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C O V E R S T O R Y / A L Y J . Y A L E
Seven years might not seem all that long a tenure in the
corporate world, but in the land of political appointees,
Ted Tozer's near-decade at the helm of Ginnie Mae
was a true anomaly.
Tozer was appointed President of Ginnie
Mae, the HUD agency that brings capital to
government-funded lending programs like
FHA, VA, and RHA, by President Barack
Obama in 2009 and confirmed by the Senate
in early 2010. He stepped down from the office
in January—nearly seven full years after he
assumed the post.
In a world where most appointees only
last one to two years at most, Tozer's tenure
was certainly a momentous one—both for its
timespan and because of the accomplishments it
included, domestic and abroad.
NOT YOUR AVERAGE APPOINTEE
Tozer recognizes his tenure was a rarity,
as do his colleagues, friends, and pretty much
anyone who's ever come in contact with him—
yet they're not surprised in the least.
In fact, Jack Konyk, who worked at Ohio's
National City Bank while Tozer was heading up
National City Mortgage Company, calls Tozer
an "interesting study in terms of governmental
positions."
"It was unusual to see anybody stay that long
in that kind of a position, but it made perfect
sense for Ted because he was the perfect guy
for the role," said Konyk, now the Executive
Director of Government Affairs at Weiner
Brodsky Kider PC. "Ted's the most completely,
totally qualified president Ginnie's ever had,
because of his in-depth knowledge of the details
of its daily operations."
Garry Cipponeri, who got to know Tozer
well decades ago through various industry
events and organizations while working for
CitiMortgage, says Tozer simply wasn't what
Washington was used to.
THE END
OF AN ERA
