Fannie Mae Shuts Down ESG Team: Report

Fannie Mae has reportedly shut down its roughly 30-person environmental, social and governance team.

The government-sponsored mortgage firm appears to have terminated the department on Friday, sources told HousingWire. The move comes as the Trump Administration has sought to rid the federal government of programs encouraging diversity, equity and inclusion and climate-related requirements.

The cuts included Laurel Davis, the head of Fannie Mae’s Mission and Impact arm, which oversees the ESG team. One source told the outlet that the department’s staffers had been put on administrative leave.

Earlier this month, the senior vice president of Mission and Community Engagement at Fannie Mae’s counterpart, Freddie Mac, was also terminated.

Representatives for Fannie Mae and the Federal Housing Finance Agency, tasked with supervising the mortgage companies, did not respond to HousingWire’s request for comment.

News of the ESG team’s dismissal follows efforts by FHFA director Bill Pulte, appointed by Trump and confirmed last month, to bring the department and its charges into compliance with the administration’s mission.

In his first three days in office, Pulte appointed himself chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and dropped 14 members from the agencies’ boards. It’s unclear whether Pulte was behind the dismantling of Fannie Mae’s ESG team.

“For years, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been filled with bloat, excessive spending, and worse — that ends now,” Pulte said in an X post earlier this month. “These two businesses need to be run as businesses that serve the American people.”

Since Pulte took over, the firms have logged major leadership shakeups, including the departure of two Fannie Mae top executives in the multifamily department. Pulte also fired the CEO of Freddie Mac, Diana Reid, and placed the FHFA’s chief operating officer, Gina Cross, and human resources director, Monica Matthews, on leave.

Earlier this month, Pulte laid off more than 100 employees at FHFA, accusing the staffers of participating in “unethical conduct,” though he provided few details on the alleged behavior.

Pulte also rolled back two DEI-focused policy orders and climate-related policies introduced under the Biden Administration.

— Sheridan Wall