Priscilla Almodovar chats Fannie Mae, housing affordability, Donald Trump
Priscilla Almodovar is one of Paste BN’s Women of the Year, a recognition of women who have made a significant impact in their communities and across the country. Meet this year's honorees at womenoftheyear.usatoday.com.
A 4-year-old Priscilla Almodovar sat in the back of her mother's college classes. Watching. Waiting. Seeing how hard she worked.
Now, as the CEO and president of Fannie Mae, every day Almodovar is surrounded by women also working hard. The now 57-year-old is one of Paste BN's Women of the Year, a testament to her career in housing affordability, finance and the American dream.
"When you invest in a woman, you're investing in her children, probably her parents," Almodovar tells Paste BN from the Fannie Mae office in Washington, D.C., sunny and smiling, contrasting the bleak gray day. "Women just get involved and our wake is so much broader than just what we do day to day. And when you look at household formations, I mean, single women are driving household formation as well."
'Everyone wants a safe place to live'
Fannie Mae provides mortgage financing across the U.S.; the financial entity purchases 1 in 4 U.S. mortgages. It creates liquidity, stability and affordability so that banks can make more mortgages.
"We rely on the capital markets, and we bring the two together to make the housing system more fair, more safe, more sound because of what we do," she says.
All that may read dry on paper. But a home is the most personal (and cost-prohibitive) purchase a person can make.
Almodovar's mother and father came to New York from Puerto Rico. She remembers the fourth-floor walk-up they rented before saving to buy their first home in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The purchase proved a big stretch for them; they had a renter on the second floor. But it also was that classic American dream story. "That home, when I look back, is what paid for me and my siblings to go to college," she says.
At the time, it was a Latino community, and her parents bought about five blocks from where they rented. They lived there for many years before moving out to the suburbs of Long Island. Her upbringing has informed her outlook on housing: "I've learned that renter, homeowner doesn't matter. Everyone wants a safe place to live. They want community; they want a neighborhood; and they want the best for their family."
Where you live – from what type of home to what neighborhood you grew up in – is foundational to life's outcomes, Almodovar adds. She has a bachelor's degree from Hofstra University and a law degree from Columbia University and carved out a career at the intersection of Main Street and Wall Street.
"What I love about real estate, and how I first got into this business, is it's tangible," she says. "You're building a home for someone. You could actually see it and feel it and walk the neighborhoods and then people live in that home."
Priscilla Almodovar, Fannie Mae CEO, weighs in on Donald Trump
Almodovar, who has spent 30 years in the finance industry, knows we have a housing affordability crisis in this country. High mortgage rates, high home prices and a lack of supply. Nearly 70% of Americans were "very concerned" about housing costs, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey; it ticked up from 61% in April 2023. Not to mention that discrimination plays a role in people's ability to secure (or not secure) mortgages.
But people are still in search of that taste of the American dream.
"It's not the only way, but it's one of the ways we build generational wealth in this country," she says. "So it's becoming harder, but it's not impossible."
The company, on a macro level, is trying to address homeownership obstacles by working with landlords to set aside units affordable to working families, in addition to making mortgage credit more accessible.
But on the micro level, "when you're the president and CEO of a $4.3 trillion financial institution, the kinds of decisions that come across my desk are different every day." Questions never end: About cybersecurity, day-to-day operations, employee issues. External asks come from sellers, servicers, investors. She has a board to manage. But "every day is different. It's exciting. It makes coming to work that much more fun."
Something to add to that list: A new presidential administration. "I'm in the housing party," Almodovar says. "We work with every administration. That's what we do. We're in these markets, good time, bad times. Every administration."
That said, she knows President Donald Trump is a developer who knows housing. "We are ready to work with everyone who's committed to making housing more available for more Americans," she says. (Trump's new Housing and Urban Development secretary, Scott Turner, though, has faced scrutiny about just that.)
'That's pretty powerful'
Almodovar's favorite room in her house is her study. Her books surround her – cookbooks, running books, finance books, aging books – and she can rest on her comfortable couch. Yes, Almodovar is a runner (she's run marathons!) and has an eclectic mix of artists on her playlist, from Queen to Alicia Keys to Marc Anthony.
She feels most like herself when she's with her husband, Eric Dinallo. "He's my champion, big cheerleader, truth-teller," she says. And she'll snag any time her kids want to spend with her.
She still remembers the first ribbon-cutting she went to for a home purchase. She had worked on the financing, a deal on paper. But "then someone actually had a home like, holy cow, that's pretty powerful." She adds: "It's just as complex as any other financial transaction, but ultimately I'm impacting a person and their home."
That 4-year-old in the back of her mother's college classes is no longer watching and waiting.
She's teaching the course.