Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Acting Director Edward J. DeMarco has announced that Jeffrey Spohn, FHFA’s Deputy Director of the Office of Conservatorship Operations, will retire next month. Due to Spohn’s departure, the FHFA will be combining two offices managing conservatorship—related matters into a new Division of Conservatorship to be led by Wanda DeLeo, currently serving as Deputy Director in the Office of Strategic Initiatives.
Spohn has led FHFA’s Office of Conservatorship Operations since its creation in September 2008. In that capacity, he worked with executives at FHFA, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae as well as their boards of directors on all matters relating to the conservatorships, including the management of business settlements on pre-conservatorship matters such as representations and warranties. Prior to that, Spohn was an Examiner-in-Charge at the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) and spent more than 25 years with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, serving as a National Bank Examiner.
“Jeff’s unique contributions to the stability achieved with the two conservatorships cannot be overstated,” said Acting Director DeMarco. “He has personally and substantially contributed to billions of dollars of recoveries on behalf of taxpayers at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and he has earned widespread respect for his strong communication and problem - solving skills during these five - plus years of conservatorship. He had previously deferred his retirement plans to help resolve legacy business issues and every taxpayer in the country should be grateful for his efforts on their behalf.”
DeLeo served as the Deputy Director of the Office of Strategic Initiatives, an office created in 2012, to prepare a foundation for the future of housing finance by overseeing implementation of FHFA’s “Strategic Plan for Enterprise Conservatorships.”
In that capacity, DeLeo has overseen the development of the Common Securitization Platform, periodic progress reports, and annual conservatorship scorecards. DeLeo has been with FHFA since its creation and with OFHEO since 2002. In this new role, DeLeo will serve as FHFA’s central point of contact for all matters related the conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
“Combining OCO and OSI into a new division will enhance the already existing coordination between these two offices,” said DeMarco. “I am pleased to have an executive with Wanda’s experience to manage this new division and am grateful to her for her willingness to take on this added responsibility.”
