Carol Galante Nominated by Obama for Top FHA Post

President Barack Obama has officially sent his nomination of Carol J. Galante of Virginia to be an Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) to the U.S. Senate. In July, Galante was named Acting Federal Housing Adminstration (FHA) Commissioner and Assistant Secretary of Housing, replacing Robert C. Ryan, who moved on within the Department to become Senior Advisor for Housing Finance. Ryan was named Acting Commissioner in early April of 2011 after David H. Stevens announced his resignation from the position of FHA Commissioner and his intentions to move on to the private sector to join the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) as their new president and chief executive officer. "The MBA applauds President Obama's nomination of Carol Galante to lead the FHA at such a critical time for the industry. Carol's decades of work in affordable housing development and then managing FHA's multifamily programs give her a unique perspective on the issues facing the mortgage markets," said Stevens. "FHA is playing a more critical role than ever in housing finance in this country, in both the residential and multifamily markets, and we think Carol is a fine choice to be the Commissioner."