Timothy J. Mayopoulos: Not About The Money

A big pay cut did not discourage Timothy J. Mayopoulos from taking on the CEO role at Fannie Mae. Perhaps it was simply the challenge to has a positive impact in a far from ideal setting.

Mayopoulos is the president and CEO OF Fannie Mae which is the dominant source of residential mortgage credit in the U.S.  secondary market.  The amount of money Fannie Mae deals with is staggering. As reported by the company from January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2012 it provided $3.3 trillion in mortgage credit. This allowed 2.7 million home purchases and 9.7 million mortgage refinancing.  It also went into conservatorship during the financial crisis.

To lead this private and government sponsored company means one must have a high level of experience and stature in the financial industry. Mayopoulos has that having been EVP and general counsel of Bank of America Corporation.  Before that he held senior management positions at Duetsche Bank AG, Credit Suisse First Boston, and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. Mayopoulos graduated from Cornell University and the New York University School of Law.

Mayopoulos joined Fannie May in April 2009 as EVP, general counsel, and corporate secretary and became chief administrative officer in 2010. Ironically in taking the top post he actually took a pay cut as part of Fannie Mae’s action to lower executive pay after the taxpayer bailout of the company. His pay for 2012 amounts to $2.6 million and will only be $600,000 in 2013.

Obviously money is not the main driver in taking the top post. Leading a company whose very future is in doubt given the desire by the public and lawmakers to reform the U.S financial and housing system is a challenge. He simply wants to do what he can at this critical time for the company specifically and the U.S. financial system in general.

Improved fundamentals has seen the housing market perk up and it now looks like Fannie Mae may be able to repay all it owes to taxpayers. Mayopoulos continues to make reforms and improve the performance of Fannie Mae.  There is still the bigger issue of reforms which may affect the company’s future or existence. Mayopoulos has shown though that he can make the best out of a tough situation.

Brian Moynihan: Leading One Of The World’s Largest Banks

Making the most of opportunities that comes in one’s way can lead to rewarding results. This is certainly the case of Brian Moynihan who ended up heading one of the largest banks in the world.

Moynihan he may have had ambitions of running Bank of America but looking at his career it didn’t look that way. Moynihan was an Executive Vice President at FleetBoston Financial Corporation from 1999 to April 2004. In this capacity he was responsible for Brokerage and Wealth Management from 2000 and Regional Financial Services and Investment Management from May 2003.

In 2004 FleetBoston was acquired by Bank of America. If there is one thing about being acquired by another bank is there is job insecurity among the employees of the acquired company. The ones calling the shots are people from the new owners. You just never know if there will be someone else who they think can better run the unit you are handling.

Fortunately the acquisition of FleetBoston only furthered the career of Moynihan. In fact he now worked for a much larger company and was made President of Global Wealth and Investment Management. He held this position from April 2004 to October 2007. Next Moynihan was appointed President of Global Corporate and Investment Banking running the unit from October 2007 to December 2008.

A lawyer by training it came in good use when the bank appointed him General Counsel from December 2008 to January 2009. This was rather a short stint, since he was next appointed President of Global Banking and Global Wealth from January 2008 to August 2009; again another stint of less than one year before being appointed President of Consumer and Small Business Banking from August 2009 to December 2009. This was another short time served in this position and in January 2010 he was elected as President and Chief Executive Officer of Bank of America. Moynihan also became a Director of the company.

In less than six years since joining Bank of America he became the CEO. Quite an amazing feat for someone who made the most of the opportunities presented and came out a winner.

Bank of America operates in more than 40 countries and has 57 million clients in the U.S. with 5,400 retail bank offices.  Its online banking is used by 30 million active users.