Fannie Mae Exec Chosen to Oversee TARP: White House

The executive chosen to lead Fannie Mae through a government takeover has been tapped to oversee the $700 billion rescue of the U.S. financial system, the White House said Friday.

Herb Allison was named as president of Fannie Mae in September, when the Treasury Department seized the mortgage-finance company and its sibling agency, Freddie Mac.

Allison spent more than 25 years with Merrill Lynch before becoming chairman and chief executive officer of TIAA-CREF.

After six years as the head of the asset-management firm, Allison retired in 2008 and was asked by former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to become conservator of Fannie Mae, the nation’s largest source of mortgage finance.