‘MAGA world’s premier financier’ joins Fannie Mae board of directors

by | Apr 15, 2025 | Industry, News Feed

Omeed Malik, founder of investment bank Farvahar Partners and venture capital firm 1789 Capital, is a business partner and “close friend” of Donald Trump Jr.

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Banker, investor and lawyer Omeed Malik — recently dubbed “MAGA world’s premier financier” by New York Magazine — is the latest addition to mortgage giant Fannie Mae’s board of directors, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte announced on social media Monday.

Before founding the investment bank Farvahar Partners and venture capital firm 1789 Capital — where Donald Trump Jr. became a partner in November — Malik was managing director and global head of the hedge fund advisory business at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Pulte said Malik “brings great capital markets, legal and investment experience” to Fannie Mae’s board of directors.

As chairman and CEO of Colombier Acquisition Corp., Malik helped take PublicSquare — which touts itself as a marketplace for “patriotic businesses and consumers” — public in a 2023 SPAC merger with Colombier, a special purpose acquisition company.

Malik stepped down from PublicSquare’s board on Dec. 3 — the same day Trump Jr. joined it, along with Willie Langston, a partner at wealth management firm Corient and a former national finance chair for Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign.

Described as a “close friend” of Trump Jr. in a November New York Magazine profile, Malik on March 3 reposted a picture the president’s son published on X the day before — in which Trump Jr. thanked Malik for co-hosting a fundraiser for Vivek Ramaswamy’s bid to become Ohio’s next governor in the 2026 election.

Malik is also an investor in The Daily Caller, the conservative news outlet co-founded by Tucker Carlson. His addition to Fannie Mae’s board follows Pulte’s purge of 14 board members at the mortgage giant and its sister company Freddie Mac, in March.

Pulte — the grandson of homebuilder William J. Pulte, the founder of PulteGroup Inc. — appointed himself the chair of Fannie and Freddie’s boards less than a week after he was confirmed by the Senate as Trump’s choice to lead their federal regulator.

Board Chair Michael Heid was one of eight Fannie Mae board members removed by Pulte, who declared, “DEI is dead at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.”

Fannie Mae CEO Priscilla Almodovar was one of five board members who kept their seats. They’ve been joined by Pulte’s other appointments to Fannie Mae’s board: Mike Stucky, a former Pulte Group division president, and FHFA General Counsel Clinton Jones.

Jones, who joined the FHFA in 2019 and was promoted to general counsel in 2021, was also appointed to Freddie Mac’s board.

One of Pulte’s other picks — Christopher Stanley, a staffer from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — was appointed to Fannie Mae’s board on March 17 but resigned the next day.

Mike Stucky

Stucky, who, according to his LinkedIn profile, is a retired heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) executive, was appointed vice chair of Fannie Mae’s board on April 10, the company disclosed Monday in a regulatory filing.

The FHFA has determined that Fannie Mae’s board should have at least five and no more than 13 directors. With Malik’s addition, the board will have nine members.

In addition to Chair Lance Drummond, Pulte removed five other directors from Freddie Mac’s board, the company said in a March 17 regulatory filing. In addition to Pulte and Jones, new additions to Freddie Mac’s board included Brandon Hamara and Ralph “Cody” Kittle.

Hamara is the vice president of land acquisition at homebuilder Tri Pointe Homes Inc., a Nevada-based homebuilder that completed 6,460 homes last year. Kittle is a partner at RenWave Kore, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based private equity firm.

On March 24, Freddie Mac board member Grace Huebscher announced her resignation, and Pulte appointed Michael Parrott, CEO and founder of consulting firm 480th Company, as her replacement.

Freddie Mac now has 10 board members, including interim CEO Mike Hutchins, who took on that role after Pulte fired Freddie Mac CEO Diana Reid and Head of Human Resources Dionne Wallace Oakley last month.

Appointed as CEO in September, Reid was the first woman to lead Freddie Mac. With Almodovar having served as Fannie Mae’s CEO since 2022, both mortgage giants were briefly led by women for the first time in history.

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Matt Carter