The Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLBank) of San Francisco, one of the 11 regionally based, wholesale suppliers of lendable funds to financial institutions, announced on Wednesday that it has appointed former Ginnie Mae President Alanna McCargo to serve as its new CEO effective June 10.
McCargo was the first Senate-confirmed president of Ginnie Mae since the resignation of her predecessor, Ted Tozer, who vacated the position just before the start of the Trump administration in early 2017.
She was also the first woman of color to lead Ginnie Mae, and she served a major role in advancing the housing priorities of the Biden administration while working with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under the leadership of former Secretary Marcia Fudge and current Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Commissioner Julia Gordon.
“I am looking forward to joining the team at the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco and leading the critical work of providing reliable access to liquidity to Bank members and fulfilling the public mission to support affordable housing and deepen community investment,” McCargo said in a statement.
“The role of the FHLBanks is essential to our financial system and contributes to the economic strength and stability of communities in our nation. Throughout my career, I’ve driven efforts to improve housing affordability and economic opportunity while managing the risks and the complexities of our housing finance system.”
She added that she is looking forward to bringing “a new perspective” to the bank while continuing to work with her colleagues in the FHLBank system to solve ongoing housing challenges.
“Together we’ll strengthen the value the Bank brings in meeting the liquidity demands of members and supporting affordable housing and community investment within Arizona, California, Nevada, and beyond. I am thrilled to be joining the Bank at this pivotal time,” she said.
Fudge also weighed in on the appointment by lauding McCargo’s collaboration with her during their time with the federal agencies.
“Alanna played a critical role for the nation in her tenure as my senior advisor for housing finance, and we are all better thanks to her leadership and vision as president of Ginnie Mae,” Fudge said in a statement. “She centered the agency’s work on its core mission, strengthened alliances across the globe and within the housing industry, and built a strong foundation for the future.”
McCargo’s focus is to make the “system work for all Americans,” Fudge added, saying that her experience and ability to navigate the intricacies of financial matters will be a credit to the bank.
“Her decades of housing experience and broad areas of expertise, together with the relationships she has built across the entire housing finance system, will be a tremendous asset in her new role as president and CEO of FHLBank San Francisco,” Fudge said.
Prior to her time at Ginnie Mae, McCargo served as vice president of the Urban Institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center before joining HUD as a senior adviser for housing finance.
Much of her career has been centered on questions of housing equality, including how the housing finance system can more equitably provide assistance to stakeholders who would be most affected by the additional assistance that HUD is able to provide to vulnerable populations.
While at the Urban Institute, McCargo’s work similarly focused on issues of housing equality, where she created a body of work focused on reducing racial homeownership gaps, increasing housing affordability and reducing barriers to capital.
McCargo also previously served as executive director of the Mortgage Servicing Collaborative, which developed policy recommendations for mortgage servicing and securitization reforms.
