Behind the career: David H. Stevens

David H. Stevens

Position: The new president and chief executive of the Mortgage Bankers Association, a national association representing the real estate finance industry, headquartered in the District.

While on the track to a career in politics, David Stevens thought he’d take a job in the mortgage industry to support himself. He hasn’t looked back since. With senior posts at Wells Fargo and Long & Foster, Stevens eventually got a call from President Obama to head up the Federal Housing Administration. After completing his goals there he decided to head up an association for an industry he says needs a “strong voice” to ensure “rational policies get made.”

Your first job was as a loan officer at a bank where you rose to become senior vice president. How did you rise to the top?

I’m very enthusiastic. I communicate effectively, people tell me. I’m all about execution. I keep a series of business books in my office. There’s a New York Times bestseller called “Execution.” The opening in that book talks about how the single business failure of big business today is the failure to execute. I’m all about results.

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I also realized that if you do good by your customer good things will happen.

What’s an example of that?

When I first went to Freddie Mac, I was very concerned with how small lenders were able to gain access to the secondary market. I created a small-lender division, separating the entire business model of Freddie Mac into a large institution and small institution division. For the first time ever, we created a way for small lenders to sell whole loans through a cash window with Freddie. The customer relationships that we developed really had a big part of our business results over time and helped us grow that business significantly.

What were some lessons you learned at the FHA about leadership during crisis situations?

In order to be successful at FHA, it required a paradigm shift with the entire management team to create an organization that was focused on lower risk management. It required a hands-on style of aggressive leadership and communication to get people to buy into the vision.

— Interview with Vanessa Small

See Monday’s Washington Post Business pages for Stevens’s “New at the Top” profile. Send nominations to newatthetop@washpost.com

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