Fannie Mae Promotes Jeff Hayward To Newly Created C-Suite Position

Fannie Mae has increased the diversity of its C-suite with a newly created role to oversee human resources and other administrative efforts.

The government-sponsored enterprise promoted Jeff Hayward to the new role of chief administrative officer, Fannie Mae announced Tuesday.

Hayward has served as executive vice president and head of multifamily since 2012, and he has been with Fannie Mae since 1987. Michele Evans, who previously served as multifamily chief operating officer and has been with Fannie Mae since 1992, will take over as head of multifamily. 

Fannie Mae created the CAO position to oversee affordable housing, human resources, enterprise workplace, environmental social and governance and its Office of Minority and Women Inclusion, according to a spokesperson.

"Jeff brings more than three decades of Fannie Mae business experience and extensive business expertise along with longstanding focus on our mission to this new role of EVP and CAO and will help Fannie Mae achieve even more in these areas," a Fannie Mae spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement.

Fannie Mae has expressed a goal of increasing its diversity, including in a June 11 letter to employees it released following the death of George Floyd and the protest movement on racial justice. 

"We are united in our commitment to the hard work of not just opposing overt acts of racism, but of using this time to proactively advance diversity and inclusion within Fannie Mae," CEO Hugh Frater and President Dave Benson wrote in the letter. 

Walker & Dunlop CEO Willy Walker, whose firm was the top Fannie Mae lender last year, praised Fannie Mae for increasing the diversity of its executive leadership team.

"Jeff Hayward is one of the most successful and influential African Americans in the commercial real estate industry, and he is taking a new role at the largest lender in the mortgage industry to continue making Fannie Mae one of the most diverse, and successful companies in America," Walker wrote in an emailed statement to Bisnow.