Janell Byrd-Chichester has been selected as the new chief of staff for the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), conservator of government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Previously, Byrd-Chichester served as partner in the law firm Mehri & Skalet in Washington, D.C., where she worked in the firm's fair housing, lending and consumer protection practice. Prior to this, she was co-managing attorney for the Cochran Firm's Washington, DC office. She has also held positions with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the North Carolina Central University School of Law, and she clerked for the Honorable Cecil F. Poole of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
‘Janell brings a broad array of talent, experience and knowledge to the FHFA leadership team and I am pleased to have her aboard,’ says Mel Watt, director for the FHFA, in a release. ‘We look forward to working with her to support the Agency's goals of ensuring safety, soundness and liquidity in the nation's housing finance markets.’