Charter Day Orator
The Address

Mr. Franklin D. Raines
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Fannie Mae

Franklin Delano Raines is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fannie Mae, a New York Stock Exchange company and the largest non-bank financial services company in the world. Fannie Mae is the nation’s largest source of financing for home mortgages. He became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer on January 1, 1999.

The Fannie Mae Board of Directors directed Raines as the successor to James A. Johnson in April 1998. From May through December 31, 1998, Raines served as Chairman and CEO-Designate.

Raines stepped down as Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and a member of the President Clinton’s Cabinet on May 20, 1998, after two years of service. Raines was the President’s key negotiator in the talks that led to passage of the bipartisan Balanced Budget Act of 1997. Raines was the first OMB director in a generation to balance the federal budget. Raines also helped the President manage the federal government by coordinating procurement, financial management, information technology, and regulatory policies for all federal agencies.

From 1991 to 1996, Raines was with Lazard Frères & Company, a leading global financial advisory firm, for 11 years where he was a general partner. Before joining Lazard Frères, he served from 1977 to 1979 as Associate Director for Economics and Government in the Office of Management and Budget and Assistant Director of the White House Domestic Policy Staff.

Raines serves as a member of the board of directors of Fannie Mae, Pfizer Inc., AOL Time Warner, Inc., PepsiCo, Inc., the Enterprise Foundation, and the National Urban League. He formerly served as Chairman of the Visiting Committee of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and President of the Board of Overseers of Harvard University.

Raines served as a member of the congressionally mandated Commission on Roles and Missions of the Armed Forces. He has also served on a number of federal and state public policy advisory groups regarding tax equity, government service, education, poverty, and welfare reform.

Raines was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of The Business Council, The Business Roundtable, the Trilateral Commission, the National Academy of Social Insurance, and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Raines graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. degree from Harvard College. He received his J.D. degree cum laude from Harvard Law School. He also attended Magdalen College, Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. Mr. Raines and his beloved wife, Wendy, are the proud parents of three cherished daughters: Andrea, Laura, and Sarah.