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Freddie Mac Appoints Private Sector Banking Exec to CEO Post

""Freddie Mac"":http://www.freddiemac.com said Thursday that its board has selected Donald H. Layton to serve as the company's new CEO. Layton will join the GSE on May 21, and will also have a seat on the company's board of directors.

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In October 2011, the ""Federal Housing Finance Agency"":http://www.fhfa.gov (FHFA) announced that Charles E. Haldeman, Jr. had informed Freddie Mac's board of his desire to step down within the year. Haldeman served as the GSE's CEO since August 2009.

""I would like to thank Ed Haldeman for his dedication and leadership at Freddie Mac during a critical time,"" Edward DeMarco, FHFA's acting director, said in a statement issued to the press. ""He has worked closely with FHFA to strengthen the Freddie Mac organization and establish the foundation to build a new infrastructure for the country's secondary mortgage market.""

Layton takes the reins at Freddie Mac after a long career in the private banking and financial services sectors. He worked for nearly 30 years at JPMorgan Chase and its predecessors, starting as a trainee and rising to vice chairman and a member of the three-person Office of the Chairman, retiring in 2004.

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More recently, Layton served as chairman and CEO of E*Trade Financial, which he shepherded through the recent financial crisis. Additionally, he has been a member of the boards of several financial services firms and was a senior adviser to an industry association.

""I'm pleased that the board was able to attract a private sector leader of Don's caliber,"" Haldeman commented on the news. ""His capital markets and banking background coupled with his ability to manage large, complex organizations will serve him well as he leads Freddie Mac's 5,000 dedicated employees going forward.""

In his career at JPMorgan Chase, Layton's responsibilities spanned capital markets and investment banking, consumer banking, and operating services. From 2002 to 2004, he was responsible for the company's Chase Financial Services unit, which included the fourth largest mortgage firm in the United States.

He was co-CEO of J.P. Morgan, the global investment bank of JPMorgan Chase, from 2000 to 2002. Prior to the merger of Chase Manhattan and J.P. Morgan in 2000, Layton was responsible for Chase's worldwide capital markets and trading activities, as well as its operating services businesses. He also supervised the bank's investment portfolio for many years.

Layton also served as a senior advisor to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) from 2006 to 2008 and is chairman of the board of the Partnership for the Homeless, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing homelessness in New York City.

Layton received simultaneous bachelor’s and master’s of science degrees in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and also a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.