Donald Layton: Balancing Life And Career

Donald Layton is not your average banker. He is the CEO of Freddie Mac, a government-sponsored enterprise and a publicly traded company and one of the largest sources of mortgage financing in the U.S.  It was established in 1970 by Congress to provide liquidity, stability and affordability to the nation’s residential mortgage market. Just how large is Freddie Mac (or Federal Loan Mortgage Corporation)? In 2012 it had total assets of over a trillion dollars.

 It was one of the companies that got into serious trouble during the financial crisis and had to go under conservatorship of the Federal Housing Finance Agency in 2008. This action has been described as one of the most sweeping government intervention in the private financial market in decades.  Partially due to its uniqueness the institution is making money again when it was thought that it would be one of the few government-bailed out institutions that would give a net loss to taxpayers.

To head this significant institution means you’ve already made a name for yourself in the banking and finance scene. Layton was appointed to this position in May 2012. Prior to his appointment he had a long career in the financial services. He worked for almost 30 years at JPMorgan and its predecessors.

Layton began as a trainee and eventually became vice chairman and a member of the three-person Office of the Chairman, retiring in 2004. In his more recent role he was the chairman and CEO of E*TRADE Financial which he guided through the recent financial crisis. Layton was a senior advisor to an industry association and has been a member of the boards of several financial services firms.

Layton also has outstanding academic credentials simultaneously earning Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in economics from MIT and an MBA from Harvard University.

The rise to the top involved a lot of hard work. In fact Layton and his wife had been married for 16 years before they had their first child in 1990 and another one in 1994. Since having his children he has led a more balance life instead of just living a career-centric existence. He came to realize what really was important in his life.