portfolio crossed the $2 trillion mark, and last year we served 1.9 million American families as they purchased or refinanced a home. This would not have taken place without the dedication and leadership of the Ginnie Mae staff, who are some of the most knowledgeable and mission-focused professionals I have ever worked with."
Maren Kasper, current EVP of Ginnie Mae, will serve as the Acting President upon Bright’s departure. Kasper joined Ginnie Mae in June 2017.
“I want to thank Michael for his many contributions to Ginnie Mae over the last two years,” said Secretary Carson. “He has assembled a first-rate team and successfully managed and expanded a portfolio that enables millions of Americans to become homeowners each year. We wish him the best in his future.”
Nominated to head Ginnie Mae in May, Bright had said that he intended to continue Ginnie Mae’s ongoing work to strengthen and modernize the agency as well as ensuring that the security of the FHA, VA, and USDA loans it oversees to ensure better security price and lower rates for borrowers of these loans.
“Between the work we have done administratively at Ginnie as well as the language recently passed into law, we have taken a major step towards rooting out behavior that was threatening the very viability of the Ginnie security, and thereby threatening the viability of the VA, USDA, and FHA programs we support,” Bright had said during his confirmation hearing in the Senate Banking Committee. “We will not tolerate this behavior, and we now know that Congress stands with us. Collectively, our efforts are working. We can already see that in the form of a better security price, which directly translates into lower rates for FHA, VA, and USDA borrowers.”
