Freddie Mac appoints interim CEO and chairman

MCLEAN, Va. -- Mortgage giant Freddie Mac fre said Wednesday that John Koskinen will take over as interim chief executive and Robert Glauber will become interim non-executive chairman.

Koskinen takes over for CEO David Moffett, who said he would resign from the company and its board by March 13.

Koskinen has served as non-executive chairman at Freddie Mac since September. His position as chairman will be taken by Glauber, who joined Freddie Mac's board in 2006.

Freddie Mac, which guarantees and purchases mortgages, has been in upheaval because of damage caused by the credit and mortgage crisis. As mortgage losses mounted, the government took over Freddie Mac and fellow mortgage giant Fannie Mae fnm in September. The pair are now under conservatorship of their government regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Together, Fannie and Freddie own or guarantee almost 31 million home loans worth about $5.5 trillion — more than half of U.S home mortgages.

Freddie Mac said in a statement that it is working with its regulator to name a permanent CEO. When that happens, Koskinen will return to his position as non-executive chairman.

Before joining Freddie Mac, Koskinen was president of the United States Soccer Foundation for four years, deputy mayor and city administrator of Washington, D.C. from 2000 to 2003, chairman of President Clinton's Council on Year 2000 Conversion and deputy director for management of the Office of Management and Budget from 1994 to 1997.

Before taking the job in the Clinton administration, he was a senior executive of the Palmieri Company, participating in the restructuring of troubled enterprises including Penn Central, the Teamsters Pension Fund, Levitt and Sons, and Mutual Benefit.