Freddie Mac appointed Christian Lown as its executive vice president and chief financial officer, effective June 15, as the company prepares to exit conservatorship.
Previously, Lown served as the executive vice president and chief financial officer of Navient Corp. As he steps down, Navient appointed Ted Morris as acting CFO, effective immediately. Morris joined the company in 2003 and has served as Navient’s controller since 2014.
“Navient has unquestionably benefited from Chris’s contributions across our enterprise,” Navient President and CEO Jack Remondi said. “He has helped to build a stronger, more resilient company, and we wish him well in his new endeavors.”
At Freddie Mac, Lown succeeds Donald Kish, who had served as interim CFO since December 2019. Kish will continue serving as senior vice president, corporate controller and principal accounting officer.
“We welcome Chris Lown to Freddie Mac,” Freddie Mac CEO David Brickman said. “His demonstrated success as a chief financial officer and strong background in the debt and equity capital markets and in mergers and acquisitions will be invaluable as we prepare our company to exit conservatorship.”
Before Navient, Lown served as managing director of financial institutions group at Morgan Stanley, where he co-led the Global FinTech and North America Banks and diversified finance investment banking practices.
“I am excited to join Freddie Mac as the company prepares for its next chapter and I look forward to working with such a talented management team and innovative company,” Lown said.
Over the past several months, Freddie Mac has stepped up its preparations for its anticipated exit from conservatorship. Just last week, the Federal Housing Finance Agency moved one step closer to ending conservatorship when it issued a new rule on allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to build capital.
The new rule would allow the GSEs to hold bank-like capital levels, roughly equal to the levels required by the world’s biggest banks, otherwise known as the “Systemically Important Financial Institutions.”
And in May, the mortgage giants announced that they were looking for financial advisors to assist in a stock offering that removes the companies from government control.
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