After 18 months on the job, Michael Bright has suddenly resigned from his post as executive vice president and chief operations officer for Ginnie Mae, effective January 16, to pursue an opportunity in the private sector.
Bright joined Ginnie Mae in July 2017. As EVP and chief operating officer, he oversaw all operations for Ginnie Mae’s $2.0 trillion portfolio of mortgage-backed securities (MBS).
In this capacity, he oversaw the fulfillment of Ginnie Mae’s core mission – connecting global bond investors with domestic mortgage borrowers while providing oversight of Ginnie’s MBS issuers.
In a resignation letter to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, Bright says he is “incredibly proud of what we have accomplished since early 2017.”
“As you are aware, over the past two years, Ginnie Mae’s total outstanding portfolio crossed the $2 trillion mark, and last year we served 1.9 million American families as they purchased or refinanced a home,” Bright says. “This would not have taken place without the dedication and leadership of the Ginnie Mae staff, who are some of the most knowledgeable and mission-focused professionals I have ever worked with.”
Bright has extensive experience in the mortgage, banking, and securities industries, and is well known as a thought leader and speaker on national housing policy. Before joining Ginnie Mae, he was a director at the Milken Institute’s Center for Financial Markets, where he led the institute’s housing program.
He also was a co-author of the “DeMarco-Bright” proposal on housing finance reform, which proposed to achieve housing finance reform by building on the Ginnie Mae infrastructure and processes.
In 2013, Bright was a principal staff author of S.1217, the “Corker-Warner” GSE reform bill that passed the Senate Banking Committee the following year. While in the office of U.S. Senator Bob Corker, he also advised on a range of Senate Banking Committee regulatory policy issues.
After leaving the Hill, Bright was with the asset management company BlackRock, where he served as vice president in the firm’s financial advisory unit, helping national banks and financial regulators to conduct stress tests and other financial analytics.
Bright was also a senior vice president with the mortgage firm PennyMac. From 2009 to 2010, he spent two years as a mortgage data analyst in large bank supervision at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
Prior to coming to Washington, Bright was an interest rate derivatives trader and MBS market-maker for Wachovia Bank in Charlotte, N.C.
He began his career in finance in 2002 as a modeler and trader on the servicing hedge at Countrywide Financial in Calabasas, California.
Maren Kasper, current executive vice president of Ginnie Mae, will serve as the acting president upon Bright’s departure.
Kasper joined Ginnie Mae in June 2017.