Bright Withdraws Ginnie Mae Nomination

Michael Bright, whose nomination as President of Ginnie Mae has been in congressional limbo for months, requested yesterday that his nomination be withdrawn.

In a letter to HUD Secretary Ben Carson (https://www.hud.gov/sites/dfiles/Main/documents/Bright_Letter.pdf), Bright said he would step down as Ginnie Mae Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer effective Jan. 16 and withdrew his nomination as Ginnie Mae President to pursue a job in the private sector.

“The opportunity to serve the country and our economy in this capacity has been a tremendous honor,” Bright wrote. “I am incredibly proud of what we have accomplished since early 2017.”

Maren Kasper, current Executive Vice President of Ginnie Mae, will serve as Acting President upon Bright’s departure. Kasper joined Ginnie Mae in June 2017.

Bright was nominated by President Trump in May; he has been running Ginnie Mae on an interim basis since 2017. Although the Senate Banking Committee forwarded Bright’s nomination this past August, the full Senate failed to act on his nomination despite support from the Mortgage Bankers Association and other industry trade groups. When the 115th Congress adjourned on Jan. 2, all unapproved Administration nominations, including Bright’s, expired; he would have had to go through the nomination process all over again.

MBA had strongly supported Bright’s nomination. In a letter to senators this past October, MBA said Bright had “demonstrated his ability to oversee Ginnie Mae’s current $2 trillion portfolio and will ensure Ginnie Mae continues to facilitate lending to low and moderate income, rural, urban and veteran borrowers…Mr. Bright understands the policy issues affecting Ginnie Mae as well as the mortgage and financial markets. His broad finance background makes him an ideal candidate to lead Ginnie Mae.”

“I want to thank Michael for his many contributions to Ginnie Mae over the last two years,” Carson said in a statement. “He has assembled a first-rate team and successfully managed and expanded a portfolio that enables millions of Americans to become homeowners each year. We wish him the best in his future.”