Freddie Mac’s COO resigns

Bruce Witherell, the COO of government-sponsored mortgage giant Freddie Mac, resigned from the company yesterday after an 18-month tenure, according to the Wall Street Journal. A federal filing said Witherell, a former Morgan Stanley executive who also spent 15 years at Lehman Brothers, left for “personal reasons” and that he won’t receive any termination benefits. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have struggled to retain talent at the executive level since being seized by the federal government in 2008, in part because of salary restrictions and in part because of regulators’ power over the companies’ leaders. Witherall’s post had been vacant for two years before he came on board. [WSJ]